Affirmative Action: A Form of Discrimination?

In my previous post, I addressed the achievement gaps between white Americans and African Americans, and I offered possible solutions and measures that have been taken to close the widening gap. Many believe that affirmative action allows for minority groups, specifically African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics, to have equal footing in job and learning opportunities.

However, I wanted to argue against the use of affirmative action to close this achievement gap and to promote diversity in the workplace and university setting. I understand the flaw in oversimplifying the issue by asking, “Well, what about the poor white male?” Because of the aftershock of slavery and institutional racism, African Americans are statistically more likely to be economically disadvantaged in comparison to white Americans. This economic disadvantage that is prevalent in specific minority groups is what pushes the need for an institutional approach such as affirmative action.

In addition, in many low-income predominantly African American schools, educational resources are limited. Even in Memphis, one can see the scarcity of Advanced Placement courses and educational extracurricular activities, such as Quiz Bowl and Science Olympiad in inner-city schools, which cater primarily to African Americans and Hispanics. Whereas private schools in Memphis, such as St. Mary’s Catholic School, offer a myriad of different learning opportunities inside and outside classrooms. They offer numerous Advance Placement courses, a stellar guidance counselor, and many extracurricular activities that include but are not limited to Model UN, Quiz Bowl, Science Olympiad, Math Olympiad, and Youth Legislation. All of which allow a student to explore future career options and develop a passion while thriving academically.

However, I believe that affirmative action is just another form of discrimination. It favors certain minority groups over others, which falls under the functional definition of the word “discrimination” that the Oxford dictionary provides as “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.” I think businesses and colleges should be race-blind when considering candidates for their institution. Affirmative action favors certain minorities over others, so instead this law should be changed to a race-blind law, which value personal achievement over race, religion, or orientation.  Personally, given special preference for being a minority and a female in certain colleges because my particular field of interest is low in both racial and gender diversity, I find that affirmative action harms me more than helps me because it downplays personal accomplishments and merit in favor of race and gender.

However, I do think we need some sort of an “affirmative action” for those groups of students from all different racial backgrounds who are a part of low-income yielding families. Because these are the students that do not have access to certain resources that most of us are accustomed to, they are the ones that should be given some preferential treatment. Though minorities are the predominant students of this socio-economic background, it is wrong to generalize and falsely correlate race with economic and educational shortcomings. I can see the merit in having this institutional government approach to promote racial diversity and allowing the underprivileged to rise above their difficulties; however, I think it would be more beneficial if we consider socio-economic background over racial background.  

What do you think about affirmative action?