Comments on: Obama on Affirmative Action

By: Dropout Nation » Blog Archive » The Read

Dropout Nation » Blog Archive » The Read — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:44:21 +0000

[...] of guilt… These are what affirmative action has, in fact, always been about.” Credit Kevin Carey for this [...]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:15:00 +0000

I understand the concept of Affirmative Action but I don’t always agree with it. I’m beginning to think that diversity should be based on the individual rather then a particular race or even social class. A person should be accepted into college based on their accomplishments and I applaud Obama (if it is correct) that he did not mention his race on his application.

By: Attorney DC

Attorney DC — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:25:00 +0000

I’ve also always thought it was weird that affirmative action assists ‘Hispanics’ – broadly defined to be anyone with at least one parent from a Spanish-speaking country.

Why Spanish? Why not French? Or Portuguese? Or Mandarin Chinese? There’s no reason that someone with cultural roots in Argentina is more ‘diverse’ than a student with cultural roots in Thailand. Oops – wrong language – not diverse!

Of course, I assume the policy is in place because politicians equate “Hispanic” with lower income immigrants from Mexico and other countries. But in my experience, as I noted above, it’s not these students (e.g., son of a migrant worker) who are reaping the affirmative action benefits in college admissions.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:17:00 +0000

Does a white person get the same educational enrichment from attending school with another white person who acts black, or is the benefit dependent on actual darkness of skin? What about albino's, do they provide adequate educational enrichment? As a white person, should I be worried if a school provides limit diversity, say only Hispanic and African-Americans, and doesn't include Inuit and Aborigines?

The point being, that the argument that affirmative action is needed to benefit whites is ridiculous and could lead down a slippery slope of treating minorities as accessories for white students.

Affirmative action should be based on issues such as income, unique experiences, hardships, etc...

By: Attorney DC

Attorney DC — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:27:00 +0000

Although I’ve been a longtime liberal on most issues, I’ve never supported affirmative action for college admissions.

From my experience, the students who benefit from affirmative action policies are generally middle class African American and Hispanic students, who have experienced little hardship or discrimination.

By: Burr Deming

Burr Deming — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:04:00 +0000

Our site takes a generally supportive view on affirmative action. But Senator McCain’s reflexive hostility does have its defenders. Thanks for adding your analysis to the blogging universe.

By: Gideon

Gideon — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:42:00 +0000

Affirmative action is often phrased in terms of “all other things being equal.” So comparing a poor single-parent-raised white kid to a wealthy two-educated parent-raised black kid makes for an easy choice in who benefits. When you compare Obama’s kids to McCain’s kids or a poor white kid to a poor black or hispanic kid, then affirmitive action would favor those of color to remedy past injustices that have resulted in fewer opportunities for people of color. That said, this is still a horribly segregated country. I still think white kids have a lot to learn even from upper-class minority kids: even today most white kids have not spent significant time with peers of color and are still curious about basic things like touching their hair. Maybe experiencing diversity in college will lead to more diverse neighborhoods, churches, bowling leagues, etc.

By: FuzzyFace

FuzzyFace — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:30:00 +0000

As I recall, the original intent of affirmative action was to enhance recruiting of minorities who would otherwise have been less likely to apply to certain institutions. It was not supposed to give them preferences in getting in. That is, institutions were supposed to take deliberate positive steps (”affirmative action”) to expand their pool of minority applicants, under the presumption that otherwise qualified people were being overlooked. Of course, that’s not what it has become, as it is much easier for an institution to use quotas or points to increase the results, but under that original definition, it would be meaningless to speak of affirmative action helping children of privilege – they would presumably be applying in any case…