Scholarship For White Males Only
UVAorBust
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Texas Group Offers Scholarship for White Students Only - BV on Money
I found this article very, very interesting. One thing I'm very confused about, is why the creator of the scholarship is getting "push back" from brown and black students. There are a PLETHORA of scholarships restricted to only minority groups. Why is it unfair that a scholarship can only be dedicated to white males if one can be dedicated to only black or brown males?
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35 repliesI found this article very, very interesting. One thing I'm very confused about, is why the creator of the scholarship is getting "push back" from brown and black students. There are a PLETHORA of scholarships restricted to only minority groups. Why is it unfair that a scholarship can only be dedicated to white males if one can be dedicated to only black or brown males?
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Replies to: Scholarship For White Males Only
Whites, stereotypically, did not go through hardship. Their ancestors didn't have it rough.
Brown/black students, stereotypically, went through hardship. Their ancestors had a tough time.
With that being said, brown/black students (the ones mentioned, I'm not saying all) are annoyed by this because it's seemingly "unfair" to create something for whites only.
Personally? In a perfect world, they should offer scholarships to EVERYONE. Yeah, yeah, it opens up for a plethora of new applicants, but I think affirmative action (in the college acceptance/scholarship sense) should end. Has anyone noticed that white people are a minority in MANY major universities?
I understand wanting to diversify a student body, but the process of affirmative action should be put to rest. It was initially brought up because most minorities were turned down due to racism. This is barely the case, now.
Colleges and scholarships should continue their process to DIVERSIFY and stop trying to tally up how many black/brown students that they can get!
As for this scholarship idea... it's a little odd. There's a TON of scholarships for brown/black students and a TON of scholarships for white students. Yes, a TON. Just because the scholarship doesn't say "this is for the white students!" doesn't mean that white students can't apply.
also, turning down students due to racism "is barely the case now" because of affirmative action. i'd accept an argument that the system of affirmative action needs to change, but when only 51% of blacks even graduate from high school, that shows that affirmative action is very necessary for attempting to even out the playing field.
at the OP, in a way there's nothing wrong with it because there are scholarships dedicated to every race; the problem is that historically many things have been open to whites only, so having a scholarship like that brings back images from a past that we're really trying to move on from.
C'mon UVA. You yourself have griped about the low performing minorities in your own HS who got into some competitive programs.
People would question the scholarship just because of the kinda response you're displaying right here.
I think post #7 hits the nail square on the head. The subtleties of race relations in this country are totally being overlooked by you, UVA. The idea of, let's say, a Polish or Irish or Albanian cultural organizations sponsoring a scholarship for a member of their community isn't hard to fathom. Someone makes a "whites only" scholarship and you fail to acknowledge its reminders to Jim Crow -- and then you blithely ask why someone could object to it ... well, there you go. If you can't understand it, you're really not in this conversation, are you?
Admit it: the reason you even posted this "whites only" scholarship was to find a reason to declare your feelings of how "unfair" it would be for minorities to find any trouble with it.
This is a social problem with racial roots.
Having huge racial disparities in fields like education and employment only polarize us and accentuate racial tensions and political cleavages. Yes, AA sucks for me because I am a white guy. But is the social benefit worth the butthurt, whiny suburban kids who feel like they got cheated? Absolutely.
White isn't.
Do you really feel that students are discriminated by race now a days? I think it is economical, not racial. I still believe scholarships should be offered to certain financial groups. It is true that a larger percent of the brown and black communities fall into a lower income bracket than the white community, which in fact depletes the discrimination against one race or another and opens up a scholarship to all who need it. I just feel bad that there are so many scholarships limited to a certain race. I know some white people who live in, well, horrible conditions.
I definitely think affirmative action should be kept as well. However, it should have some boundaries. I got a prep school and I have a great deal of Hispanic and black friends who are from well to do families. However, they still receive the "hook" due to their skin color. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't affirmative action meant to help minorities from a lower income bracket? If someone is from a lower income bracket I 100% agree that affirmative action should help them. They face a great deal of challenges and set backs that a student from a higher bracket would not face.
Personally, I don't think racial requirements are good, but there are differences. Poor-rich divisions are more appropriate, anyway.
And now that I think of it, Katliamom, you're supposed to be a mom. Did making that scathing comment really make you feel good? I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but I'm trying to make a point and that was very immature.
What cultural group do black people beling to? Bantu? Gold Coast? Lol.
The scholarships for African Americans aren't racist. They are the same as cultural heritage scholarships.
But you are missing the fundamental point of AA. It is NOT to help low-income URMs. It is to help URM's in general. In all income levels, URMs drop out more, earn less, die earlier, etc. This is a clearly racial issue.
bzva74 - I actually hadn't thought of it that way. But will a black male has a substantially harder time in HS than a white male of the same income bracket? I can't imagine that do to skin color alone; someone is naturally going to have a harder time in school. Heck, the smartest senior in my school last year was African American. Also, there are scholarships for Asians only. I'm not sure if there is a statistic, but Asians are naturally very intelligent. However, there are a plethora of scholarships dedicated to Asians alone. These Asians, or URM's, do not drop out more, earn less, die earlier, or any of the other points you have mentioned.
I still feel that dividing scholarships up by economic background would be much more appropriate. It is just as hard for a white student whose parents make 40k a year to succeed as a AA student. However, one of these students whose parents do make 40k less or year should DEFINITELY not be held to the same standards as a student whose parents make 40k+ a year.
Also, in regards to Irish-Americans, Indian-Americans, etc; what if I am, well, nothing. I have such a low percent of a different race in me that I qualify for NO specialty scholarships. Should I just be left out?
I thought about what you said katliasmom and this is what I came up with. If a school does not want a student because he holds strong opinions (as long as they are not discriminating or hurtful) then I don't want to be there.
Finally, regarding the past, I only have one thing to say - forgive and forget. Yes it was a horrific time and Americans should be ashamed that such a monstrosity occurred. But it is now over.
I'm not trying to stir up any problems guys, but I naturally enjoy arguing. And this is something, well, I'm very opinionated about.
Also, we can not disregard the past yet, when there is still much, much work to be done. It is still not yet even 50 years since Martin Luther King marched on Washington and gave his I Have A Dream speech. We surely have come a long way, but there is still a ways to walk. If the past was truly done with, then graduation rates for the races would be equal. College enrollment rates would be equal. Percentage of each race in each income bracket would be close to equal. The truth is there is still much holding black people down in our country, and there is still much holding poor people down in general in our country. And we can never really move on and say forgive and forget until we reach a time when things really are equal and people have become mostly colorblind.
I myself am a Questbridge Scholarship finalist, and it was the way that I could even afford applying to college. Lately I've seen things and read articles stating that Questbridge's partner colleges practice racist admissions decisions. Apparently, it has become 3 times harder for a white or asian student to earn a full-ride scholarship through questbridge than an URM. Even though all the students who apply through questbridge are poor. So yes, not being an URM, it makes me sad to know this. However, I am happier knowing that those scholarships and college careers are going to poor people who have gone through hardships and deserve them for their selves and their families sake, regardless of race.
As for the original scholarship, if that man really and truly felt that there were no scholarships for, as he said, people who look like him, then I have no problem with what he is doing. And the article does say that white males have become a minority in his state.
Frankly, I am tired of people who think whites are bad--especially rural poor whites. That is both racist and classist. It is also deeply ironic since the poor rural whites never had the opportunity to actually oppress anyone. The elite community "doth protest too much!" They are the ones with the power.
My take on the scholarship? Either ALL race/gender based scholarships are good, or NO race/ gender based scholarships are good. Any other choice is pure hypocrisy.
Peace out.