<p>Do you really believe a qualified black/hispanic would get turned down now at a top school? </p>
<p>No alternative to reverse discrimination? Just break a few eggs to make an omelet.</p>
<p>Sure, 'tho less and less of course. What do “top” schools have to do with it?</p>
<p>I’m not a big fan, just don’t see omelets that would take AA’s place and actually work. What’s your solution chef?</p>
<p>Oh, okay, fun is fun. Boarding schools are different, though I’d probably still be in favor of it. Yeah, really, dry heat or no dry heat–you can’t imagine it if you’re not here right now. 114 degrees this afternoon–at four p.m. Now try imagining fencing in this weather. I cannot believe I am insane enough to do that, but apparently I am. 
D’yer, I’m not sure you understood what I meant. I meant that children should actually be allowed to vote in real elections.</p>
<p>No, I don’t believe a qualified African-American/Hispanic would get turned down at a top school, unless their grades were marginal (by qualified, I mean just as good as many of the people on CC who apply, middle to top of the pack) and have a clean record… the obvious. I don’t know how the issue of FA comes in, but I’m guessing a qualified African-American compared to an equally qualified white American could get more FA because they are more desirable at boarding schools. </p>
<p>But like many people, I think that adding diversity by races isn’t as fair as it is to give more of an advantage to a URM than a white, socioeconomically challenged individual who is just as qualified. </p>
<p>Yes braces (because they are useful), yes to A/C., big mac because I’ve never had a whopper.</p>
<p>I think Clinton will win because people see her as tougher (as tough as the guy candidates), and becaues the majority of women vote for her, and there are more women in the country than there are URMs (whom the majority of would vote for Obama) and because people see her as having experience in politics, as a Senator, and also in the White House as First Lady. Also, I think people will start to compare the Clintons and the Bushes, and say “Well, our country was relatively more stable when Bill was running it … I want that again. I want that pre-9/11 world.” Then they’ll relate Bill Clinton with Hilary and vote for her because they want the same safety they had.</p>
<p>prettyckitty> there are plenty of other places on earth to live. and besides, if you’d never had air conditioning, you wouldn’t mind. However, I do mind the fact that i’ve had to literally drag one of my (lazy) friends outside because it was 95 and he liked the airconditioning. kids don’t play any more… other than video games.
and yes, i actually have spent 2 weeks of summer (june) in arizona visiting my aunt… and she didn’t have air conditioning (she does now, though). i can say i wasn’t thrilled about it… but i wouldn’t live there, either.</p>
<p>Affirmative Action…I’m not really sure about.</p>
<p>Braces–Sure, why not. A/C–NO!!! It’s a plot by the commies to replace our precious bodily fluids! Whopper, because they also come in veggie burgers!</p>
<p>I’m not sure about the Clinton/Obama debate, though I’m leaning towards Obama. The only thing about Obama is his lack of experience, though</p>
<p>The voting age should definitely not be lowered to 14. Most, if not all, 14 year olds don’t have the maturity or knowledge of the American governmental system necessary to make an informed decision. 16 or 18 is the right age. </p>
<p>Sailboat or powerboat?</p>
<p>Powerboat, because I don’t like being patient with things and because I like to control things but know that no matter what I do, the thing won’t screw up that much and I’ll still go fast. 
But sailboats if I want to be energy concious, I think (do you need gas to power a powerboat?).</p>
<p>As for the voting age, I think individuals should vote once they are actually an adult member of the community which is 18 because I think that only adults should vote.</p>
<p>Yep, unless it’s a solar powered one or something. And that’s the wrong answer, btw. Sailboats pwn.</p>
<p>Differential Calculus or Differential Topology? o_O </p>
<p>[Just kidding. :D] </p>
<p>Holistic admissions or strictly meritocratic admissions?</p>
<p>Differential Calculus of course! </p>
<p>Whichever one gets me into Harvard! (jk)</p>
<p>Sure, 'tho less and less of course. What do “top” schools have to do with it?</p>
<p>I’m not a big fan, just don’t see omelets that would take AA’s place and actually work. What’s your solution chef?</p>
<p>The Ivy’s are the closest thing to a quota. Each comes in every year with 8-9% of Blacks every year with the exception of Cornell. </p>
<p>My solution is to end AA which is the blatent discrimination we have now. I’m not frozen in time 40 years ago.</p>
<p>holistic admissions. i’m a big picture type of person.</p>
<p>i prefer obama over clinton (and everybody else xcept ron paul). However, i don’t think he’ll win, and neither he nor R. Paul have the experience or backing to get the things done that they’d want.</p>
<p>Wow. There are lots of questions here that I didn’t address yet. So this should get me caught up:</p>
<p>Affirmative Action: First, you have to define “Affirmative Action” because sometimes it’s awful and sometimes it’s appropriate. People who hate it point to the examples of when it’s used inappropriately. People who are for it point to examples when it’s needed. I’m for people having a fair shot, not “Affirmative Action.” So if AA gets in the way of people having a fair shot, I’m against it. If AA helps give people a fair shot, I’m for it. And, because the answers are often ambiguous or mixed, I’m for any ideas people can come up with to get this nation past its ongoing dysfunction and neuroses that attach to how we allow human qualities such as race, gender and more to be friction points that divide us and, worse, define us.</p>
<p>Braces: No, too expensive.</p>
<p>Fast Food: No to all of the above. Drink water, some all-natural juices…and, if you’re of legal age, a glass of wine now and then. For food, avoid procuring yours from any place where you order by the number or can get the “combo” for just 49 cents more.</p>
<p>Kids voting redux: I understood perfectly, prettyckitty.</p>
<p>Drinking age-majority age reconciliation: I’m not sure if the idea is that if we’re going to be responsible enough to vote, we should be irresponsible enough to pickle our livers. Or maybe the idea is that once you’ve come to grips with what you’ve done to the country by casting your vote for someone who destroys everything decent and good about the country, you should be able to drink yourself to the point where it’s no longer painful. Then again, perhaps it’s not about voting but about military service. And if you’re going to carry automatic weapons into combat, you should have the right to be blotto. Or maybe it’s not a right to be blotto when you go into combat as much as it’s a prerequisite. I can see the merits and economies of creating a uniform age at which a person has the rights of suffrage, voting, enlisting, consuming alcohol, fornicating, marrying, driving, etc.…but wouldn’t that be one helluva birthday party if you load everything into a single “rite of passage” date? I think you gotta hold something back. Give these things to people gradually. Give ‘em something to live for. If you think about it, 21 is too young to drink. Once you’re 21, what else is there to look forward to besides old age and death? Someone needs to come up with a list of awesome things that you get for the first time at every birthday through 100. If there were enough truly awesome things you don’t get until late in life, more people would take better care of themselves.</p>
<p>Powerboat…if going places means anything to you.</p>
<p>Neither differential calculus nor differential topology. Differential diagnosis is for me.</p>
<p>Holistic admissions. Because you learn from your peers and you want to have classmates that bring lots more to the table than any subjective measure can deliver. Your education is devalued if your classmates are determined by the data processing department. So if you would get into a school that runs its admissions from an Excel spreadsheet but wouldn’t get in if the admissions were holistic, you wouldn’t want to go to that school anyway. You may not even realize it, but you really wouldn’t want to go to such a place, so you should feel lucky, not bitter.</p>
<p>Finally, I’m not partial to omelets or omelettes. However, I won’t run from this thorny issue. If I’m doing an omelet, I may as well do the whole enchilada (so to speak) with a variety and abundance of meats, cheeses, veggies and four eggs…served with a pitcher of mimosas, preferably on an election day that’s stifling hot and with no breeze to set sail by.</p>
<p>D’yer Maker – Good post.</p>
<p>On the drinking age: It’s not about getting blotto (Mr. Mimosa), it’s about simple fairness.</p>
<p>If you’re considered mature enough to vote, get sued, or carry a rifle in Iraq or Afghanistan, (among other things), you sure as he double hockey sticks oughta be able to legally have a couple of cold beers after cutting the grass on a hot Saturday afternoon. </p>
<p>Otherwise, move the date for majority to 21. Or 25. Or 30.</p>
<p>Lower the drinking age for beer and wine to 18 and make the first time you are caught drinking and driving a mandatory 3 or more days vacation in the local county jail… no exceptions.</p>
<p>Affirmative Action: An imperfect solution for an imperfect world. However, what really ticks me off are those people bitterly opposed to AA, but who have no problem with alumni kids getting a boost. Once you recognize that we don’t have a level playing field to begin with, AA becomes a lot more palatable.</p>
<p>Fast Food: No. Good Food: Yes. Let’s start by banning drive through windows. Speeding down the highway with one hand stuffing a double whopper into your pie hole and the other on the steering wheel is good for neither your driving nor your digestion.</p>
<p>Drinking Age: I would have no problem lowering the drinking age to 18, providing they raised the driving age to 21.</p>
<p>I think prppd has a point, because more kids can get away with drinking underage than driving underage, so there would be less of a problem of drinking and driving.</p>
<p>You are frozen in time because it’s your type of mentallity that led to 300 years of slavery, racism and discrimination in the first place that has caused a program like Affirmative Action to be necessary. You can declare laws that end discrimination but every honest person knows that Institutional racism still exist. Like I said, Asians would have much higher representation in the Ivies were it not for Colleges that want balanced diversity. There would be a lot less acceptances for whites who score on average lower than Asians. Whites never complain about the Institutional advantages their race give them in America in all facets of life in this Country.</p>
<p>The fact that you would dismiss trying to remedy decades of discrimination testifies to your selfishness and I dare say your ignorance of the ramifications of blacks being held back for decades while whites were allowed to progress and pass on to their following generations wealth and property. It’s like being in a race that allowed whites to start running unimpeded for 300 years while blacks were brutally forced to wait at the starting line. How do you remedy that Streak? You don’t care so long as white priviledge and advantage is maintained. People like you are the problem that wants to absolve the Government of any responsibility for trying to address the ugly scar of racism in this Country.</p>
<p>George Bush is President because he is a wealthy incompetent legacy that gained admission to the top Boarding Schools and Universities despite the fact he was grossly unqualified for admissions with his pathetic C Average. The Jews had quotas put on them to limit their admission to HYP because they were qualified for more spots than the bluebloods felt comfortable with. Institutional racism has benefitted the white majority and Affirmative Action is a minor step in trying to address the grave impact of ruining black opportunity in America for 300 years. It’s also racist to assume that those 8-9% minority stats in the student body is unqualified for their admission achievement. I pray America runs away from the decadent mentallity you represent.</p>
<p>AA needs to be based on opportunity (national school rankings, socio-economic status)</p>
<p>Why give a rich, lazy, and pampered african-american kid just a much of an added boost as a poor, hard-working, and neglected one?</p>
<p>Well, cat, three days isn’t a lot. What’s to say they won’t go out and do it again? I think they should be mandated to go to at least six AA sessions or something. (alcoholics anonymous, not affirmative action :))</p>