<p>Lets cut to the chase. When we talk about affirmative action, we never discuss how much women have benefitted (perhaps at the expense of equally qualified men) nor do we ever discuss how many unqualified rich white people have benefitted at the expense of others due to the legacy rule. We only discuss the Tyrones and Pedro of the world turning the otherwise mostly white (and Asian, see, white people DO like it when minorities succeed!) Ivy Leagues into 50 Cent videos.</p>
<p>I have come on today to discuss a completely different alternative, instead of eliminating affirmative action altogether, I suggest we give white people affirmative action in institutions which they are not getting ahead, no not the NBA. Prison. It is obvious to everyone that a disproportionate amount of minorities make up America’s prison population. I feel that this is unfair to white people everywhere that it’s so easy to be prosecuted as a black or hispanic male in this country. What about all the enterprising white criminals out there (excluding serial killers)? </p>
<p>My suggestion: Raise the prosecution rate of white males in this country to match that of black and Hispanic males and adjust the sentances accordingly. The prison population will balance out and then everyone will be happy. Problem solved.</p>
<p>I don’t think that’s such a great idea. You shouldn’t raise the prosecution rate of one population just to benefit the other, it’s just not right.
The better solution, which has already been put into use, is to make traditionally black and hispanic neighborhoods better places to grow up and educate them. Many of these people who end up in prison usually were influenced by gangs, bad childhoods, and less-than-stellar educations. The white population shouldn’t be punished because of the performance of a minority.</p>
<p>eliminating the race factor wouldn’t be the best idea. typically, URMs have lower SAT scores/grades, which is why they are given an advantage in admissions. getting rid of the race factor would probably result in a lack of minorities in a student body.</p>
<p>But paying more attention to one race than another isn’t the answer. I respectfully disagree. <em>throws chair at computer while curses above poster</em>
How is giving one race an advantage over another a good idea?</p>
<p>It’s not, but because people feel obligated to reverse what was done to a certain race for a long, long time. I find it ridiculous, and it will never really reverse anything, and just makes thinks worse, but this is what politicans make as the reversal.</p>
<p>One argument for affirmative action that I find irrational is that URMs are “qualified” to go to a school. For the Ivy League schools, a lot of the applicants are “qualified” in the sense that they would probably do well. Last year, Tulane students came to Cornell and it wasn’t as if they were extremely suffering under the workload. The fact is that the resources are limited and college admissions should be really picking the cream of the crop. It is totally racist to give someone an advantage just because of ethnicity. Affirmative action should be based on socioeconomic level because one’s resources have more bearing on one’s success than one’s skin color. The rich minorities predominantly benefit from affirmative action. Sad part is that URMs still do not do well relative to nonURMs in college. IMO affirmative action is rewarding people for mediocrity.</p>
<p>The ideas of AA would be better if they applied to socioeconomic class, and not race. </p>
<p>Tons of rich african american kids who for all intents and purposes are having traditionally “white” upbringings get an advantage, while impoverished white people are expected to live up to the standards of their more well off counterparts.</p>
<p>The Journal of Law and Economics (Vol.41 no. 1): Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Sentencing: Evidence from the U.S. Federal Courts (David B. Mustard, University of Georgia).</p>
<p>The conclusion of this and many other sentencing studies show that minority criminal defendants receive harsher sentences than white and female defendants for the same crime when age, gender, economic and educational factors are taken into consideration. </p>
<p>Based on the article’s conclusions, minority criminal sentences need to be reduced to be more in line with white felons. Or white felons need to have their sentences increased. Given sentencing trends, white felons get all the breaks…</p>
<p>You people misunderstand my point. Affirmative Action in America’s prison will only HELP white people (mostly men since most criminals are males, but there’s plently of room for females as well). Think about it like this:</p>
<p>Poor minorities, in addition to facing the gross income inequalities that prevent them from being able to pay for college also get the shaft when it comes to primary education as they tend to live in low income areas where property values are too low in order for their property taxes to sufficiently fund public schools.</p>
<p>Similarly, most white crime is committed as so called “white collar” crime. Money laundering, fraud, tax evasion and so on. Unfortunately for enterprising white criminals everywhere, white collar crime is unfortunately harder to prosecute (according to the powers that be anyways) and the sentances are often less even though much more money is lost in this country due to white collar crime than so called “blue collar crimes” (petty theft, assaults, grand theft auto etc.). Where is the justice? I believe that white people are being systemically discriminated against by the American justice system and getting the shaft when it comes to getting careers in the underground economy simply due to the colour of their skin and the socio-economic background they were born into. </p>
<p>There is no doubt in my mind that white people face a glass ceiling when it comes to getting a job within the underground economy. Of course there are exceptions such as the Russian Mob, the Mafia or the various number of biker gangs, but what happens if you’re not Russian, Italian-America or able to drive a Harley? By increasing the sentances of white criminals to match that of their minority brothers and sisters, I feel that white criminals will be able to get more respect in their field and rise to the top faster.</p>
<p>It is my dream that one day we will see a white boy from the suburbs be able to rise up the ranks and head the Bloods or Crips in compton like his black friends he claims to have.</p>
<p>A question I’ve always though about is: how does *race * bring *diversity/I], other than physical diversity? In our schools, do we see each race being classified exactly to each other, each having a specific ‘diverse’ trait? Are all of a certain thing pertain to only one race? An African can play soccer, an Asian can play soccer, a Hispanic can play soccer, a Caucasian can play soccer. Who is the most diverse?</p>
<p>When colleges say they want diversity, etc., etc., Chaos, they want people of all races. But allowing a less qualified minority over more qualfied a white is racist, no matter how you spin it.</p>
<p>Quality should matter, as opposed to race. </p>
<p>If admissions were race-blind, this would dramatically change everything. Yes, one race might be predominant over another, but who says it would be Caucasian? I’m not saying that we should immediately do that, but it’s something to think about.</p>
<p>Elite universities are fearful of actually committing to socioeconomic class because it presents major problems:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>blacks probably 70 to 80% of the time - are from middle class or often upper middle class families - thus under a (socio-economic AA only) color-blind admissions policy - they would have to present GPA’s and SAT score similar to white and asian applicants, which they have historically not been able to do, the bottom line being their numbers would drop</p></li>
<li><p>First generation asians, who already are doing well under existing color-blind segment (i.e non-AA race system) of admissions, could under a system applying affirmative action to socio-economic status increase their number even higher as some asian ethnicities, especially Cambodians and probably Koreans as only 2 examples - would probably do very well.</p></li>
<li><p>Even more troubling (by college official’s reasoning) would be the additional amount of “poor” white applicants that would have to be admitted </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Unless colleges move to true merits based admission, this mess would only grow larger</p>