I think I've come up with a
FAIR solution that incorporates both sides of the argument for and against Affirmative Action.
As someone else said, there's no use whining about what you perceive as an unfair system, because it's unlikely to change
unless you start an e-mail campaign (to your friends/families/co-workers) &
talk show hosts & newspeople (
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected], etcetera) to get U.S. citizens to write their Congressman or Congresswoman.
Make sure to include in your e-mail something like the following:
"Please forward this e-mail to everyone you know and also write your Congressperson about changing Affirmative Action. It takes 2 seconds to write your Representative because all you have to do is copy and paste the speech below and then go to the website": <a href="http://www.house.gov/WriteRep/" target="_blank">http://www.house.gov/WriteRep/</a>
Obviously the current system of "Affirmative Action" or "Reverse Discrimination" (depending on your point of view) isn't working:
A) Under-Represented-Minorities (URM's) think that they need Affirmative Action (AA) to succeed, but resent being given a stigma and thought of as "being let into college with lower standards" if they get into a university such as Harvard (or any college for that matter) because it could never be proven otherwise.
B) Caucasians and Asians think lower standards should not apply to someone just because of their race.
There seem to be two major problems that resulted in having to have AA in the 1st place:
1) In this country, African-Americans and other minorities have a higher percentage of poor people and as a result, end up in school systems with lesser facilities.
2) African-Americans and other minorities think that "whites" in the system are prejudiced towards them.
Concerning
issue #1, as most have pointed out, this is an economic problem and could easily be dealt with by changing Affirmative Action to take income into consideration (
for all races), like many other low-income programs do, such as
"HEAD START" which start helping students before they're even in kindergarten.
In addition, if a "disadvantage" status could be proven (the same as a low-income status has to be proven), then it should also be taken into consideration. For example, you could prove that (a child has hopped from 1 foster home to the next, or has been abused, or has physical malformations) through court/legal documents, police, & doctor reports...
This way, Eddie Murphy's kids wouldn't have lower standards to get into school, and yet the children of Billy Bob Bubba Jackson who lives in a "white trailer park" in the hills of Appalachia (not that there's anything wrong with that), would get a boost. Of course, Affirmative Action is a short-term solution, because we need to heal the wound of "poverty" in this country (quoted because U.S. poverty is drastically different than, say, 3rd World Poverty) as a long-term solution, instead of always relying on a bandage. So that can be left up to greater minds to come up with a long-term solution to end Poverty. Oh, and while they're at it, they can come up with the solution for World Peace too. :wink:
Concerning
issue #2, as has also been pointed out, there are steps of anonymous test-taking methods or other methods that could be implemented to prevent any racist teachers ("white" or "black") from raising or lowering test scores of students based on their race. Anyone who doesn't think this, then all I have to say is, we put a man on the Moon 40 years ago; I think we have the technology to come up with a more fair and anonymous system. In addition, it should be illegal for schools to ask "legacy" questions or for med schools to ask "is your relative a physician?" question.
Of course, prejudice is never going to be totally wiped out (from "blacks'" attitudes towards "whites" and vice versa), but prejudice isn't confined to race. A morbidly obese Caucasian girl with severe acne no doubt experiences more prejudice than a Black-African model such as Tyra Banks. :wink: Also, from several statements concerning this topic such as the following: •••quote:•••I don't know who was talking about white supremacist schools holding black people back, but the simple fact is that minorities do not get an adequate education because the school boards spend more money on metal detectors and security guards than books</font>•••...it seems that most people think that the 1st problem is a much bigger factor and issue than this 2nd problem anyways.
The reason why I think this solution is a fair compromise is that it will
still affect African-Americans and other minorities
to a greater extent since their experience of prejudice and their percentage of poor are greater than non-minorities', and their "legacy" situations are less. Therefore, it will not neglect the fact that URM physicians are necessary for serving the URM community, and it will significantly reduce the "stigma" associated with African-Americans getting into universities.
And such a solution will also take into account poor non-minority children and disadvantaged children of all races, while letting Eddie Murphy's kids fend for themselves. <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
Start your e-mail campaigns today. :wink:
Somebody with some sense...nice to know some of my future colleagues have their eyes open and aren't letting the fact that they didn't get into their no#1 choice blind them with anger and ignorance...
