Originally posted by twaspatz
If I was black, I would be truly offended about affirm. action BTW due to my race. It is everyone saying, "Gee lets give this poor negro a few butter points, cuz everyone knows if you're black, you must be dumber than the rest of us""
As I was reading through some of these responses, I was a bit perturbed. Not that i haven't heard these things before, and not even for the fact that I attended graduate school at the University of Michigan when the affirmative action cases were in progress... but to hear someone make such an assumption, that because I am African-American, I should be offended by a policy that was instated to assist groups that have been historically disadvantaged on a societal level, well, I'm not sure what to think.
If affirmative action (which has greatly benefited first and foremost women over racial/ethnic minorities in higher education), was designed only to benefit URMs who are "sub-standard", wouldn't it be the case that all black or Latino students would be accepted to every medical school that they would apply to, regardless of background? Wouldn't African Americans and Latinos be flooding every college and university? I think that this is hardly the case.
With regard to the original post, as was said before: we do not know this young woman; we know nothing of her background, nothing of her circumstances. She might have started out with a 2.0 and ended up with a 4.0; she might have made a sincere plea about wanting to work in underserved populations where physicians are needed; maybe she didn't list other ECs that she may have done through her choir (maybe it was in her essay). We just don't know.
When the application of any student comes across the desks of an adcom, there are adcoms that look at an applicant as a whole. Maybe an applicant, like the young lady in question, has extenuating circumstances which they feel may have hindered their progress. Without knowing this person's complete record, we truly cannot make an accurate judgement of how she will compete with students who have better numbers and ECs, or her performance as a future physician.
So try not assume that because a student has been accepted at a medical school that it has happened simply b.c of affirmative action. I appreciate everyone's opinion here, and everyone has their right to an opinion, and if you want to end affirmative action, take the advice of the person who suggested writing to your congressmen/women about it. I am glad that there is a forum where people can express themselves.
But please, please, please do not make assumptions that because I am black, that I am "a poor negro" looking for "a few butter points", and I should feel ashamed of who I am and that regardless of merit, I will always get brownie points for being black (which is not the case). While your comment may not have been malicious in nature, please be a little more cognizant of the overall audience here when posting.
If anyone has responses to me, please PM or e-mail me. Thanks.
