JNightshade
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OK, first off, I decided to post this in light of the (not incorrect) allegations that everyone's just been saying "I told you so" instead of offering solutions.
I was thinking about the Affirmative Action issue in the US. Over here, colleges and universities have a quota of "minority students" to fill. This is MANDATORY, and as a result, sometimes white students will lose a spot in a college to a less qualified applicant, simply because that person has a different skin color. Of course, this has always bothered me, but when I sat down and thought about it, the solution hit me like a rock:
start with the community.
think about it! The idea behind affirmative action is extremely flawed. I won't argue out the various views, but Affirmative Action essentially states that, for whatever reason, minorities need help getting into colleges. We're all humans here, and the genetic differences are only skin-deep. So it can't be a hereditary issue. And the more I thought, the more I realized that the whole thing is one big stereotype... it's not the "minorities" that need help, it's the poor. The cause of all this trouble is substandard schooling, bad neighborhoods and learning environments, and the like. It's not a color issue at all. However, our dear government, full of corrupt old white men, deemed it so. This needs to change. So I believe the US needs to adopt an "Alternative Action" plan. We need to pour massive amounts of funding and willpower into doing a job that should've been done years ago- helping the poor. We need to fund better schools, better neighborhoods, better minds. We need to give the needy a better chance. And then we need to set up committees that do the exact OPPOSITE of Affirmative Action: make sure that race is not a factor whatsoever when college applications are looked at. Of course, this would take a very long time to achieve, so in the meantime we could simply change affirmative action, so it takes income into account, rather than race. But in the long run, I think we need to make the change.
I was thinking about the Affirmative Action issue in the US. Over here, colleges and universities have a quota of "minority students" to fill. This is MANDATORY, and as a result, sometimes white students will lose a spot in a college to a less qualified applicant, simply because that person has a different skin color. Of course, this has always bothered me, but when I sat down and thought about it, the solution hit me like a rock:
start with the community.
think about it! The idea behind affirmative action is extremely flawed. I won't argue out the various views, but Affirmative Action essentially states that, for whatever reason, minorities need help getting into colleges. We're all humans here, and the genetic differences are only skin-deep. So it can't be a hereditary issue. And the more I thought, the more I realized that the whole thing is one big stereotype... it's not the "minorities" that need help, it's the poor. The cause of all this trouble is substandard schooling, bad neighborhoods and learning environments, and the like. It's not a color issue at all. However, our dear government, full of corrupt old white men, deemed it so. This needs to change. So I believe the US needs to adopt an "Alternative Action" plan. We need to pour massive amounts of funding and willpower into doing a job that should've been done years ago- helping the poor. We need to fund better schools, better neighborhoods, better minds. We need to give the needy a better chance. And then we need to set up committees that do the exact OPPOSITE of Affirmative Action: make sure that race is not a factor whatsoever when college applications are looked at. Of course, this would take a very long time to achieve, so in the meantime we could simply change affirmative action, so it takes income into account, rather than race. But in the long run, I think we need to make the change.