Follow-Up on Affirmative Action
A few weeks ago, I published a piece on Harvard’s affirmative action case. In that piece, I argued that although affirmative action may hinder Asian American’s admission chances, affirmative action policies are necessary to account for racial inequalities that exist in the education system. My argument came from my experience in two vastly different school districts and the opportunity inequality that I witnessed in these two districts.
Following the publication of that piece and the recent prominence of the case, numerous people I’ve discussed the issue with have stated that affirmative action should switch from race-based to income-based. These critics have argued that race-based affirmative action reinforces racial constraints, while also creating generalizations between certain races and their socioeconomic status. Such critics have also said race-based affirmative action seemingly dismisses underprivileged white students while failing to account for black students from advantageous backgrounds.
Race-based affirmative action isn’t perfect. I don’t disagree that it perpetuates artificial race-based constructs or that it doesn’t do a good job of addressing white students who are less fortunate. Shifting away from race-based affirmative action, however, is dangerous.
While socioeconomic disadvantages may confer similar struggles regardless if a student is white or of color, non-white students face an additional plight: inherent racial bias. Minority students encounter unspoken biases on a routine basis throughout the course of their young lives, and these biases place a proverbial glass ceiling above their heads, limiting their potential and their desire or ability to perform (I can speak to this on a personal level).
It’s erroneous to think that these racial biases -- the ones that are pervading throughout our nation -- are absent in the college admissions process. Undoubtedly, racial biases have affected and will continue to affect some admissions officers’ decisions. Even with race-blind admissions, simple factors such as student’s name may indicate race and trigger prejudice.
While all minorities face racial biases, black students face it in a unique and amplified way. Their struggle has existed for hundreds of years, and racism is strongest against blacks. Moreover, due to other issues with social injustice, their struggles are statistically more likely to continue across further generations.
Colleges can solve the socioeconomic problem by providing a boost to underprivileged students, regardless of their race. Some colleges are already doing this in their admissions process. Adding such a procedure in tangent to race-based affirmative action may make the admissions process more of a meritocracy, although creating a true meritocracy is a far-fetched goal. Entirely removing race-based affirmative action, however, unjustly fails to consider the unique, prolonged issues that minority students, especially black students, have endured and will continue to endure.
