G wrote: > What do you mean by "the means to make it through" ? Are you talking > financial? If that's the case, wouldn't poor whites have the same difficulty > as poor minorities? >
My writing must have been unclear. It was meant to mean, "The means to graduate." It wasn't in reference to the getting in part. Let's say that you have two candidates that were accepted into HBS (Harvard Business School). And for this example let's say candidate 1 is a poor Native American Woman with a missing right arm. Candidate 2 is a rich white male whose father is a US Senator. Both lack the mental capacity to complete even the minimum amount of work required. In this case, Candidate 2's father pulls some strings and uses his clout to ensure candidate 2 graduates from HBS. Candidate 1 is asked to leave the program after the first year. So if a candidate lacked the qualifications but was admitted due to his or her race, the system often weeds them out. This isn't a 100% effective but that is the normal case. > Elite programs weed out the weak based upon academic prowess....this is how > they define themselves as "elite". Academic prowess has nothing to do with > race. Exactly. That is my point. While the admissions process may vary from candidate to candidate, the graduation process is not altered for those who get admitted because of AA. > I still don't fully understand your reason for supporting AA. I didn't give you any reason why I support it. I wrote that despite it's being a major obstacle, I fully support AA. I also wrote some counter arguments as to why AA doesn't equate to getting a degree so the fear that student unworthy of a prestigious degree may earn them is non material. If you are curious, I support AA because I think that is the way to improve America. You are right, there is a number of poor white people whose future as just as dismal as the most indigent minority. But what you fail to consider is that the cause of why the minority is such a position is systematic. It has to be systematic or it is the greatest coincidence in the history of mankind. One of greatest fears of any institution is that a homogeneous worldview infects the group and varying opinions are not heard. When UMich was being sued, the largest corporations were donating to UMich legal fees. Why? Because companies want to diversify and there is already a small talent pool of qualified minorities. I'm not talking just about CEOs but even middle level mangers. Moreover, minorities (women included) will need a greater qualifications to secure a similar position as their white male counterparts. Why is that? Is it because all of them lack the merit? I don't want to discount the voice of anyone. It is unfortunate that a poor white male might not be afforded the same opportunities as his minority counterpart. A common argument I hear is that his concerns and interests are being protected by powerful white men while the minorities voice is not being heard. I don't really buy it. But I don't think AA addresses this issue. AA addresses that their is a indisporportionate amount of white students vs minority students (if you remove Asian students). Why is that? More importantly, my views also happen to be aligned with those of the Supreme Court. It is their Constitutional opinion that Universities, even public ones, have the right to include some form for Affirmative Action in their admission policy. Perhaps AA isn't the best answer. But it's better then sitting on our butts and waiting for social injustice to be vanquished. Or perhaps this is a way to eventually reduce the social barriers that prohibit minorities from getting an education. -- 2004 - The year $184M couldn't buy a pennant. Ron Artest: Extremely flawed, very accidental, semi-martyr ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:144287 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
