<p>When you think about it, all they’re trying to do is help the “poor” blacks and latinos because their Academics are not on par with the rest of us, this is why they don’t take asians into account even though they are a minority, in fact there are less asians than blacks and latinos but they can still succeed. It’s not really about race, the Blacks and Latinos just can’t perform as well, its really condescending the way the government handles this with the affirmative action BS. You can’t just force people who aren’t intellectually gifted to do well in school. We need people working at McDonalds after all.</p>
<p>As a member of an underrepresented and socioeconomically disadvantaged ethnic minority, I’m going to have to say that I fully support affirmative action at California’s public university system. Let’s face it; there is a strong correlation between education and socioeconomic status, and the number of Blacks and Mexican-Americans living in poverty and graduating from post-secondary education are disgusting. Something has to be done about this inequality, because we simply can’t have a large segment of California’s population that is uneducated, underemployed, and dependant on social services.</p>
<p>Some of you argue that affirmative action doesn’t work and that "once they get in since a lot aren’t prepared for that type for rigor they struggle ". Yes, it is true that admitting under qualified admits perform less than their more qualified white and Asian counterparts. However, those less qualified minority students who do finish their degrees are just as likely to be successful in their fields of study as their white peers.</p>
<p>[Making</a> the Case for Affirmative Action - Table of Contents](<a href=“http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/descriptions/making_the_case/index.cfm]Making”>http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/descriptions/making_the_case/index.cfm)</p>
<p>@ Ryan unless you are suggesting that blacks and latinos are not as intellectually gifted as whites and asians than I assume you agree that there are other factors at play. I believe the government should address those primary factors, not simply let them persist and try to correct the inequality down the road with bias evaluating scales. And yes we do need people to work at McDonalds, but those people should be disproportionally blacks and latinos because of past civil, economic, educational discrimination ect.</p>
<p>@RYAN: I’d suggest you get off your high horse because white males are becoming an extinct species at campuses nationwide too. In fact, some schools are using affirmative action to bring in more “unqualified” male applicants.</p>
<p>So what if it’s only Asians and Whites? A lot of them worked for that spot. Someone mentioned before in a classroom debate: some people don’t have the opportunity to take such classes. One of my teacher’s former student was Asian, valedictorian, ran clubs and etc. He was denied because he didn’t have the required classes until he explained that his school didn’t offer it. Not saying it’s always going to happen, but it does happen. No one is segregated now (unless by their own volition.) There really isn’t a valid excuse for it NOW. There’s nothing physically holding a black applicant back now. The problem with the black community now is they still believe they are slaves and still believe they are segregated; even those who were not alive to experience either. They continue to condition their children to believe it but to what avail I have no idea.</p>
<p>There shouldn’t be any exceptions because of race. I don’t think it’s fair to give a slot to someone who qualified for it versus someone wasn’t quite on par but had more of a chance because of what they bubbled in. All applications should be anonymous when getting reviewed.</p>
<p>Get rid of the names and stupid ethnicity check boxes on all applications. Assign ID numbers instead.</p>
<p>@Ryan - In the United States there are more blacks than Asians, but in CA Asians outnumber blacks nearly 2 to 1.</p>
<p>I support BigJohn1’s idea, it seems the only fair way to do it.</p>
<p>@RYAN</p>
<p>There is still racism in the country and if you don’t believe me, take a look at your own posts because they are the very definition of racism. The sad part is that there are millions of Americans who think like you.</p>
<p>“Let’s face it; there is a strong correlation between education and socioeconomic status, and the number of Blacks and Mexican-Americans living in poverty and graduating from post-secondary education are disgusting. Something has to be done about this inequality, because we simply can’t have a large segment of California’s population that is uneducated, underemployed, and dependant on social services.”</p>
<p>I completely agree!! Asians are obsessed with going to UC’s, I guess it’s a status thing that’s part of their culture… anyhow, there are so many issues involved with this. Bottom line is that the UC’s are public schools and they should represent the public. It doesn’t make sense that a poor black mother is paying taxes which somehow go towards funding the UC system, yet because she’s poor her kids aren’t the best educated therefor they don’t get into the schools that she’s been helping to fund. Doesn’t make sense to me!</p>
<p>like bigjohn has said, They should assign every applicant to the UC a NUMBER… & admission officers ONLY SEE THE NUMBERS AND APPLICATION.</p>
<p>Merit based admission seem to be the only way to protect the integrity of the institutions.</p>
<p>Besides, doesn’t favoring one group of people inadvertently handicap the others? </p>
<p>I dunno…I think this is a bunch of lunacy. Even if a student has a disadvantageous background, good grades and test scores open the door to scholarships and financial aid.</p>
<p>it’s amazing that america, by trying to abolish racism, promotes racism. affirmative action is racist, against the majority. that’s right, you don’t have to be the part of the minority to be discriminated against. in essence, the universities are saying “we’ve got too many white kids, how do we deny them access?”</p>
<p>and it’s not like affirmative action SOLVES anything. it’s like they’re trying to cure the inequality within american racial economy differences, one underprivileged student at a time. and no offence, but that student will probably end up dropping out since the university is too hard in the first place. so in essence, they solve NOTHING.</p>
<p>why can’t they do the “no play no fowl” rule and just let people in on merit? that way they just don’t acknowledge the problem and avoid all counts of racism. because seriously, the defense “why won’t you let the stupider kids in?” just doesn’t cut it</p>
<p>@smcguy: cool, well we will take away your spot and give it to her child.</p>
<p>lets put it this way…if your white or asian you must work twice as hard to get into a UC while the hispanics and blacks only need to maintain a 2.4 to get into UCLA</p>
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<p>I completely agree. I don’t care if it’s a private organization allotting money for scholarships for certain races (even though it’s racist, it’s their money) but I am a little concerned when public entities are racist.</p>
<p>What about schools like USC? It’s clear that they admit more white students…this seems wrong too.</p>
<p>@SMCguy</p>
<p>What about Xavier, Howard, and Morehouse?</p>
<p>Im a hispanic student and I personally am against affirmative action. I want to know I earned my spot at UC. I dont want to get into a school just because of my race. I also dont believe that its all about race. I think that it has to do more with economic status than race. A poor white person living in a trailer park or ghetto is just as likely to do poorly in school than a minority. It just so happens that there are more poor minorities than whites in California. </p>
<p>I also agree that all admissions officers should only see a number versus a name when viewing applications. This way there is no discrimination or preference towards minority students. </p>
<p>I grew up in East L.A. to Mexican immigrants that to this day speak very little English. I could have easily fallen “victim” to the streets, but I made a choice not to. I put in the work and now I go to UCSD. We dont need special treatment, we just need to work hard.</p>
<p>Affirmative action fails so hard in college admissions. African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans have a harder time being admitted to graduate schools and being hired after obtaining their degrees. Additionally, Affirmative Action handicaps Latinos/African Americans because they become reliant on AA, making them a weaker population.</p>
<p>So if you look at the demographics of US- 4.4% Asian/15.7% Latino/12.4% African Americans, and take a look at the racial make-up of prestigious schools, you will see that there are more Asian students than there are Latinos and African Americans combined. What does that tell us? You figure it out. Sure, there are many African Americans/ Latinos who grow up in unstable households, but what about South Asians? Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Malaysians? They’re also poor and are underrepresented in schools, yet they don’t get any benefits that Africans/Latinos do.
Personally, I think people just need to wake up, pull their thumbs out of their butts and start working harder.</p>