http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-court-affirmative-action-20151209-story.html
The article above talks about affirmative action and whether or not it is constitutional. The article specifically talks about the decision of the supreme court about The University of Texas's policy. The school argued that it was not needed anymore due to the law that guarantees the top 10% of each high will be accepted, of which one third have been African American and Latino. Others who opposed the idea of doing away with it say it helps those who would normally be discriminated against (whether it be conscious or subconscious). This however is the second time the supreme court has heard this case, the first being two years ago. They ended up sending it to a lower court to figure it out.
This speaks to what we talked about in our class discussions about race, affirmative action, and Mills' racial contract. I think it is important to keep in place because if one school gets to remove it many others will want to. Also we do not live in the color blind society that we wish we did, people are stereotyped by their race. For African Americans and other minorities this hurts their chances of getting into higher education. We discussed in class about whether it created or destroyed equality. I believe that it creates equality by giving everyone a chance at achieving their highest potential. I would also fear about what would happen if a very racist school was allowed to get rid of affirmative action because others had. It would lead to no minorities being accepted to that school. Mills also mentions the economic inequalities between whites and African Americans. I believe that this is due to the inequalities of education, which is being counteracted by affirmative action.
I agree with you Erika that we need affirmative action to remain. I also definitely agree with your last point as well. Social class and race are very much so connected. Due to years of the institutionalized racism, that Mills describes, when it comes to the opportunities for minorities to achieve wealth and economic advantage. Studies have shown that the more economic advantage someone has the better education they are likely to receive due to being able to live in an expensive place with good schools. As a result of this institutional racism, many minorities have been pushed into lower income neighborhoods with bad schools. Although they maybe very smart, many unfortunately are not given the opportunities to advance their education. Due to this we need affirmative action to make up for these disparities created by years of institutional racism.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you Erika. Affirmative action is important because minorities who are unable to pursue their interests and education, would not be able to have a chance if affirmative action was take away. Also due to the institutional racism, as Hyla says, minorities are getting put in lower class places, and they are not getting the best education possible. Idealistically we wish to live in a society in which we do not need to be judged by our race, but since that is not how it works currently we need to focus on helping the minorities out.
ReplyDeleteI also think using Texas is not a good example to get rid of affirmative action because it has a much higher black and latino population than a lot of other states. Because of institutionalized racism minorities are educationally and economically disadvantaged so it is important to keep affirmative action. Also, just because the top 10% gets accepted that does not guarantee that those students can actually attend the university depending on financial aid and economic status of the student. Affirmative action helps remove some of the many obstacles minorities face entering into higher education so it doesn't make sense to get rid of it
ReplyDeleteI also agree that affirmative action needs to remain. I think we must also recognize that affirmative action was put into place due to the lack of balance inside institutions. For instance, a great majority of the student population were white and this was to allow more people of color into institutions.I also believe that affirmative action was input in order to try to balance out the institutionalized racism and discrimination of people of color in the education system.I do not think that it should go away until the education system is corrected.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the above comments. Especially since we do not live in a color-blind society, there are still problems that minority students face that affirmative action helps. Just because one school starts accepting more minority students does not mean that all schools should be given the option to get rid of a program that has helped a great deal of students across the country.
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