Nearly 2/3 of American adults believe colleges & universities should not consider race at all in admissions decisions, with only 1/4 saying race should be allowed along with other factors.
They ideally shouldn’t know anything about the student other than their academic achievements. You could maybe argue for certain scholarships based on household income but everything else just perpetuates division. Most things that people attribute to race can be much better attributed to poverty anyways.
Interesting take that seems reasonable, but with even a small amount of reflection one can realize, like most things, it is never simple.
I’ll even argue that the idea that affirmative action perpetuates division is purely political propaganda, that it is a lie that is a projection of the lie itself causing that very perpetuation of division, with the intention to mask the reality that discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, and even religion does still affect almost every aspect of our society.
How do you account for income disparities that are rooted in the very historical systemic racism that is consistently reflecting itself across the entire spectrum of modern (American centric in this post’s context, but applicable almost everywhere) society? Being poor equates to being disadvantaged, while being poor and black/latino/other equates to being disadvantaged and also racially stereotyped by those who are part of and/or maintain wealth and power dynamics in the first place.
Affirmative action is not just a meme that exists for politically conservative white people to use as a foil to blame for their problems. Affirmative action is a negotiated strategy that is trying to improve equality of opportunity among the racial disparities inherent in societal structures that somehow still hold on to racial inequalities despite decades of reform.
I’d rather put more time and effort into discussions and support on these topics towards formulating solutions that are inclusive of helping those affected by wealth inequality AND those affected by systemic racial inequality, rather than being dismissive of racial inequality as an active point of consideration.
