The Argument against affirmative action

What is affirmative action?  For some people, it is seen as a potential equalizer that can help minorities.  For others, affirmative action is seen as something that hinders certain minorities.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, affirmative action is “(in the context of the allocation of resources or employment) the practice or policy of favoring individuals belonging to groups known to have been discriminated against previously.”

For many Asian households, affirmative action is a terrible thing for their children. How could something that is seen as an equalizer for minorities, be something viewed negatively?

Many Asian parents believe that affirmative action will prevent their children from getting into college. College admissions are already very difficult for many high-schoolers, since they have to focus on extracurriculars, while balancing out difficult classes, challenging sports and teenage drama.  For many Asian parents, affirmative action will harm their children’s chances of getting into college.

Not only are parents concerned; Asian students are also frustrated by affirmative action.  In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, a group of Asian-American students argued that Harvard had discriminated against Asian-American students.  The plaintiffs, (the Asian-American students,) argued that Harvard had imposed a racial quota, preventing a large Asian-American population at Harvard.  The plaintiffs argued that the percentage of Asian-American applicants had grown, but the percentage of Asian-Americans admitted still remained the same.  Additionally, Asian-Americans received lower ‘personality’ ratings, with applicants being rated as poorer leaders, unkind, meek (not brave), and unlikeable, compared to other applicants.  However, Asian-American applicants received much higher scores when it came to test scores, grades, and extracurriculars. Because of their lower personality ratings, many Asian-American applicants were rejected from Harvard, despite scoring the highest in most categories. An economist from Duke argued that an Asian-American applicant who had the same score as a non-Asian applicant, would be least likely to be accepted, having an acceptance rate of 25%. However, if a black applicant had the same score, the chance of acceptance would be 95%. A Latinx applicant would have an acceptance rate of 77%, while a white applicant would have an acceptance rate of 36%.  However, Harvard argued that the percentage of admitted Asian-Americans has grown 4%, from 17% to 21%, despite the fact that Asian-Americans make up 6% of the American population. Although Harvard ended up winning the lawsuit, this group of brave Asian-American students has filed an appeal.  

Meanwhile, in California, to the relief of many Asian parents, Proposition 16 (which proposed to allow affirmative action in higher education) didn’t pass.  For those who are in favor of affirmative action, many people were upset that Proposition 16 didn’t pass, believing that Latinx and African-American communities would continue to face hardships when being accepted into colleges.

However, I firmly believe that affirmative action is unfair to Asian-Americans.  As an Asian-American, it’s common knowledge that the Asian-American population has always had a hard time getting into college.  As a member of an “overrepresented” minority when it comes to college, I’ve accepted the fact that I would have to work harder to achieve my dreams. I’m thankful that Proposition 16 hadn’t passed; if Proposition 16 had passed, it would’ve made it much more difficult for all Asian-Americans to get into college.

For those who argue that affirmative action would help underrepresented minorities, affirmative action is not the correct solution. Affirmative action allows reverse discrimination to occur.  Instead of allowing affirmative action, we must focus on improving the education of underrepresented minorities in college.  Many Latinx and black communities face inequality in education; as teenagers, we can work together to help solve these problems. Many organizations, such as CovEd and Engage STEM are working to decrease the inequality in education, to help these underrepresented minorities.  

The issue of affirmative action is that it requires logical thinking. Affirmative action has allowed the Asian-American community to bond. For the first time, many Asian-Americans voted, in hopes of keeping equality and fairness for their children. They bonded together and protested against affirmative action, fighting back against the stereotype that Asian-Americans don’t fight for what is right.

I hope this article helped you understand affirmative action better.  I’ve attached a few articles to help you navigate affirmative action. 

-Jade


http://care.gseis.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/care-brief-raceblind.pdf

https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-sad-irony-of-affirmative-action

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/the-painful-truth-about-affirmative-action/263122/

https://stopprop16.org

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/17/proposition-16-why-some-asian-americans-are-on-the-front-lines-of-the-campaign-against-affirmative-action/

https://studentsforfairadmissions.org

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Jade