A number of students replied to the recent post titled "
Whites Need Not Apply" which addressed the racial discrimination being experienced by whites and Asians from admissions offices at major universities. Many of the responses were interesting and thoughtful and some were sad. Here are excerpts from five of the many that were received:
Buchanan wishes to express the huge injustice going on at these universities, but is it injustice or are the roles simply being reversed. He states that minorities have a huge competitive advantage because of not being white. Yet, I wonder if he has even taken the time to see why these particular minorities score so low on their SATs. Did he take into account the preparation (to be more specific; the rigorous curriculums) needed to even score high on the SATs? Maybe here is where they (colleges) make up the difference.
Buchanan also states that whites are a minority and are being discriminated against at these Ivy Leagues. If this were the case, then perhaps he should go to an HBCU where he could in fact receive admittance and a scholarship for truly being a minority. Make the system work for you. I must ask the question is he angry because he was denied admittance into an Ivy League school (where upon graduating, you will leave with a prestigious reputation and degree) or was he truly aggrieved at the injustice he received. I can agree with him till a certain extent.
Yes more and more schools are admitting more minorities than whites. With that said I do not believe that colleges (Ivy Leagues included) will admit any “run of the mill” minority student just because they want money. Their SAT score may not be the highest but they may offer something more than just a score or sport. Perhaps they have potential unseen by others.
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What happened to equality? These application “boosts” don’t promote equality at all. A girl in my high school was born in Africa but she is white. She was in the same academic classes with me and several other white males and females. However, she was lucky enough to have the ability to put down African American on all her applications for scholarships, colleges, and any other applications. Because of that distinction, she received the majority of the scholarships available and made it into the honors programs at all her college choices.
I do not doubt the fact that she was smart. However she wasn’t at the top of our class, yet she managed to beat out more qualified students based solely on where she was born. Since when does judging one’s mental capabilities and intelligence depend on their race? If the point of applications is to sift through students to find the best on that class, shouldn’t they be compared to each other on even ground? The students aren’t being compared to each other at all; they are merely being exposed to the discrimination of race. So despite all the actions to stop inequality, the problem remains, only this time the targets have been changed.
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I am a Sergeant in the United States Army Reserve and the effect of this racism has even entered our military. Over my six years in the Reserve’s I have often seen African American and Hispanic soldiers promoted over a white soldier just because of the soldier’s race. I have witnessed this happen on occasions when the white soldier was much more qualified for the promotion, had more experience, more time in service, and had better leadership skills. This not only kills white soldiers’ morale but weakens our military.
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My mother is white and my father is black, creating a beautiful mix of culture and history in my life. I have always loved American history and I have always enjoyed hearing my dad talk about stories from growing up in Louisiana, discussing how his life changed as America became more integrated and accepting of color.
I know that affirmative action was created to allow underrepresented races a chance to be more accepted in the educational setting, as well as when dealing with employment, and at the time it was brought about it was necessary and many benefited. I feel, though, that this article has proven that it has now gone too far and that those in the minority position are being given almost too much of an advantage and I might even go on to say that it is insulting.
I thoroughly understand that there are a lot of differences when it comes to those of different races, social economic levels, and gender. No two lives are the same and because of the differences listed above, individuals will live very different lives and be given different opportunities. I feel though that Harvard has gone too far to make such a blatant difference between SAT scores based on race.
I understand there may be honest intentions behind it, but it could also be seen as though those who are minorities do not have the ability to get the kind of results as those who are white or Asian. I also think that it is very stereotypical to think that whites and Asians are the "smarter" races and that there scores must be that high in comparison to "lower" races.
We are in a new time, a new decade, and the playing field has been leveled so to speak. Yes, there is still discrimination and bigotry but I believe that that will always exist. It would be wonderful to know that when someone looks at me, my intelligence level is not automatically assumed because of the color of my skin.
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I completely and utterly agree with this viewpoint post! I can personally relate to this testimony. This past fall, I applied for guaranteed acceptance to Hershey Medical School. I was born for this program; it was suited to absolutely every aspect of my future career goals. This program started with 200 invited applicants and I was one of the lucky ten selected for an interview. When I walked into the room full of other interviewees, I noticed that [there were few] Caucasian people there. All of the applicants represented all of the possible races and genders. It was obvious to me right away that I had no chance of getting into this program.
Every other applicant in that room had an advantage over me because they were minorities. Each of the students I met that had been previously elected into this program were all minorities: one was Jewish, one was Indian, one was Muslim, one was African American, and so on. I had one reassurance because I was the only student there that seemed 100% dedicated to the intention of the program… to become a rural primary care doctor. All of the others expressed interest in other fields of medicine, and clearly were not meant for the program.
Six weeks after my interview, I made a phone call and found out I was not selected. Hershey neglected to even call me and tell me I did not make it. So much of my time, energy, and money were wasted on this failed attempt to fulfill my dreams. They told me I was an excellent candidate and they would love to have me, but in the end they could only pick two people… two very non-Caucasian people.
I am a humanitarian. I wholly believe in equality. I believe that minorities (African Americans, Asians, Hispanics) are equivalent in every way to the Caucasian majority. In addition, I do not believe that sex differentiates anything other than reproduction. I believe everyone should be treated with fairness and equality; everyone should be given the same opportunities as the next. Everyone in this world should be placed on an even playing field, despite race, gender, or religious beliefs.
People like myself have worked for so many years to bring equality to minorities. I find it disturbing that people like myself are now being punished for the selfless work they have done for minority rights. The flaws in our society regarding inequality have been excessively overcome--the majority is now the minority. The system has reversed itself. Today the majority can not succeed because the minority is being given special preference and special treatment.
Someone, somewhere is no doubt saying that all this is somehow fair and just, but it's a strange notion of fairness and justice that one has to hold in order to think so.
