Affirmative action: is it a valid solution?
With the current social justice movements happening, I can't help but talk about affirmative action and acts like ACA 5. In my opinion, I believe the use of affirmative action and acts like ACA 5 are not good solutions to the problems of lack of diversity and lack of opportunity for upper level education. Don't take my stance in the wrong way though. Diversity is something that is needed to help society advance since the different viewpoints and backgrounds of people can come together to create something new and innovative. Furthermore, by offering people of color a chance to learn at a top university may lead to the creation of the next Albert Einstein, regardless of their current academic ranking. Many people of color live in poor areas and do not have the same access to educational resources as people like me (consider that my privilege). So, it makes sense that I should achieve more in my high school career meaning it should be easier for me to get into a top university.
To level the playing field, affirmative action allows students that are not as fortunate as me to have an opportunity to get an education because they did not have the chance to prove themselves in high school. But, by using affirmative action and providing a handicap for people of color to get into top universities to account for race, colleges are essentially disregarding the work that I have done and forcing me to do even more so that I can stand out and earn that spot at a top university. I understand that my access to more educational resources has helped me to become the student that I am, but treating people of color differently in terms of college admissions is not the right way to help them. Instead of making it easier for them to get in and not helping them grow as students in high school, we should focus on helping people of color gain access to these educational resources. The government can provide more funding, better teachers, and more assistance to poor neighborhoods so that these students can hopefully reach their highest potential instead of taking handouts to get into top universities. Therefore, affirmative action and acts like ACA 5 should not be used to help people of color due to the lack of benefit for both people of color and people with educational resources. There are better alternatives that can help both sides.
