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I believe in affirmative action but I believe it should be based on economic factors and not racial ones. I grew up in L.A. alongside many poor whites and they had endured many of the same problems we did yet never got any of the financial assistance, loans and other benefits that we could get. I never thought it was fair how some rich kid from the valley who was 1/4 Hispanic and had blonde hair and looked white could qualify as Hispanic despite there being nothing remotely Hispanic about him (Emilio Estevez).
And before liberals bash me, consider this forum. What if these financially poor Tea partiers, Evangelicals and other Right wingers had a chance to go to college, get educated and make something of themselves? I think country would be a lot better off. Who knows they might stop bashing Muslims, Gays and Minorities?
Last edited by azriverfan.; 03-30-2010 at 05:30 AM..
I hear you, and to some measure, I agree. However....
Even with affirmative action designed and implemented for everyone but whites, has it really worked the way it was envisioned? How are test scores in schools? What's the picture with minority ownership of houses and businesses?
In 1865, blacks owned approximately .5% of the national wealth. By 1990, this figure had grown very little ... to approximately 1% of the national wealth. That's not a lot of progress in 125 years.
Either affirmative action for blacks in particular has failed miserably, or, even with affirmative action, there are overwhelming advantages - economic, social, educational, employment - that whites have always had in this country that serve to mitigate affirmative action.
Perhaps it is time to shift the focus of affirmative action to the various economic factors as you suggest. I suspect that if that were done, more people would benefit, but that the benefit might go - as it generally has in this country - more to whites than any other racial group. But it might be worth a shot.
I think the real reason they don't implement affirmative action on economic factors is they are afraid that poor white kids will outperform the minorities and hog up all the AA spots. It's a stupid fear. I think for a white person whose family earns less than 25K, he or she should qualify for AA.
I hear you, and to some measure, I agree. However....
Even with affirmative action designed and implemented for everyone but whites, has it really worked the way it was envisioned? How are test scores in schools? What's the picture with minority ownership of houses and businesses?
In 1865, blacks owned approximately .5% of the national wealth. By 1990, this figure had grown very little ... to approximately 1% of the national wealth. That's not a lot of progress in 125 years.
Either affirmative action for blacks in particular has failed miserably, or, even with affirmative action, there are overwhelming advantages - economic, social, educational, employment - that whites have always had in this country that serve to mitigate affirmative action.
Perhaps it is time to shift the focus of affirmative action to the various economic factors as you suggest. I suspect that if that were done, more people would benefit, but that the benefit might go - as it generally has in this country - more to whites than any other racial group. But it might be worth a shot.
I think AA should be limited regardless of who it's applied to. I don't understand why AA is given at the graduate school level. If you received a college education and attended the same classes as everyone, why should you get AA for medical and law school for example? If you are a Black guy who went to the University of Michigan, do you really need AA when applying to its law school?
But I still stand by the fact that it should be based on economic factors not racial ones. Why should an ambitious and smart kid regardless of color be held down because his parents messed up? I know this is a little socialist but I believe every kid white or black should have a chance at the American dream.
Sorry but I don't buy it!!
The largest segment of people that benefits from affirmative action would be white women!!
"..These groups include women, Native Americans, Arab Americans, Latino/as, Asian Americans, and African Americans. Of these groups, the United States Department of Labor found that white women are the primary beneficiaries of affirmative action.
Focus on Affirmative Action (http://aapf.org/focus/episodes/oct30.php - broken link)
I'm not understanding how people deny that whites particularly the women, benefit significantly from affirmative action irregardless of socio-economic standing.
It's a total fabrication to suggest that only black people benefit from this program when it includes and as assisted every group of minorities including white men immigrating from European countries to the United States.
I think that more study should have been done before a post based on mis-information, and purposeful distortion as to what affirmative action is, it put forth as fact.
This has been thrown out there a few times over the last decade or so and has been hooted down every time.
I will probably get trashed for mentioning this but one of President Bush's initiatives while Governor of Texas was to guarantee admission to a Texas state college/university to anyone who graduated in the top (if I remember correctly) 25% of their class, regardless of GPA. 60 Minutes or some other show did a story on it with kids with a 4+ GPA, but not in the top 25%, from one of the Dallas suburbs complaining that poor kids from Dallas itself with 3.2s, but in the top 25% at their schools, being admitted to UT, etc. while they weren't.
I don't know if that program is still in effect.
I think the real reason they don't implement affirmative action on economic factors is they are afraid that poor white kids will outperform the minorities and hog up all the AA spots. It's a stupid fear. I think for a white person whose family earns less than 25K, he or she should qualify for AA.
You are correct, If applied to whites then the fear would be that the whites would actually use it as intended, not to JUST get free stuff provided by the gov.
We as a country have allowed the other colors (I hate the word minority) to get handouts and live from generation to generation in that form.
We do not push them hard enough to get off the handouts and make something better for themselves. Just look at the school systems we have in many of the larger cities, compared to the small (mainly white) towns.
I have said it before, and it is tough love but if you stop all the handouts people will get the idea and get out there and help THEMSELVES.
I believe that if a person shows that they have drive, motivation and the will to do better but just can not pay for it all on their own then we need to help them to a certain level, but not a free ride as our pres had.
There are many more problems with our country than just AA, we have illegals, drugs free flowing from the borders, people who want pot to be legal (OMG), and on with many problems in gov and them sticking their nose into my life instead of letting us come up the ideas and help us to install the solution. Teachers that don't really care except to advance themselves and get to their pension. There are some good teachers out there, but they get eaten by the system.
We need to step back, look at the big picture and take small bits, there is no way to solve the problems by putting a blanket over the entire thing and saying it will take care of the entire problem.
It goes back to morals, ethics and common sense. People need to be accountable for themselves, and stop always blaming everyone else for THEIR failures. If people would just stop wanting to live off the handouts and wanting more and more and get off the drug called the Gov, we might have more people that are helping this country grow and become prosperous once again. We have become a country of consumers, not producers. Shame on the lazy people to look for so called "free" stuff from the Gov, there is nothing free from the Gov.
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