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... oking. Black and Hispanic admissions are down significantly at the two top campuses in the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA. Black admittance to Berkeley and UCLA is down 57 % and 43 % respectively.
Hispanic admittance is down 40 % and 33 %. The drop was far less dramatic for the whole college, which includes six more campuses. The total drop was 17. 6 % for blacks and 6. 9 % for Hispanics (Krauthammer 23). This shows the large number of non-qualified minority students that were enrolled in the prestigious colleges. I say non-qualified because of their dropout rate and their much lower SAT average.
On the other hand, the door was not shut to minority students. These students were enrolled into the less academically rigorous colleges in California where they more likely met the standards, and succeeded. The quotas that schools use for the enrollment of minorities harm minorities themselves. First of all, affirmative action hurts their campus environment. White students as a whole look down upon minority students.
They generalize that all minority students were accepted only due to affirmative action. Where as the white students had to work hard to achieve the academic standards of the university. Minority students that do meet the standards and maybe even outperform their white counterparts are being unjustly discriminated against. How do you think they feel about people of their race who get admitted solely due to affirmative action? The discrimination is pointed out by Ernie Sandoval, a Hispanic college student in California, "I consider affirmative action to be reverse discrimination, and I think affirmative action is counterproductive. I think it helped the African American community throughout the ' 70 s for a while and women.
But at this point it is dividing the races" (Morin and Warden). Also, the students accepted because they had to fill a quota probably do not have much respect for themselves. With the elimination of quotas students can take pride in knowing that they got accepted because of their academic achievements. Maria Prado from Los Angeles who was rejected by San Diego, and UCLA, but approved by Los Angeles shows how great pride is. "I think that taking away affirmative action has hurt me in a way. But in a way, I think it is better because they don't emphasize who you are but what you can do" (Bronner Referendum). Quotas help minority students get accepted into college, but they do not help them graduate.
The dropout rate for blacks at Berkeley was 42 % compared to 16 % for whites (Krauthammer 23). What is the point of students getting accepted into a college that they are not academically prepared for and then failing to graduate? The students who drop out have wasted money, and are "artificially turned into failures by being admitted to high-pressure campuses, where only students with exceptional academic backgrounds can survive" (Krauthammer 24). They may become discouraged and quit school all together. When recruiters scout a baseball player, they look purely at player's abilities. If the player is not good enough, he is sent to the Minor Leagues.
If he proves himself there, he gets moved into the Major Leagues. There is no affirmative action program in baseball. Let us say they were required by the government to properly represent the community by recruiting a player who is above 40 years old. There are qualified people in this group such as Nolan Ryan and Cal Ripken, but only a few. So the scout recruits the best player in that age group as possible.
This player then gets dropped from the Major Leagues because he is not playing well enough. Thus, his esteem could be hurt, other teams could note his failure, and his career may end. Where as, he could have had a great career in the Minor Leagues and possibly have ended up playing a few years in the Major Leagues. Sports recruitment is based solely on performance. African Americans have become the majority of players in the NBA. This is because they have worked hard to beat their competition.
You do not see big movements by the ill-represented white, Asian, or Hispanic community to have their groups recruited. They understand that they are not being recruited because of their lack of abilities. Minorities should not be accepted into a prestigious college if they do not meet the academic standards. Instead they should look into going to a less high-pressure college.
White students have been doing this all along. There is no affirmative action for them. They go to the college that is best suited towards their current academic stance. If they perform well, then they can move up. Our goal should not be to push students into a situation they are unprepared for, but instead to prepare them for the situation beforehand. The fundamental problem lies with primary and secondary schooling.
The government needs to provide more funding for these schools. In fact students in urban schools are not even getting the books they need. 21 out of 24 students interviewed in the San Francisco Bay Area reported there were not enough books to go around in their classes (Dedomenico). After providing more funding, the government should research programs that enhance the learning for minority students. If students are given a quality education like the majority of white students, there will be no problems getting them into the top colleges. The minority community can also improve the situation by promoting learning and getting their peers to hold education at a higher level. The notion of quota guidelines in the enrollment of minority student in public universities should be eliminated.
Schools should be able to retain the right to enroll some minority students based on the added values of diversification. Quotas hurt minorities in many ways. Minorities are being discriminated against on college campuses. Those enrolled as quota fillers usually wind up dropping out, unduly jeopardizing their college careers. Also, students knowing they may have been admitted only due to affirmative action obtain lower self-esteems. Stopping the use of quota based enrollment will send ripples through our educational system, and help improve the quality of education for minorities.
Society as a whole will benefit. Works Cited Bronner, Ethan. California's Elite Public Colleges Report Big Drop in Minority Enrollment. 1 April 1998. < web -- -. Referendum Has Impact at 2 Leading Campuses. 4 January 1998. < web Dedomenico, Adrian.
Teacher, Can You Spare a Book? 22 Oct. 1997. < web Department of Labor. Policy statement on affirmative action. 26 August 1976. Gudeman, Romance. Building Better Scholarly Environments: One Faculty Member's Perspective on the Value of Diversity. 29 April 1999. < web Krauthammer, Charles. "Lies, Damn Lies And Racial Statistics.
Figures from all the University of California campuses paint another picture. " Time 20 April 1998: 22 - 24. Morin Richard and Sharon Warden. "Americans Vent Anger at Affirmative Action. " Washington Post 24 March 1995: A 01.
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Research essay sample on University Of California Affirmative Action
