The Reasons Why Affirmative Action Causes More Harm Than Good to the Minorities in America

Affirmative action is one of the most recent and popular civil rights policies that is affecting today’s society. Affirmative action is an attempt by the United States to amend a long history of racial and sexual discrimination. But these days it seems to incite, not ease, the nation’s internal divisions. Affirmative action can be described as nothing more than a lower educational standard for minorities. It has become quite clear that affirmative action is unfair and discriminatory for a number of reasons. One very recent and heated debate is that of using race as a consideration in college admission. Although the government may think that by using affirmative action in this form they are helping out underrepresented minorities, they are actually causing more concern than they may realize.

There are several reasons why race should not be a consideration in college admission. A utilitarianist, or someone who believes in doing what will maximize social utility. Like John Stuart Mills, would say that affirmative action in colleges lowers the educational standard. When an underrepresented minority comes to college from a high school lacking many educational tools. College can seem like a slap in the face. From a purely statistical point of view, the races that benefit from racial preferences in admissions, generally have lower standardized test scores and secondary school grades–two factors that typically weigh highly in both in undergraduate and graduate admissions, and for which there is no simple remedy. Unfortunately this lowers the standard for others to be admitted and it is a continuously downgrading cycle. A utilitarianist would say this because they would want what is best for the community as a whole, and a lower educational standard is not going to benefit students in any way (besides making college easier for those who are prepared), or better our society. A utilitarianist would also say that affirmative action (based on race) could easily be solved by helping out pre-college level schools that are lacking educational tools to better their students’ educations. By doing this, we would be bettering society and actually raising the educational standard.

The next issue is one that an egoist, or someone who believes that is their duty to pursue their own interests, would take. Based on statistics, the fact is that education does not actually help underrepresented races, because of their lacking educational background. Admitting academically unqualified students, admitted under racial preference, into a highly competitive university environment would be disadvantageous to their educational growth. Unprepared students facing such academic competition would likely be demoralized and could possibly drop out, as has been documented with otherwise unqualified students admitted under athletic preference. An egoist would agree with this opinion because regardless of whether or not a student is pursuing a higher level education at the rate at which they are learning, they only care about themselves and how it is going to benefit them. If underrepresented minorities are going to harm their education, and be accepted at a lower rate because of it, an egoist would be happy, because it could possibly greaten their chances of being accepted in to a highly competitive university.

The final issue which must be addressed is that of discrimination. A utilitarianist, an altruist, an egalitarianist, and even someone who believes in the Divine Command theory may take this position. Regardless of race, the admission process should be one based on that solely of grades and testing. Racial preferences go against the idea of equality, expressed by the phrase, “all men are created equal.” It also creates tension between races. This is not helping out society, in that it creates social boundaries and now, with race being a consideration in the college admission process, educational limitations. Race should only be a consideration if humans had the option to change his or her race. An altruist would agree with this statement because they are someone who believes in the unselfish concern for the welfare of others. An egalitarianist would agree with this solely because they believe that what ultimately matters is equality and nothing else. An altruist would say this because by creating tension, there is not tranquility and equality between people in this country. A utilitarianist would agree with this because by creating social divisions, they are not doing what is best for society as a whole, they are actually contributing to its downfall. Someone who supports the Divine Command Theory, or someone who believes solely in God’s will, would agree with this because it is not God’s will to have dividing lines on his “sacred” Earth.

Altogether, race should not be a consideration for college admission. It does not help out the cause of the situation, which is poor preparation in lacking education, and thus does little to contribute to a day when racial preferences won’t be obligatory for the sake of a racially diverse student body. Simply put, it only creates problems, rather than fixes them.

Cite this page