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Monica Monarez

Professor Joyce Schenk

English 1C

15 April 2015

Assignment 5

A college education is something that should be available to those that want

a college degree. Anything other than the ambition of wanting to better their

education should not be a factor in applying to a college. Race should not be

considered in college admissions because college classrooms today are more

racially diverse than in the past, colleges may pass up equally or more talented

students, and no race should be held to a higher standard than another.

College classrooms today are more racially diverse than they were in the

past. In the mid 1960s racial discrimination was a huge problem in the United

States, especially in schools. The idea of Affirmative Action, a policy in which

members of a disadvantaged group are favored because they suffer from

discrimination, has played a key role in helping minorities get ahead in the past,

but is no longer about nondiscrimination, its about racial preferences, explains

Khin Mai Aung, a Staff Attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and

Education Fund. Laws that were implemented to prevent unfair treatment created
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regulated preferences towards a specific race, which in the past were needed;

however this is not the case anymore. The United States desperately needed

Affirmative Action laws because of the heightened racially discriminatory society

people lived in. U.S. News & World Report surveyed 286 of the top national

universities for the 2013-2014 school year and of these schools 43% were greater

than 50% racially diverse. This shows that Affirmative Action played a successful

part in the diversity that was so much needed in the past. President Barrack Obama

talked about his support on not making race a factor in education, If we have done

what needs to be done to ensure that kids who are qualified to go to college can

afford it, then affirmative action becomes a diminishing tool for us to achieve

racial equality in this society. Affirmative Action did what it intended, now it is

time to eliminate these laws completely. In the past it was hard for many people of

different ethnicities to become an educated, college graduate in society, but this is

not the case today.

Usually, race in college admissions policies can help to incorporate and to

facilitate diversity into higher education institutions that has been something in the

past, this is not the case today. Instead, policy makers emphasized students

opportunity to compete for college admissions ignoring that the opportunities for

and impediments to success at different high schools varied widely across the state.

The implication of these findings is that as policy becomes race neutral, discourse
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also becomes colorblind potentially disguising structural and secondary school

inequalities. (Wagner)

Colleges may pass up equally or more talented students when using race as a

factor in college admissions. When colleges use race as a factor in college

admissions, they are required to only allow a specific number of individuals from

an ethnic group. If colleges are not accepting students based on their race, they

could be losing out on an academically significant student. Abigail Fisher, a white

student, applied to the University of Texas and ended up suing the university due to

illegal discrimination:

In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 71 decision in the first

major affirmative action case it had considered in a decade. The case, Fisher

v. University of Texas, involved the admissions process at the University of

Texas in Austin, which automatically accepted students who were in the top

10 percent of their high school classes, but considered race in the second

round of acceptances. Abigail Fisher, a white applicant who had been denied

admission to the school, alleged that the university's consideration of race

was unconstitutional under the equal protections clause of the Fourteenth

Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees every person the

equal protection of the laws. (Affirmative Action)


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Fisher could have contributed and gained educational standing, but because of race

she was never allowed to participate in the college of her choice. Race is not

determined by a conscious decision; however people do have a say in their goals

towards academic achievements, choice in field of education, extracurricular

activities they pursue, and many other factors that college admissions concern

themselves about. College admissions should admit students that are academically

suited for their school based on the standards provided in their college applications.

Race-conscious college admissions policies can help provide opportunity by

administering purposeful access to all students. Professors concentrate on teaching,

not the color of their students skin. It is unfair and unconstitutional to give people

systematic preference based on the color of their skin or their gender.

(Affirmative Action). The college professor is more concentrated on their lesion

than the color of tier pupils skin. Therefore, race should not be the reason for

providing students a more circulating material to better their education.

No race should be held to a higher standard than another in any college.

College students should be held to the standards of their academic achievements

not the color of their skin. Allowing race to be considered a factor in college

admissions is illogical because students have no control over their race. Robert
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Scime, a junior in Mass Communications and columnists, speaks for the college

students of the University of South Florida about the issue of racial profiling:

Racism is an unfortunate and detrimental aspect of human existence. Over

the course of American history, racism has changed substantially from the

times of segregation and the civil rights movement to the present. However,

racism will never be fully eradicated until the color of a person's skin is a

nonissue and people are just seen as people.

Although racism is a disappointing and even heart-breaking part of history, it does

not need to be practiced in the present, nor the future. Not accepting a student and

the acceptance of a student based on their ethnicity is modern day racism on behalf

of all college admissions departments in the United States. No persons race should

be held to a higher standard for any university.

Considering race in college admission promotes diversity, although that was

something that as needed I the past, it is not the case today. Using affirmative

action to admit minority students to universities promotes equality. Affirmative

action improved education in the past, but is not needed now. Race is not

something that defines who someone is as a person and what why they should not

be chose to be educated. Without knowing how applicants' demographical

information is used, numerous participants express feelings of frustration,


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insecurity, and confusion. A lack of transparency and information in policies

designed to achieve equity lead to widespread misunderstandings about the

importance of these initiatives in promoting access to diverse individuals.

(Robin)

Whether because of the past or how a specific race was treated in the past,

race should not be a considering factor for college admissions. A college education

should be available to anyone that is willing to work for it. No matter the color of

your skin, race should never be considered in college admissions. College

admissions should not be discriminated against because of race.


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Works Cited

Aung, Khin Mai. Its Time to End Affirmative Action: A

Debate. Intelligence2 Ltd. Issues & Controversies. Infobase

Learning, 2007. Web. 21 April 2015.

Klosowski, Thorin. "Should Race Still be a Factor in College Admissions?".

Article. 03 March 2010. How Stuff Works, 1998. Web. 22 April 2015.

Campus Ethnic Diversity- National Universities. U.S. News and World

Report. August 2013-14. Web. 25 April 2015.

Affirmative Action. Issues & Controversies. Infobase Learning, 29 July

2013. Web. 24 April 2015.

Scime, Robert. Race Should Not be a Factor in College Admissions. The

Oracle. 15 February 2011. Web. 24 April 2015.

Winkle-Wagner, Rachelle. When Race Disappears: College Admissions

Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 May 2015.

Malcolm, Aleks. Policy Discourse In The State Of Texas." Educational

Policy. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 May 2015.


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Liu Hopson, Robin. "What Does Race Have To Do With It? Challenging

To Preserve the Admissions Process." Canadian Ethnic Studies.

Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 May 2015.

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