As you are all probably aware, the Supreme Court is taking up another affirmative action case, which might further curtail a dying social policy. Arguments against affirmative action or other race-conscious admissions programs have always driven me crazy. I'm a woman of color who came from a disadvantaged background (raised by single mother with three siblings) and probably benefited from race-conscious policies at my private high school and university. And I don't apologize for it.
What drives me crazy about the backlash against affirmative action?
Whites who claim they were denied admission seem to assume that they were entitled to it. If they did not get into a school of their choice, it MUST be because the brown students got in unfairly.
More below the squiggle....
They don't see the inherent problem with that mentality. Why do white students believe they are entitled to admission to the college or university of their choice?
The student in the case before the Supreme Court, Abigail Fisher, did not graduate in the top ten percent of her high school class, which would have guaranteed her admission in the University of Texas-Austin. But she doesn't seem to have a problem with that top-ten cutoff.
Nooooo. She's got a problem with the fact that she didn't get in anyway.
The University's president says she would not have been admitted regardless.
But, in her privileged mind, she entitled to get in, so someone has to pay.
Never mind that others are chosen for other reasons:
In an interview in his office in Austin, William C. Powers Jr, the university’s president, said the attributes that the university seeks have many dimensions. “We want diversity in terms of economic background, first generation, geography, inner city, suburban middle class,” he said.
Why doesn't Ms. Fisher and her lawyers suggest that she did not get in because of her economic background? Or her residence? Why do they ONLY have a problem with the idea of race as a consideration?
I have long believed that while many whites say they believe in equality, that in truth, they do not want to have to compete on a level playing field. They want an advantage. When they don't get the admission letter or job, they turn their anger and disappointment toward people of color - who, by definition, don't deserve success or opportunity because they can't possibly be smarter, or harder working, or a more interesting overall student. Every person of color must have gotten an unfair advantage.
That's bull.
People like Ms. Fisher don't want to accept what many people of color have always known -- that life ain't fair and you have to make the most of what you have.
She's not any more entitled to admission than anyone else who applied.
But it's easier to blame the underserving brown student than to suggest that the top-ten percent cut off rejects some students who work hard -- but not hard enough.