Preliminary Draft

I've been at schools where affirmative action has been championed. Until this Fall, when our class discussed two articles related to affirmative action, I had not recognized that many Hispanics (and probably many blacks, too) do not think special admissions programs for minorities are fair. Nor had I thought about the issue of improving public schools so that Hispanics and Blacks will not need special admissions programs. Class discussions as well as articles I've read recently have made me question my original position.

"Rethinking Affirmative Action" encouraged me to explore my views (Finley). Whereas Finley had formerly been against affirmative action, I had long been for it. Finley has begun to recognize that whites are "over-privileged." Finley writes "Until one admits he is over privileged, he will never be able to understand the use of affirmative action."   Finley's willingness to look over his earlier thoughts and reconsider them influenced me to do the same.

Class discussions have influenced me and made me re-examine my views. Many Hispanic students are outraged at the notion of Affirmative Action, since it implies that they are not good enough to make it on their own. These students get at an important point: Affirmative action programs don't take into account whether racially disadvantaged groups such as Hispanics actually want or believe in affirmative action. Nor do advocates of Affirmative Action think about the effect it has on minorities, who are often embarrassed by talk of preferential admissions policies. David Horowitz, a writer for Salon, an Internet magazine, explains the effect racial preference has on minority students: "Little is more humiliating to the racially preferred than open discussion of the conditions of their admission."

Another article reveals an issue I hadn't considered adequately: it is unfair for wealthy minorities to get scholarships when poor whites who are equally intelligent are not even granted admission to the same schools. Roger Hernandez' "The End of the End of Affirmative Action" points out that not all Hispanics are needy. Some can pay their own way to college with little difficulty, just as well-to-do whites can. Those who can afford to pay should not be granted Affirmative action support just because they are a different color or ethnic background. Socioeconomic need, not ethnicity should drive scholarship programs.

It takes time and effort to set up affirmative action programs and administer them. Perhaps that time could be better spent. I agree with The editor of The Daily Texan who implies that rather than castigate Graglia and champion affirmative action, administrators should do something about "the wretched state of our public schools or the poverty infesting the inner cities and the barrios." A focus on helping the schools from which poor students emerge should be where the extra energy goes.

Even though I still think that many aspects of affirmative action are worth keeping, I think it is time to end affirmative action programs and create new ways of resolving inequity. I've come to feel that affirmative action programs, as currently implemented, are causing more problems than they are solving.