College Admissions Boards Should Focus on Academic Credentials and Not on Minority Status

For many decades, the decisions of college admission officers have depend chiefly on economic and academic backgrounds. However, overtime, it has been legislated that an individual’s race and even gender could also be considered during admission decisions. The notion of race as a deciding factor is known as affirmative action. Affirmative actions were put in effect to rid of discrimination and boost opportunities for minorities who don’t receive equal advantages. In this effort, however, admission officers have overlooked the effort and time that an individual student invests into his or her work. While the underlying purpose of affirmative actions sought to boost the advantages of minorities and remove discrimination, these decisions should be withdrawn from admission decisions.

The intentions of affirmative actions towards gender have been brought up to fill for the gender gap in many colleges. Colleges and Universities reasoned that a balance of gender in campus will account for a more successful education. However, the desire for this diversity does not necessarily result in a rewarding environment; rather colleges do so to use this overall outlook of the school to appeal to others. Therefore this intent draws more to benefit the school rather than students. Having a diverse school filled with students who lack the requirement and knowledge won’t contribute to serve for an effective educational system, but rather create a situation where the student will lag behind in class and drop out of college. Admission officers are trying to create equality by using inequality. In the end, it comes down to a waste. However, if a school recruits students who are capable and qualified, it will create a symbiotic relationship for both ...

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...rity over someone who is more capable will demean another student who made an effort just to be admitted to the college. In other cases, some might argue that it discriminates students because of their race. In Dennis Draughon’s cartoon “Supreme Irony,” he illustrates the irony of the taking into account race to promote diversity. Although there are nine Supreme Court judges, only one of them is black and the others white. In regards to affirmative actions, whether it is for race or gender, instituting a more diverse setting only draws stereotype and discrimination against the majority. School admissions should be decided upon one’s ability and talent, if not, in the end it will hurt our country if workers are constituted more on diversity than on capability. Instead of stirring up consequential ineqaulity admission officers should choose proficiency over diversity.