Affirmative Action programs: Good or Bad?

[GAsux]

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a clue. But here is my thought.

Let's use college admissions as an example. The idea behind AA in college admissions is diversity. So question #1 ought to be, why is there no diversity in schools? Is it because white college administrators are preventing minorities from attending? I don't think so. I think the common argument is that admissions standards (ie. GPAs, standardized tests, etc) unfairly discriminate against minorities who typically are schooled in substandard educational programs, therefore they aren't able to compete favorably against white peers. Hence the need to "level the playing field" by allowing different standards for whites and minorities.

What I'm saying is that this in essense is a crutch that avoids the root of the problem and as a result will never solve them. I do not propose any specific social program to enact the change, but I'm thinking that the focus ought to be creating a time in the future when minorities ARE competitive with whites, and therefore no longer need the the government or administrators to give them a boost.

This, in my mind, is the ideal situation. To find away to ensure that at an elementary/secondary education level, all students regardless of race or economic standing are receiving somewhat comperable educations. This will allow minority students to have the same educational tools that whites have, and allow them to compete favorably against whites ON THEIR OWN merits.

I would think that by attacking the root of the problem, it would benefit all the side issues. Again I am hardly intelligent enough to solve the problem, but it seems to me that we're focusing our energies on stop gap measures like AA instead of finding a way to eliminate the problem entirely.