Affirmative Action Hurts White People

“But because of affirmative action or minority something—she is not sure what they are calling it these days and weren’t they supposed to get rid of it?,” writes Claudia Rankine in her critically acclaimed American book, Citizen. Within this quote, Rankine begins to showcase the narrative of a black women in a society that strives to be color blind. Affirmative action has caused controversy as it threatens white supremacy since it favors diversity. The bitter attitude towards affirmative action expressed by whites, causes people of color to feel apologetic for their achievements and opportunities. Claudia Rankine reveals how white supremacist attitudes trigger people of color to live their life in an apologetic nature through the short stories of the cafeteria, the neighbor calling the police, and the Serena William’s celebratory dance.

Grutter V. Bollinger Research Paper 2 Abstract Barbara Grutter (plaintiff) which is a resident of Michigan who was denied admissions into the University of Michigan Law School. Lee Bollinger (defendant) was president of the University of Michigan. Grutter filed this suit because the University had discriminated against the basis of race. Supreme Court ruled that the use of affirmative action in school admissions is constitutional if it treats race as some factor. Is affirmative action still necessary for guaranteeing equal access to educational opportunities at elite universities and graduate schools?

Welders Equal Philosophers Consider the idea that a welder deserves the same intellectual respect as a philosopher. If you have conformed to society’s standards of what jobs require the most intellectual activity, then this idea might seem irrational and intriguing. On the other hand, people such as Mike Rose, author of The Mind at Work, would claim that this idea is true and even defends it in his book. Rose is a firm believer that the modern world has undervalued blue-collar workers. It is common for people to criticize vocational schools and advertise for four-year colleges, and that is what provoked Rose to take a stand.

Procedural history. Barbara Grutter (Plaintiff), a white resident from the state of Michigan, was denied admission to the University of Michigan Law School (Defendant). She sued the Law School in a federal district court, and alleged racial discrimination against her in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment on the basis of the Defendant’s consideration of race as a key factor in the school’s admissions process. The district court upheld the Plaintiff’s claim. The court of appeals reversed.

“Generation Debt” by Alethea Spiridon is an argumentative essay that outlines the harsh reality of student loans. The author examines the consequences of student loans as well the reasons higher education should not come as an expense to the individual pursuing it. In the current job market a post-secondary degree is a prerequisite for almost any profession and the sad reality is that this costly degree is not a guarantee of future wealth. The author effectively explains why treating education like a luxury good can impoverish everyone, and outlines ways student debt can burden graduates’ lives. However, she fails to examine the reasons student loans can be advantageous, and this is problematic because there are several missing benefits including manageable reimbursement options, lower interest rates, as well as student friendly terms and conditions when compared to a standard loan.

Barbara Grutter, a white woman applied to the Law School in 1996. She received a 161 LSAT score and obtained an undergraduate GPA of 3.8. Grutter was not admitted at first but placed on a waiting list but ultimately rejected. In 1997, Grutter, similar to Bakke, filed a suit against the Regents of the University of Michigan claiming the she was discriminated against based on her race which violated her Fourteenth Amendment, more specifically the Equal Protection Clause, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Grutter’s main arguments against the Law School included the fact that she was rejected because the usage of race was a “predominant” factor, allowing racial minority groups “a significantly greater chance of admission than students

And so, she thought she had to be someone different to fit the idea of who a black woman is. That is why she should not say she went through a racial transition; because she always has been who she is. In short, Sarah Valentine’s “When I Was White” does an excellent job of how racism, internally and externally, warps people’s perception of black people. While Valentine claims to have gone through a transracial identity crisis, she just had self-esteem issues on top of misguided perceptions of race and what it means to be

Many factors influence one’s decision in doing and/or creating something, so, to what extent is it possible to still be original? Original is the idea that something was created directly by one person without the influence or imitation of someone else’s earlier ideas or work. In “Biographies of Hegemony” Karen Ho discusses the challenges that many Ivy League students face while trying to meet their institution 's expectations, as well as the heavy recruitment by Wall Street bankers on college campuses. In “The Naked Citadel” Susan Faludi, addresses the violence among students at the Citadel, as well as their lack of originality and suggests that the cause is due to the rejection of society. In “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism” Jonathan

The above incidents indicate that hate speech on the college campus is very common and serious. Some people argue that we must impose some sort of punishment for perpetrators of offensive speech on campus, whereas some oppose regulation on offensive speech. Mari J. Matsuda, the author of the article, “Assultive speech and academic freedom,” is a supporter of hate speech regulation on campus. First, she argues that hate speech on campus violates American democracy since it infringes on the rights of minority students to have equal access and equal participation in the college (Matsuda, p.150). She mentions that it is unlikely for most university students of color to experience campus life without coming across offensive speech or harassment (151).

Gerald Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism” contemplates the age-old idea that street smarts are anti-intellectual. However, as Graff points out, “schools and colleges are at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into academic smarts.” (244). What Graff means by this is that being street smart does not mean a person lacks intelligence. Rather, educational institutions need to find a way to effectively ‘tap into’ this different format of intellectualism to produce academic intelligence. Graff goes on to point out that society associates ‘weighty’ subjects, like Shakespeare and Plato, with intellectualism, but not less serious subjects, such as sports and video games.

One concern is that BWP leads to over incarceration, which Kelling and Bratton respond to this by admitting that, yes, it does; however, the crimes people are being imprisoned for are far less serious than those that are being prevented by BWP and their sentences are thus much shorter. But, the main concern is that SQF, and therefore BWP is inadmissibly discriminatory towards minorities. Once again, Kelling and Bratton give ground by not defending the abhorrent results of the 2011 SQF’s, which resulted in over 700,000 stops and only a 6% success rate. They instead talk about how much their methods have improved with far fewer stops and a higher success rate. This may seem like an odd way to address the claim of discrimination, but the point is that they now are making much more calculated decisions when stopping people, and not just frisking minorities at random.

Meshefejian has the better argument that students should not be paid. One reason why Meshefejian has the better argument is his credibility on this topic. Al Woods wrote the weaker opposing viewpoint that students should be paid. Al Woods was a college athlete at Louisiana State University; making him a bias author. He only sees the struggles and problems to his argument.

The learning aspect is important but I also believe that students that come from poorer communities and challenging childhoods should have an opportunity to attend top universities. The alarming differences in pay will only continue to increase if African Americans and other races do not have the opportunity to attend college. Diversity is important to the American culture and we need equality for all races to move forward as a country. Ruling The Supreme Court came to a 7-1 ruling favoring the University of Texas. The Supreme Court emphasized the learning benefits from a diverse student body.