I look around our campus, and I see people from all different races, cultures and religious backgrounds attempting to better their lives by advancing their education. All schools of thought, ideology and opinion are represented by countless academic groups and cultural committees promoting diversity, forward-thinking and cultural understanding.
Why, then, would we want to discover that many of our fellow students were admitted to Ohio State largely because of the color of their skin and not because of their hard work?
Maybe I am naïve in my belief that it certainly was their academic track record and not their skin color that allowed them to reap the benefits of our institution. With diversity and cultural understanding actively flourishing right in front of our eyes, we must be suspicious of programs — such as affirmative action — that give special preferences to individuals based on their race.
On Jan. 15, President Bush asserted that the University of Michigan’s program of racial preferences for minority applicants was divisive, unfair and unconstitutional.
Republicans and Democrats both strive to make social diversity a 21st century reality. Their methods, however, differ through distribution. Democrats want to give everyone a free ride because they feel guilty about our forefathers’ actions, and Republicans want race-exempt judgment of performance with applicable standards of equality.
Affirmative action is an excellent program in theory, but flawed in practice. By only influencing admissions decisions for applicants whose race qualifies them for consideration, this program hypocritically claims to “level the playing field” between minorities and white Americans, excluding other equally qualified applicants from educational opportunities because of their ethnicity.
These policies accomplish exactly the inverse of their intent.
Affirmative action directly states that race determines the content of your mind. The ideas, thoughts and feelings you possess only have value because of your skin color. You are only intelligent, insightful and valuable because of your ethnic heritage.
What could possibly be more racist them that?
All affirmative action does is Balkanize the population by dividing us into different ethnic tribes and letting us fight for what each group can easily obtain without conflict — success.
Bush has received an outpouring of largely partisan criticism. Any time you take a controversial stance on any racial issue, even if you’re right, it becomes a free-for-all, and every self-proclaimed pundit and political pragmatist from sea to shining sea decides to put in his two cents.
Unfortunately, my least favorite public figure decided his opinion on this issue actually held a glint of precedence. The Rev. Jesse Jackson claimed Bush is “intentionally flaming racial fears for wedge politics” by opposing a fundamentally flawed initiative.
That’s pretty tough talk from a so-called “man of God” who knocks up his mistress.
Regardless, I’m sure you’ve heard the argument that affirmative action is necessary because access to higher education is disproportionate. In many ways, this seems true, but I would argue that we have a more diverse ethnic landscape on our college campuses than ever before, and this trend continues to grow by the academic year. College education is so accessible that Bachelor’s degrees are slowly becoming obsolete, only giving those individuals with post-graduate education a leg up on their peers.
The Democrats should be focusing their criticism and our taxpayer resources on the real root of our problems with educational accessibility — poorly funded inner city schools, underpaid teachers and the children who are being left behind.
The real world doesn’t give a free ride because certain racial groups are deemed “special.” The real world looks at how you’ve proven yourself over time, and what talents you can offer to help your fellow man.
In this respect, the real world is a beautiful place.
Andy Topetzes is a senior in political science and criminology. Send all comments to [email protected].
