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As always, your comments are welcomed.
posted by Mr. Carlisle at 4:54 PM
Monday, May 23, 2011
As always, your comments are welcomed.
About Me
- Name: Mr. Carlisle
- Location: Portland, Oregon, United States
I'm a native South Carolinian and I attained my undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of South Carolina. I taught fourth grade for two years in the Mississippi Delta and two years at an alternative high school in Western North Carolina. I have been at Tigard High School since the fall of 2003, where I teach U.S. History and Psychology.
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7 Comments:
I think affirmative action may lower standards of accountability needed to push students to preform better. By setting lower standards for admission for certain minority groups, we are lower also the level of accountability. Its condescending to minorities because it implies affirmative action is needed for them to succeed. Students admitted to high universities because of affirmative action might be ill-equipped to handle the schools they've been admitted to. A standard needs to be set that well represents the level of difficulty of the school, and the standard needs to be universal to all students. I'm not talking about GPA, because that can vary from school to school. More like standardized testing scores and stuff.
Its silly to say that black people still need to be compensated for slavery and oppression. Most of the black people I know are very intelligent and could into the schools of they're choice easily. We have a black president, which also shows how times have changed from the oppressive state of the 1960s. From what I can see, the playing-field is pretty even between blacks and whites.
Affirmative action should not be based on race because that can also be seen as racist. However, I do agree with what Jack said earlier about being targeted at economics, for pretty much all the reasons we discussed in class. Some students starting at a disadvantage need a boost, but not because of they're race.
7:00 PM
I don't think African Americans or any other minority group intentionally earn lower marks or do poorly on the SAT or ACT thinking that some affirmative action program will gain them entry to college.
Why are standardized tests the most effective way to measure intellectual ability. The SAT doesn't really measure the scope of one's knowledge in high school, it's rather good at measuring one's test taking abilities.
http://journalism.nyu.edu/publishing/archives/race_class/edu-matt.htm
7:46 PM
I think that affirmative action is necessary for getting into college for some minorities. It does not go against the "American way" because it gives more opportunities to people who are more prone to be discriminated against because of their gender or race, and in addition are qualified to be part of the student body of that particular school. When someone says they aren't for affirmative action are they saying they aren't for that particular race or gender's accessibility to get into a school? If we were in an ideal society or the perfect world there would be no need to have a policy such as affirmative action, which is what anti-affirmative action supporters are arguing. If everyone had an equal chance to get into a high end university regardless of their color or gender then it is not an appropriate law. However since we don't live in this perfect world this policy is necessary. It is not necessary to get those who are not meeting the requirements into these schools; however it is necessary to get those who are not prone to be accepted without this policy. Even if this person was not eligible to be accepted to this college or university this gives them room learn and excel, and if someone isn’t meeting the requirements to be eligible in this school it is necessary to see why they are not eligible. What anti-affirmative action supporters are arguing and claiming unfair is the competition they have because they are the dominant color or gender of the particular specialty. This is not the minority’s problem. If the minority’s rights are not upheld because of their color or their gender then affirmative action is necessary.
I don't think it would make students perform any less because why would they be applying to college if they didn't want to higher their education? I agree with Kayla that a specific standards level should be set for a student’s eligibility (not necessarily the SAT or ACT); however I don't agree that everyone in America has completely changed out of the mindset of the 1960’s, there still are components of racism not as bad however still remaining. There were some people in the last election who didn't vote for Obama specifically because he was black; there is still racism today which means that affirmative action is still necessary.
8:10 PM
I might have been a little too harsh on affirmative action, sorry. Those looking into affirmative action are at least motivated enough to find a way to get into a university.
As for the SAT and other standardized tests, I did not mean to say that they are totally accurate, I'm just suggesting that because so many colleges and universities use it as a deciding factor of who will be admitted, that it should be level for all races. This may be naive of me, but I actually think that the SAT does measure academic ability; there is no way that someone will get a good score just because they are a good test taker. There has to be some amount of preparation and knowledge involved. Maybe I just believe that because I am a white, middle-class student who is generally good at taking tests and I want to think that if I get a good score on the SAT in June, its because I'm smart and I worked hard for it.
I'm just curious, because both the SAT and GPA seem to be ineffective methods for determining intellectual ability, what are other ways colleges can consider students and measure their intellectual abilities?
8:41 PM
First of all, the cinematography in this video is absolutely terrible.
Secondly, I disagree with Kayla's point that black people don't need to be compensated for slavery and oppression. They are still be affected by it today in the form of racism in college admissions, employment, the legal system, etc. The study about "black-sounding names" that was mentioned in the video is a perfect example. People are less likely to hire someone who's name is "LaMichael" than someone who's name is "Jacob". Clearly racism still exists, and must be combated.
There is also the question of whether affirmative action is the right measure to take. Like I said in class, I believe that socioeconomic status should be taken into consideration more than race, but of course others will disagree with me. Affirmative action faces a few clear problems, one of which is reverse discrimination. Personally, I believe that rich white people should just suck it up and bite the bullet because they have plenty of opportunities. That sounds inconsiderate, but so do they. Another issue is whether affirmative action is covering up the problem. I researched this a year ago and in California when affirmative action was banned in public schools, outreach groups began to take more effective action in poor, black neighborhoods. Could this be the case in other places?
Complicated stuff.
8:43 PM
Wow, I'm extremely impressed by the level of discussion on this topic tonight. Thank you all for participating.
Kayla,
Colleges/universities would look at where the person went to high school, their family SES, extracurricular activities, etc. Jack is right, this is an extremely complicated issue.
http://www.understandingprejudice.org/readroom/articles/affirm.htm
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v5n2/affirmative.html
11:41 PM
I am for affirmative action to an extent. I really don't think that people need to go out of their way to hire minorities. If they are the most qualified, they should get whatever they desire.
4:27 PM
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