Why Should One Work Hard if they are a Minority?

On Thursday in class, we discussed racial profiling in regards to college acceptance in the Abigail Fisher case. Going into the debate I had an open mind and I wanted to see what the pro side had to say about the topic even though I was favoring the con side. Although I do agree with one point that the pro side argued, I mainly and strongly agree with the con side in that students need to get accepted based on merit, not ethnicity. As I mentioned earlier, I partially agree with one part from the pro side in that diversity enriches education...students learn most from those who have different life experiences than their own (Change 13). Indeed, diversity is very important among schools. It allows for students to see the world from a different point of view, maybe one they had never even heard of. It also teaches students empathy for other peoples life situations. Even though a college wants diversity, that is no reason for a college to deny a person with a greater GPA! This now brings me to the con side of the argument in which I fully agree with. The Amicus Brief Fisher Case states that Minority students are admitted to schools that are more academically competitive than their academic skills warrant [for] and I fully agree with this statement (13). If a student gets into a university based on his ethnicity and in reality he is not ready for the college level work that he needs to be able to perform, then he is setting himself up for failure! Not to mention the fact that he took the spot of a student who has the potential on being very successful. I know that this may sound harsh, but it is the reality of the situation. A student who maintains a high GPA all throughout high school deserves to be at a university verses a student who maintained the bear minimum. With that being said, Affirmative action lowers standards of accountability needed to push students...to perform better (Affirmative Action). What is going to push students to get

the best grades possible if they know that they can get into a competitive school with a low GPA because of their minority? This concept is going to make students lazy and not want to push themselves to get satisfactory grades that they need. It is unfair that I have to work hard to get the best grades possible and still possibly not get into a college because I am apart of the majority. Following upon all of these ideas I believe that affirmative action should not be used in college acceptances. Acceptances should be based on merit, not race. Yes, some may say that its not fair, but I will continue to argue that the student who puts in more effort to get get good grades deserves the acceptance verses the minority who barely maintained an average GPA. I will leave you with this thought: Lets say that there are two students who applied to UCLA. One of them has a 4.2 and the other has a 3.7. UCLA decides to accept the student with the 3.7 due to the Affirmative Action Policy. This means that they denied a potential doctor/engineer (whatever their major may be) to a minority who may end up dropping out because they may not be prepared for the work load that a UCLA students needs to be ready for. Now there is a spot open for the student that UCLA denied to accept a minority. This makes no sense to me. UCLA should have accepted the majority verses the minority when they first applied. This thought correlates to Abigail in that she was denied acceptance to the University of Texas to a minority. I feel really bad for Abigail in that her hard work didnt pay off.