Recently, Kwasi Enin, a first generation, 17-year-old Ghanaian-American from Shirley, N.Y., applied to all 8 ivy league universities. Incredibly, he got accepted by all. According to a USA Today article, Enin is a violinist, as well as an aspiring physicist. Enin ranks number 11 in his high school class of 647, while scoring 2,250 out of 2,400 points on the SATs, which placed him in 99th percentile for black students. In addition to that, he will also have taken 11 Advanced Placement courses by the time he graduates later this spring. Enin sings in the school’s a capella group and volunteers at Stony Brook University Hospital’s radiology department.
Critics of Affirmative Action find the legislation which aids African-Americans such as Enin get into college unfair and detrimental to Caucasians.
Dear White Kids Who Did Not Get Into all 8 Ivy League Schools,
I am sorry that you have been unfairly disadvantaged because of the color of your skin. It is unfortunate that an opportunity has been denied to you due to factors totally beyond your control. It’s a shame that opportunities have been afforded to another individual of another race for other reasons including the color of their skin. That just isn’t fair…or is it?
Affirmative Action gives African-Americans and other minority populations a clear advantage over white applicants but so what? When you consider the various ways African Americans are significantly disadvantaged in our society this one advantage seems like a small counterweight on a heavily imbalanced scale.
The fact of the matter is, systematic racism is alive and well in this country and a good way to combat it is to actively tip the scales in the favor of minorities seeking success.
A sudden influx of minority students getting accepted to more illustrious institutions and being hired at more elite corporations should not be taken as the sounding of the death knell for Caucasians, because it simply isn’t the case.
It is not like the white kids are going to starve. I see nothing wrong with offering, say, African Americans, a race that has been so deplorably treated by this society, a significant advantage over white people in application processes.
Considering that studies have shown that job candidates with white sounding names are ten times more likely to be hired than black sounding names, perhaps mandatory quotas are necessary to push things toward a more even keel.
Sincerely,
Jacob Aguiar