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Affirmative Action
"The University of Michigan can keep their twenty extra points."
Listen
to this Commentary!
By Kieran Scarlett
I just came back from visiting my old friends from Canada who I
left when I moved to Georgia last year. It was a relief to see that
none of my friends had changed. After a long conversation with them
regarding the American politics, someone commented that I was still
one of the smartest friends they'd ever had. Jokingly, I asked him
if he meant that I was simply his smartest black friends. He took
offense to this comment. Although my old school in Canada is predominantly
white, and I was one of the only black people in our tight little
circle, my friends say when they see me they don't see my race.
They don't expect any more or less of me, and that is comforting.
Why then, I wonder, was the University of Michigan offering an
extra twenty points in their application process to African American,
Hispanic and Native American high school students? What were they
trying to accomplish? Moreover, what were they trying to say? "Diversifying
the student body at colleges and universities" That seems to
be their key motive. That's all fine and dandy, but I would rather
be accepted to a university based on my own merit. The University
of Michigan can keep their twenty extra points, because all it does
is trivialize all of a student's good qualities. So congratulations
to the University of Michigan. They managed to implement a policy
that's so evidently bigoted and call it affirmative action. I wonder
what the medal will say.
I'm Kieran Scarlett.
- Kieran Scarlett is a reporter at VOX Newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia.
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