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Jessica Henry
Mary Miles
English 138T
15 April 2014
Audience: Educational Magazine Article for Parents
Affirmative Action: A Positive Force in Higher Education Admissions
Students are applying to receive higher education at colleges and universities at a higher
rate than ever recorded in history. With this, a greater amount of competition is occurring
between applicants of these higher education institutions, both between people of the same race
and of different ethnicities. In the past, this competition led to many minority groups, such as
African Americans and Latinos, not getting accepted into colleges because they were getting
“beat out” by their white counterparts. There has been a new course of action being used to fix
this major issue in higher education. Colleges and universities are now creating policies favoring
admission to students of racial groups that have faced discrimination in the past. This process is
called affirmative action. While some people are strong supporters of higher education providing
minorities with opportunities of betterment, instilling more diversity in student bodies, and
creating a worldlier social and academic environment through affirmative action, there have been
opponents of this cause. However, in the best interest of equally providing higher education to all
races in America, as well as helping other students broaden their worldly views in academic and
social environments, it is essential for the practice of affirmative action to continue in colleges
and university admissions processes.
One strong point supporting affirmative action in higher education admissions is that it
instills a greater degree of equality in the admissions process. When colleges and universities
solely look at students based on their merit and extracurricular activities, they are missing out on
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a large amount of students from low income areas. These low income areas typically have school
districts that cannot supply the funding to support many advanced placement classes and
extracurricular activities. This creates a problem because students in these situations have fewer
chances to raise their weighted cumulative grade point averages and expand their resumes as
much as students, typically of a large Caucasian population, coming from higher- income areas
with school districts with more opportunities. This makes it so minority students, who may be
equally as qualified in intelligence and well-roundedness, will have a less chance of being
admitted into colleges as Caucasian well-off students. Because of this, it is essential to instill
affirmative action in the higher education admissions process to maintain a key value that
America has been built on: equality for all.
It has been seen that favoring the admission of minorities in universities and colleges has
led to a greater number of people from these minorities attending higher education institutions.
Statistics show that “From 1976 to 2011, the percentage of Hispanic students rose from 4 percent
to 14 percent, the percentage of Asian/Pacific Islander students rose from 2 percent to 6 percent,
the percentage of Black students rose from 10 percent to 15 percent, and the percentage of
American Indian/Alaska Native students rose from 0.7 to 0.9 percent” (Fast). This is because
more affirmative action have been put in place by admission committees at colleges and
universities, which has led to an increase in minority applicants getting accepted into colleges.
These are major increases in education for these minorities, which in turn can lead to better job
opportunities, a rise from low socioeconomic status, and less crime from minority groups. In
total, affirmative action can have a huge positive impact on the lives of minority group members,
as well as members of American society as a whole.
Another reason that affirmative action should take place in the higher education
admissions process is that it creates a larger diversity of students in colleges and universities. If
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minority groups did not get slightly favored in the admissions process, colleges would
predominantly accept Caucasian students from well-off families that come from well-funded
school districts. However, accepting students from other races, socioeconomic backgrounds, and
cultures can have an extremely positive impact on the social and academic environment at
colleges and universities. Adding students of different backgrounds and beliefs can help induce a
greater acceptance of people from different cultures, along with encouraging the sharing of new
ideas and beliefs among students. In fact, one study at the University of Michigan has shown that
students who went to a university with a large diversity in the student population showed greater
respect for people of other ethnicities, were more likely to have integrated themselves into a
more racially and ethnicity filled life post-graduation, and felt that their undergraduate education
was extremely beneficial in preparing them for their jobs more than other undergraduates.
(Alger) After all, a major part of higher education is learning the skills needed to obtain a job
and become an active member of society upon graduation. With the ever increasing
internationally focused economy, job market, and general connectedness of the world, it is
important for students to learn to accept and interact with people of other races, cultures, and
backgrounds. To ensure that this occurs, a diversity of students is necessary for this interaction in
higher education. This is where affirmative action takes over, for it allows greater opportunities
for people of different ethnicities to be given a chance to go share their backgrounds in higher
education environments.
The increase of diversity in the student population because of affirmative action has led
to an enhanced learning environment in colleges and universities. One major component of
higher education is students increasing their experience by coming across new ways to see the
world, new ways of life, and new ideas. “Liberal learning,” as this is called, cannot be learned in
a classroom, but must come about by interacting with a diverse group of other students. Also,
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one teacher who teaches a Race, Gender, and Justice course states that having “diverse students
has enabled not only an examination of different perspectives, but also opportunities to challenge
the assumptions we hold that inform our thinking about justice.” (Fullinwider) Obviously adding
diversity into a student population can help all students learn academically by exploring different
ways of understanding information presented by teachers. In the long run, this could help
students in their future jobs by having them understand various viewpoints of academic
knowledge learned in college. This diversity, which is leading to so many positive impacts on
students, is made possible by affirmative action. Diversity of students would not be present if
members of admissions committees did not look at race and ethnicity on college applications, for
these students would generally not be admitted when competing against their white counterparts.
Therefore, affirmative action is a major driving force in socially and academically creating better
well-rounded students that will function well in society.
Overall, it is obvious that affirmative action is necessary in the admission process for
higher education institutions. While the only real argument against affirmative action is that it
takes spots away from Caucasian applicants, this is not true because Caucasian applicants still
exceed the number of minority applicants in America by an extremely large amount. It even
creates more equality in the admissions process so that everyone has a fair chance at receiving
higher education. Plus, the increased competition between Caucasian and minority students
applying for college has led to better candidates for jobs in the work force, and an overall
betterment of society. Affirmative action in college and university acceptance has improved
higher education by equally providing education to all races, as well as broadening students’
worldly views both academically and socially to create students better ready to play active roles
in society and the world.
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Bibliography
Alger, Jonathan R., Jorge Chapa, Roxane Harvey Gudeman, Patricia Marin, Geoffrey
Maruyama, Jeffrey F. Milem, Jose F. Moreno, and Deborah J. Wilds. "Does Diversity
Make a Difference? Three Research Studies on Diversity in College Classrooms."
American Council on Education, American Association of University Professors, 2000.
Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
"Fast Facts." Institute of Education Sciences. National Center for Education Statistics, n.d. Web.
12 Apr. 2014.
Fullinwider, Robert, and Donna Maeda. "Affirmative Action: A Dialogue on Race, Gender,
Equality and Law in America." Division for Public Education. American Bar
Association, 1998. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.