Ooo, there are some good comments here...
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Originally Posted by Antithesis  I've found a few other types as well. Some are available to women, Irish, Italians, and other groups. All I'm saying is that if you want to strive for equality, don't base merit on race. |
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Originally Posted by chrisg967 When you're handing out money, I think you should be able to stipulate the recipients. |
I agree with both of these things...I do think that a group should be free to hand out money to the person they choose. If a group chooses to hand out money only to a minority, then that group should be totally allowed to.
At the same time we need to realize that handing out scholarships based on race is the wrong thing to do, and groups who decide to hand out scholarships with a race requirement are making a bad decision.
The problem is exactly what Antithesis said: we can't expect racial equality if we continue to use race as a reason to treat people differently. If a group issues a scholarship available only to black children, they might be helping the single child who receives that scholarship, but they are hurting every other black person who faces inferior treatment due to his or her skin color.
Introducing scholarships only for white children doesn't solve the problem. Maybe white children have equal access to scholarships, which is good, but we're still seperating people into different groups based on their race. And even if we have leveled the playing field, we still need to answer to the deserving black child who was not given a chance to win our scholarship.
I understand the outcry in response to a whites-only scholarship. I do not understand the lack of outcry in response to minorities-only scholarships.
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Originally Posted by stdgmski If we wish ot continue affirmative action we need to take race out of it, let us based it instead on socioeconomic status. This would provide more benefits and opportunity to those who truly need it. |
Yes! I agree completely. Basing our scholarships (and affirmative action) on socioeconomic status instead of race allows those who need the help to get it, and it ends the practice of treating people differently depending on their race. This is the best solution.
Remember: I am not advocating that we use the law to ban giving out scholarships to minority races. Each group should be free to use its money as it sees fit. But we should realize the immorality of this, and denounce the practice of granting preference based on race.