I understand how white people were very racist back in the day and should be ashamed for there actions...but at this point in time I believe we don't need affirmative action. I actually look at affirmative action as an insult to an african american as the performance of this person would not be looked at as much as the performance of a white person.

Affirmative action gives blacks a better chance of getting into schools than a white person. I see this as unequal and just wrong...morally wrong.

true...morally true

Affirmative action is wrong. I do believe in helping out youths in less-fortunate situations but giving them leverage in the highschool or college process is taking it too far. What about scholarships? Why can't we give those african americans who are less fortunate scholarships for doing well, instead of bringing an african american who barely gets an 800 on their SAT's in with students who recieve 1300's.
It's not just wrong, but in the long run you're just screwing them over. Sure, bring them into Harvard, Princeton and Yale with little education but good atheltics and see what happens once they're there. They'll fail out, or if they don't because the school helps them get by, what will happen when the school can't always have their back in the real world. Once you're at the job and you need to do something, you can't get someone else to do you're own tasks.
It's just wrong and racist that a white person with the same credentials as some black kid can't get into Boston College, but the black kid can, becuase he's "racially diverse and brings diversity to the campus." I'm all for bringing diversity, but don't be half-ass about it and just bring them in because - hey they're black it'll look good for us - no bring them in because they earned their spot, and if they couldn't do well in school in their town, then tough, life sucks sometimes but we can't just go out and spoon-feed minorities because school systems in some inner-city area aren't up to par.

I agree. That is probably the only thing I really didn't agree with Kerry on. He said we should continue affirmative action but I believe the time is up for this system. We are all equal.

So what is your position??I think you just pulled a Kerry.

I think he was saying that affirmative action is in its very nature a racist program.

lol im just teasing him.

I think diversity is important but I don't really subscribe to affirmative action. I think the problem really lies in the lower schools. It seems logical that the reason affirmative action is needed for diversity is because there are less qualified minority students than there are qualified white students. I think that schools in minority areas need to be better than they are. I don't think it is right that a student with lesser qualifications can gain acceptance to a school simply because he or she is a minority. But I also think that diversity is important and I think this country is at a point right now where it is an acceptable program, but it should be temporary. Minorities need equal opportunity from the beginning of their educations, so they will be qualified to get into the same schools anyway.
Interesting topic too. I was talking to one of my teachers and I said "I think it's wrong that a less qualified student can get into a school just because he or she is a minority." And he said by that argument I shouldn't believe in Division I athletics. It's very interesting and I stand on the same side, obviously. It isn't right that someone who is, in a lot of cases, no way qualified academically for a school, but gets to go to that school simply because they are great at a particular sport. It's easy to overlook this because people are such big fans of sports, but when you think about it, it's the same issue.

well said...completely agree with you 100%

i agree that affirmative action was needed at the time it was created. But now it is a disgrace and since it is based on race it is actually RACIST itself. The best example i can give about this issue would be a fireman. There are two people taking the fireman's test and the department needs only one person. The white guy scores a 87 and the black guy scores an 84. Now just because he is black means he should get added points and the department does not have it's 'quota' so they should hire the less knowledage able guy and maybe run the risk of losing firemen while dealing with a fire or getting other people killed because he is not as good as the white guy who they didn't hire? It is a bunch of bullshit and i hate it. here is a good sign for this discussion