Call me an idealist, but I believe that every institution in America should be 100% race-blind. No one should be judged for how they were born, whether on account of race, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, deeds of their parents, or anything beyond their control. We should treat everyone as an individual first and foremost and not as the various classes or populations to which they belong that are beyond their control.
It’s under this outlook that I strongly disagree with Affirmative Action in university admissions. As an Asian-American myself, I’ve always seen it as simply racism that Asians are required to meet a perform better on standardized tests relative to all other racial groups so that racial quotas are maintained.
However, two specific issues have come up that made me reassess, mitigate, and modify my position.
- Harvard’s class of 2022 is made up of 36% legacy admissions, and legacy applicants are five times more likely to be admitted. This is representative of other elite universities but will consider Harvard from here due to a specific lawsuit brought against Harvard admissions.
(Source: CNBC Harvard’s freshman class is more than…
