Students should not be given preference in college admissions due to ethnicity or race.

This house takes the side that students should not be given preference or higher consideration in college admissions due to ethnicity or race. Since the 1960s, minority groups, such as African Americans and, more recently, Hispanics, have been given higher consideration or preference based on the simple fact that they are African American or Hispanic. This is partially based on the argument of past misdeeds against these groups, but this house believes that in order for us to move on and become truly equal, students must only receive admissions based on their merits and not on their factors of race or ethnicity. Main Body: For example, on the SAT, being an African American student gives you a 230 point "bonus" and being a Hispanic student give you a 185 point bonus. To clarify, the bonus is only treated as one when universities see the score; it is not literally added to the final score. In the mean time Asian Americans receive a 50 point penalty simply for having Asian parents [1] " it is no fault of their own. This is exceedingly unfair on an exam that is considered by most American universities and becomes progressively more difficult the more points are earned (one question in writing wrong at 1300 may only result in a 10 point loss, but one writing question wrong at 2350 may result in a 30-40 point loss depending on the test administration). What makes this even worse is the extreme competitiveness to get into American universities, especially the elite schools and Ivies. Many proponents of giving university preference and aid to students based on race argue that social misdeeds and segregation against certain minority groups entitles those students to receive special preference in universities as a way of "paying back". However, this argument fails to explain why groups, including Asian American subgroups and Jews, are not also given preference. In the late 1800s, Asian Americans were prevented from attending Californian public schools [2], yet we do not see the University of California giving Asian Americans preference. In the previous paragraph I mentioned Asian American subgroups. This group is often categorized as one group, yet it is made up of many divisions " the Hmong, Laotians, Cambodians, Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese as some examples. Hong women earn an average of $389 per week, while African Americans earn $634 [2], yet there are not nearly as many programs to help the Hmong in higher education and colleges as there are to help the African Americans. This is also to say nothing of Japanese Internment Camps and Relocation. While part of the reason for Japanese-American citizen relocation during World War II was due to the fear of hate crimes against Japanese Americans, much of the reason was the fear of espionage [3]. Thousands of Japanese Americans, including those born and raised in America, were put into Internment camps, which sparked large constitutional debates and cases. Asian Americans Subgroups are one example and I will provide more throughout the debate. My point is not that Asian Americans should receive preference in college admissions because of past misdeeds, but that no one should. Instead of elevating a few groups above the others in the name of equality, we can achieve equality by giving everybody the same equal preference. Sources: 1.http://www.latimes.com... 2.http://www.aljazeera.com... 3.http://www.archives.gov...