Affirmative Action Should Be Dissolved

Let us clarify what this debate is about. By saying affirmative action should be dissolved we are arguing over whether it is better if there is no affirmative action that if there is affirmative actions, right? The reason I ask is that in your rebuttal you mention plenty of other options of improving the lives of minority students. Though I agree with the options you stated, that is not what this debate is about so please excuse me if I don't address them. 1. Background You stated that affirmative action was originally set up to help eliminate discrimination. I will not argue whether this is true or not. This may be true but why something was originally set up is not an argument for why something should be dissolved now as that something could have changed or there can be other reasons now to continue a policy. Originally the 14th amendment was set up so that the children of slaves would be considered American citizens. Now the 14th amendment and its birth clause is used not for the children of slaves but for immigrants. Even if congress never considered immigrants originally, we should heavily factor them in now when deciding whether or not to continue with this practice. 2. Increased prejudice In my opinion, this debate is going to come down to a cost/benefit scenario. Are the costs of Affirmative Action worth the benefits gained from it. You made an interesting argument that AA can increase prejudice towards others. As a former high school senior, I remember hearing of classmates with GPAs and SATS less than mine getting admitted to UPenn and other Ivies. I too remember thinking, maybe the fact that she is 1/4 cherokee and 1/2 black and 1/4 something else had to do with it. This is increased prejudice. I do not disagree that there are some forms of increased prejudice arising from AA. Overall prejudice goes down in my opinion for the following reasons. A. Economic well being I don't believe that we disagree that minorities are helped off economically by AA if we exclude the affects of increased or decreased prejudice. One of the many many reasons people do discriminate and judge certain minorities as being "worse" than themselves is due to the economic well being of the minority in question. Americans don't by in large think of Chinese or Japanese or Indian people negatively. Americans on average view Hispanics and Blacks negatively. One common factor here is that the minorities viewed negatively have worse average incomes than the majority does. If we can increase the well being of minorities, it follows that there will be less prejudice. B. Diversity One thing we gain from Affirmative Action is the benefit of diversity. I'd rather not debate whether diversity itself is great but as we get exposed to different people we see how alike we all are. We realize how stupid many stereotypes are and our prejudice goes down. We fear and speak ill of that which we do not know. With AA, we get exposed to others so we can break down these prejudices. My psych textbook cites 3 different studies that mention how increased contact between people in situations where isolation isn't possible decreases prejudice. I'll post them in comments if you want a link. My point w/ prejudices is that I believe overall prejudice goes down with AA though some forms of course go up. 3. Self fulfilling prophecy/expectations It has been argued many times that if we lower expectations of minorities then they will perform worse. Balderdash. Its been shown through studies that at least blacks perform worse than whites on tests when they are told the test tests a weak area(Steele + Aronson, 1995, Suzuki + Aronson, 2005). When the same kids are not told that they are expected to do worse, they do the same as whites on the same tests(same studies as above). This means that at least Blacks have the potential to not be affected by negative expectations or the self fulfilling prophecy. It is most likely anxiety or some other affect from prejudice that makes them score worse on tests they are consciously told they should score worse on them. Also, if there is less of a stereotype, this becomes less of a problem. Less prejudice = less stereotype. On dropout rates, one would suspect that someone less qualified to be in college and less able to afford college would have a higher chance of dropping out. Your study doesn't cite those who dropout for performance/academic reasons. I assume cost is the main reason these subjects cannot afford to continue their education. Increased affirmative action would solve the problem if that is so. Nor did you mention causation of the dropout rates differences. The rate is now dropping , perhaps due to Aff. Actions. (my source is only from 1972-1999 btw) I hope to have shown that Aff. Actions does not harm minorities through either overall prejudice or the self fulfilling prophecy. If anything, prejudice and the self fulfilling prophecy due to the elimination of many stereotypes. (http://nces.ed.gov...) Benefits of AA. At minimum, Affirmative action is a weak way to play robin hood and help those out who are fiscally in need. At maximum, we are making up for past wrongs and/or making society more egalitarian and increasing utility (as argued in the 1N). Overall skill levels are increased even if we have to make some exceptions, as those who are worse off gain more from a little help than those who are better loose from giving this help. A dollar is not worth the same to a poor person that it is to a rich person. Though there are better options than race based affirmative action this is not what we are debating here. Affirmative actions lets there be equality of opportunity. It lets all people have a chance. It is more fair than the unjust system of perpetual inequality. It is one thing to become communist and make everyone equal, and another to guarantee everyone has the chance to make something of themselves. I advocate equality of opportunity. I advocate maximum utility. If there is a market failure in maximizing utility and the gov't needs to mandate a form of affirmative action so be it. If firms won't naturally hire in a way that is best for societies future, then we must use government to solve the problem. That is the point of government. That is why affirmative action is better than no affirmative action.