Affirmative Action

After all of the reading and talking that we have done in class about affirmative action, I understand why some universities feel that minorities are so important to the diversity of their student population, but I don't necessarily think that race should be such a major factor in the decision. We looked at two different university's ways of judging how important race was in admissions and while they each used pretty different tactics to determine the importance of skin color in an applicant, I still believe that both tactics were unnecessary and unfair. Yes, it is important the the student body of a school is made up of people from different backgrounds because it allows them to provide different prospectives on issues and give others new insight. A university full of upper middle class, white, catholics from sheltered, suburban neighborhoods will not make for the most influential graduating class simply because there is a major lack of diversity. When looking at this fact, it is clear that students with different backgrounds will be influential to everyone. However, the way that universities go about achieving this is unfair. Michigan University has a very unique point system for rating their applicants, and while this means that all students applying as incoming freshman are rated from the same standards, the details that they are rated on are actually not reasonable at all. I believe that the opportunities that a person is able to receive and the education that they can afford prior to college should be a considered in giving them a certain little boost in admissions or at least allow the admissions board to cut them some slack, but it shouldn't automatically make them higher on the university's list then non-minority or more privileged teens. I think that students who can not afford as extravagant of education systems might still be a wonderful addition to the University, but that does not mean that all underprivileged students are better than privileged students, just as not all privileged students would make better students than underprivileged students. Michigan gives far more points to a student for growing up on a farm or being of Hispanic descent than having an outstanding essay. While I think hard working students that are underprivileged should be cut some slack in admissions, I do not believe it should surpass the importance of grades, GPA, or the essay. I am equally disturbed by Harvard University's method of rating students who apply for freshman addmissions. Instead of using a point system to give minority students a boost over non-minorities, they simply to it in their head. There is no amount put specifically on the importance of a color of a student's skin, but this gives the admissions counselor individual power to decide the importance or race, religion, or ethnicity for each student. This means that they have complete power to say which they simply prefer and who they want instead of really who is more qualified. While I believe it is incredibly important to give a boost to students who come from underprivileged backgrounds, I think it must also be taken into consideration how dedicated and determined this student is compared to others. The work ethic of each individual I believe is still more important than the background that a person comes from.

Wrongful Convictions

When Terrill Swift came to our school this week to speak with our Issues classes about wrongful convictions, I was blown away by the story he shared. He had been completely tricked and manipulated by the police into signing a confession to a rape and murder he never committed. His rights were violated and he lost fifteen years of his life to the jail sentence and another two due to parole, seventeen years in total were taken from him. His life will never be the same all because the police officers were too lazy and corrupt to find the real rapist and murderer and instead pinned it on an innocent seventeen year old boy. He was taken to the police station without even knowing what he was being arrested for. He was interrogated for hours, being medically and emotionally abused by the authorities until he was completely exhausted. To make matters worse, he was completely lied to by the police when he was told to sign a document that would prove he was innocent of the crime and would be released. The document he signed, however, was saying that he had, in fact, committed the rape and the murder. He suffered for seventeen years, losing his place in the world, losing his ability to communicate with others, and losing his understanding of what it means to be a member of a community. What I found most disturbing from the story that Terrill Swift told us was that the police officers, the people in our community that we are supposed to be able to trust more than anyone, the people that we are supposed to trust with our safety and our lives, might not be looking out for our best interest at all. They put an innocent boy in prison instead of looking for the real criminal. It became clear to me that nobody can be trusted. You always must look at the people around you with some level of speculation. You must always read the fine print and examine the details of a situation. The lessen he said he wanted us to remember most was that we must always be cautious and watch our own backs because putting our trust in the hands of others could cost us everything.

College Decisions

This last weekend has been non-stop college talk for me. I flew out last Wednesday to Los Angeles to visit some of the colleges I had applied to. Two of them I had already been admitted to, and the other two I still had to audition and interview for. The trip did much more than allow me to audition for the Universities that are potentially in my future; it allowed me to determine which was right for me. Everyone says whatever college you end up at is the one you are meant to be at, but I think that might not be true after all, at least not for all of us. At every school I visited I found positives and negatives. I saw what size was too large for me; what campus was too spread out for me; what faculty was too stuffy for me. I saw what schools provided the most opportunities to their students; what schools had faculties that made you feel warm and welcome the moment students walk on campus; and what schools would allow a student to graduate with the most connections and experience in the field of their choice. Some schools had incredibly spacious dorm rooms or exquisite food in the student cafeteria. These weren't the things that mattered though. There was only one theatre school that felt the most promising for me. There was only one with a student body that seemed honest and friendly enough for me to make my future best friends at. After every school I researched, applied to, and/or visited (and trust me there were a lot of them) there was only one that was the perfect school for me. I won't spoil the surprise yet and announce which school I have decided on as being the perfect fit for me just yet, but I can tell you that I am positive that saying certainly does not apply to me. I have, without a doubt, found my dream school.

"White Like Me"-- White Denial

I think this book, White Like Me, shows some very interesting insight into the hidden and covered up racism that still exists in this nation. I was never oblivious enough to believe that all people in our country were treated equally and that people were no longer prejudice or racist against those who were different than them, but it is frightening to realize how previlent racist behavior still is in the United States of America and how strong that racism is. This chapter is all about the denial of the white citizens of this country which really explains why I have been so oblivious to the problem for all these years. Tim Wise writes about the issue of racism in our country and how the white citizens seem to constantly be undermining the problem. Whites deny that racism still exists within our borders, saying that black citizens need to lighten up and not take everything so personally. One of the points Wise made that really stood out to me, was about an incident with racism that Oprah experienced. I would never think that someone as powerful, influencial, and highly praised world wide as Oprah is, would ever be faced with racial discrimination. However, when she was in Paris a few years ago, she called a store ahead of time to tell them she was on her way and was going to purchase a gift for her friend Gail. She arrived at the store just after closing and they refused to let her inside to make the purchase. On one hand, this sounds perfectly normal. The store has already closed so no matter who you are, how famous you might be, they might not give you special treatment and open it up to let you in to make a purchase. On the other hand, could it have been an act of racism? Although the store denied that this action was made because of the color of Oprah's skin, it was still a concern and made her feel as though she were being discriminated against for being African American in a predominantly white area. The fact of the matter is, I will probably never have to endure this kind of humiliation and rejection for my race. Wise pointed out that although the store might not have been acting in a racist way, they might have just had to close up and not have been able to make an exception just because Oprah was there, she still knew that it was possible that the reason she wasn't being let in was becasue of her skin color and whites will never expereince that same feeling of concern and feel so self-conscious becasue of the color of their skin. If we are not the ones being discrimnated against and constatnly facing situations that make us question whether or not people are treating us diffrently because of the color of our skin, we can not truly understand the pain they expereince and the harm this does to their self-image. As whites living in a predominantly white society, we do not experience racism on a regular basis and we do not have to have it always in the back of our minds. We do not see people painting their faces and throwing parties that mock our race and stereotype us for the color of our skin. We do not have to constantly question if people are judging us and finding reasons not to trust us or respect us because of our skin. We do not live in fear of being discriminated against or even attacked because we were born with a different pigment than other citizens. Tim Wise used his own personal experiences and revelations to make this point clear to the reader. He talked about racism he witnessed first hand and how blind whites were to it. He did not need to resort to statistics to try to make his point because the truth was in human behavior and actions. I have never expereinced or witnessed this kind of racism first hand, or at least never consciously realized that it was going on. But I have read stories like this before. Wise talked about an article he read where a white man requested that no black doctors, nurses, or observers be present in the operating room during his wife's surgery. He claimed it was because he did not want any blacks to see his wife naked. Two hospitals rejected his request but one caved and allowed his wife to be operated on by only white doctors. I have heard these kind of stories before and it makes me sick to think that people are still holding these racist values. Still, I have never had to worry about people holding my race agaisnt me, so the issue of racism in this country has not been a very previlent part of my life. Like most white Americans, this makes we live in denial of the problem. Being unaware and unexposed to the issue prevents progress from being made. I think that was Tim Wise's main point in this chapter. If we do not face the issue head on but only cotinue to live our lives peacefully without regard to racism, we will never bring change to this nation and its issue with race.