At one time, affirmative action was a needed and legitimate policy. Segregation has existed way too much in the past and has left people out of jobs, out of certain areas of town, and schooling. We needed to make a law that would get rid of segregation, and help everybody assimilate or just live peacefully without discrimination. When a majority the southern where rebelling and would not allow African Americans in their stores, schools, etc, affirmative action was justifiable. But is it today?

Much of the affirmative action debate is, and should be centered on education. Many of the critics whom at one time also believed that the preferential treatment shown to lower the discrimination towards minority groups is something that should be eliminated. Being that American society has become less discriminatory, affirmative action may be less necessary. Discrimination is something that will always be an issue; there will always be backwards individuals who cann

"Just as we believe that good test use practices advance high-standards learning and equal opportunity, we know that educationally inappropriate uses of tests do not" (The College Board Review). College is hard enough to get into, let alone finish. That is why that now, more then any time, we should abolish affirmative action - which is racial favoritism in university admittance. When high school students are tested, there is more on the line then their high school education. When a teacher is distributing grades and knows that if test scores are higher, then they will receive greater funding, from there a greater step is taken. With more lenient test scores in high school, there is less emphasis placed on SAT's, but high schools may distribute grades in accordance with what an individual needs to go to college. In a predominantly white high school, this tends to not be the case. However, in inner city schools I have heard this as being very prevalent. I know of a few cases where minorities have been asked, "whether they wanted to go to college." If they said, "yes," then higher grades where given. The system that we have for letting individuals pursue their academic goals is centered on issues that should not even be discussed. College admissions should be based on the person achievements, not the area they grew up in or their race.

Wars have been fought, people lost lives, and many lives have been devoted over the acquiring of equal rights. The discrimination involved in governmental hiring or college quotas is not at the same level as the latter, but does carry with it laws that should be upheld but are not, for instance.

The college community through the college entrance exams usually measures learning capacity or capability. For example, if a student scored above 1200 on their SAT's then he or she would be considered as having a great chance in succeeding in the collegiate environment. A fallacy that is prevalent is that minorities score much lower then the white majority. This is not true; there is a small gap, but it is not significant. Yes minorities quite often do have to deal with crowded classrooms, teachers with less advanced degrees, and the lack of counseling recourses that are available for predominantly white, suburban schools. However, is this a reason to give funding to those who lack? America is based on the ideological belief that "you can be whatever you want to be, or, work hard enough and you will achieve your goals." To place this belief in the minds of all youth should be enough. To place this in the minds of all the same youth but then give preferential treatment to the minority class is a blatant display of reverse racism that should be done away with henceforth.

The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. When exceptions are made, they are to be made only after s

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