Written by Brandon Lee Romo
Today in America the topic of race carries a lot of weight. The issue is that this attention towards race has often led to attempts to force diversity in jobs, schools, and other societal groups. Forcing diversity ends up doing more harm than good as it not only discriminates against those who are worthy of a position because of their race, but also because it places people in undeserving positions for the same reason.
According to Ivy League admission statistics done in April of this year, 68 percent of the incoming freshman class “self-identify” as “people of color.” While it is possible that many bright, white high school students did not want to apply to Ivy League universities this year, it is much more likely that these universities are discriminating against white people to make them appear to be more diverse.
It was not long ago that Harvard University faced a lawsuit by Asian American students for their discrimination in the admissions process, and now the same is happening to white students. What the majority of people fail to realize is that putting underqualified students into these prestigious institutions because of their dark complexion actually sets them up for failure.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the status dropout rate for Black and Hispanic students combined in 2018 was a whopping 14.4%. Asians in the same year had a dropout rate of just 1.9% and white students 4.2%. Forcing diversity statistics in the admissions process may make these universities appear to be more diverse, but they are really taking many minorities away from other schools where they could actually succeed and build towards the rest of their lives.
The same forced diversity hinders those in jobs or internship programs. Of the New York Times current 33 interns, just one is a white male and 27 are women. There is also the possibility that not many white people or males applied for the internship, or were not qualified, but it seems much more likely that the New York Times purposefully accepted applicants for their data to appear more gender and race-inclusive. In an internship opportunity that many take in order to potentially receive a job in the same field, discriminating against people on the basis of race or gender sets up the likelihood that the job field will later also underrepresent the same race(s) and gender.
According to recent census data, white men account for nearly 30 percent of the American population. Men in general account for 49.2 percent of the U.S. population. Yet these two are now becoming heavily underrepresented and discriminated against in both the job market and education system.
Aiming to have equal opportunities for all races and genders is something positive that America has strived off of, but forcing equal outcomes only hurts many of those who earned their way. These universities and establishments claim to act this way in order to combat racism, but they only act as “reverse racism” toward whites and Asians because of their common successes. We need to get back to an America that qualifies people in terms of qualifications and character, not gender and race.
Photo by Aleah Green
