为什么非把种族扯进来？Equal outcome or equal opportunity?
Yang Liu 03/25 20917
5.0/2
下面是对于支持肤色AA的回复。
The US constitution and amendments promote equal protection and equal opportunity. I went to Mr. Blum's presentation and he made it clear that he supported income based and socio-economic status based affirmative action. And I fully agree with him on that point because a child brought up in an affluent family could have more opportunities than a child from an economically strained family.
Fortunately, socio-economic status have already been an important factor in college admission decision process. Also, raised in a single family or a distressed family condition have already been a plus in the college admission for years. So, the real question is why we should add race on top of it?
In order to justify race as a legitimate factor in affirmative action, one has to admit that race, on top of socio-economic status and family condition, is an inherit disadvantage to success. This view, to my point of view, is the most racist attack to the civil right movement and Dr. Martin Luther King's dream. Here is what Dr. King said, "I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character". Dr. King wished race was NEVER a factor. He definitely didn't want to promote a legacy that race become a taboo when talking about negatives but can be used freely as a weapon when protecting established interests.
No sensible politician dares to claim that he or she promotes equal outcome instead of equal opportunity. We should think carefully whether race based affirmative action is promoting equal opportunities or equal outcome. In general, policies trying to promote equal opportunities will eventually promote equal outcome and a more efficient and fair society. Equal-outcome oriented policies, despite their good-willed intention, will not necessarily encourage an equal outcome but likely to incur a cost to society as a whole.
When you tell a disadvantaged ethnic group, that they have a lower bar than others, not because of their social economic status, not because of their family condition, but merely because of the color of their skin. What kind of message are you conveying? What kind of morale are you promoting? Do you really want to help them or to insult them or to trap them?
Again, I would like to make clear that I am supportive of socio-economic status based affirmative action. But I am firmly against race based affirmative action because skin color is something that we are born with and can not change no matter what. I would take it at ease if my kid is at a disadvantage at college admission when competing with kids from low-income family or from difficult family, instead of kids simply from certain race. This is a greater fairness, especially to those economically distressed Chinese immigrants. Why should the children of those Chinese immigrants, no matter how hard they worked, no matter how hard their parents struggled, pay a price just because of the color of their skin?!
