Affirmative Action

[Nym90]

I strongly support class-based AA because I feel that everyone deserves equal opportunity. People who come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds are at a fundamental disadvantage when it comes to getting a job as opposed to someone from a wealthy background. In addition, society will be better off with the poor getting more jobs than if the wealthy get those same jobs, because the poor need the good job more.

I opposed race-based AA because the government should not discriminate on the basis of race. Yes, there was discrimination in the past, but two wrongs don't make a right. In addition, there is no scientific or biological definition of race. If I decide to say I'm black, there is, technically speaking, nothing anyone can do to argue with me. So if we are going to have race-based AA, I'd think we at least need a law declaring the amount of melanin in your skin that is required in order for you to be considered black...

[Nym90]

I would have responded to John Dibble, but Dazzleman did it quite well. Yes, class-based AA is needed to ensure that those with the talent and drive, but who lack the monetary resources to get a good education or the "connections" to get a good job can still get one.

Wealthy people themselves often do not need these jobs, true, but many children of wealthy parents will enter into white collar professional positions more or less to give them something to do, or apply for high quality schools, probably more for the pure educational value than for the need to get a job (their family is quite wealthy so they don't need the money). Not that there's anything wrong with that at all, but the world as a whole would be better off giving the position to a highly qualified individual who comes from a poorer background, even if their qualifications are not quite as high. I'm not talking about giving the poor a massive advantage, but if someone is only slightly less qualified and comes from a much poorer background, they are more in need of being admitted to the good school or getting the good job, and society as a whole benefits more than they would if they admitted or hired the slightly more qualified individual who doesn't need the money.