Straight from the source: students’ personal views on affirmative action

My personal view is that while affirmative action has inadvertently made it harder for Asian-Americans like myself to get into college, it is with a worthy goal in mind. Today, minority groups are vastly underrepresented in colleges, which has contributed to the lack of job opportunities and disproportionate poverty they continue to face. Ensuring diversity is necessary to counteract the plaguing effects of centuries-old practices that have systematically denied minorities equal opportunities. Unfortunately, arguments against this necessary practice have been misleading and use Asian-Americans as political props: studies have shown that in a post-affirmative action world, Asian-American admission would only rise one percent. At the same time, the debate around affirmative action has worked to sow divisiveness in the community. It is important to remember that affirmative action previously benefited Asian-Americans, doubling the amount of Asian-American representation from 1976 to 1988, and as such, I find outrage to be hypocritical and based on incorrect perceptions.