On Wednesday, Randall Kennedy spoke to the student body about his support for affirmative action. According to Kennedy, affirmative action is any kind of policy that gives a previously discriminated against group of people preference getting into select institutions. These groups can include Hispanics, women and the impoverished, but Randall Kennedy chose to specifically voice his support for affirmative action for African Americans. Institutions include lucrative businesses, elite universities and even Andover. Kennedy argued that affirmative action helped advance desegregation and mitigate the effects of decades of injustice. I believe that affirmative action is unnecessary and actually counterproductive to the common good. The use of affirmative action in the college admissions process sharply polarizes Andover students. Mr. Kennedy acknowledged that some colleges might even accept less-qualified minority students over more-qualified white students. That can undermine the achievement of getting into a school for a minority student. The student will never know whether they are actually qualified for admissions or if they were accepted largely because of their skin color. That theory of admissions based on race can also widen the rift between the races that civil rights is supposed to close by making the white students resent the black students racial advantage. Even softer affirmative action methods such as tie breaking are not beneficial. If two students have 4.5s but one is white and one is black, how is it justifiable to pick the black one? Race is not a merit. There is no hard work or talent inherently linked to being black. Tiebreaks can be decided more fairly through different means, such as the opinion of the interviewer or recommendations. Affirmative action is also counter to the principles of the civil rights movement.. The civil rights movement strove for political and social freedom and equality for all people regardless of race- a world free of discrimination. Affirmative action is reverse discrimination. African Americans, who were oppressed and enslaved for hundreds of years, are singled out for preferential treatment. Instead of a promoting equality, affirmative action is fostering inequity. Mr. Kennedy called affirmative action a decent response to the injustices committed against African Americans in the past. Slavery and segregation were both terrible things forced on black people for hundreds of years. There is no way to get restitution. There are no more slaves; there is no more segregation. After these institutions were abolished, learn from them so we will not repeat them and move on. The sheer scale of slavery, segregation and discrimination makes trying to give any kind compensation seem inadequate and almost silly. Pertaining to this issue, Mr. Kennedy said that as responsible members of society, it was our duty to advance it through compensation policies like affirmative action. Affirmative action brings a sense of complacency to all races, thereby stagnating academic achievements. Black students realize that they do not have to have perfect grades or scores to get into an elite college. Instead, their marks need to be just good enough that when combined with their race, affirmative action will get them accepted. Whites students may come to the conclusion that their efforts at futile, because no matter how qualified they are, a black student with affirmative action is likely to get in instead of them. Affirmative action is offensive to minorities, causes racial tension and promotes complacency in academia. The idea that it is an acceptable form of compensation for the posterity of those who suffered from slavery, segregation and discriminatory practices is ludicrous. In the end, affirmative action is detrimental to the common good of society and should be abolished. Derek Farquhar is a three-year Upper from Andover, MA and Commentary Associate for The Phillipian.
