I think it's a mistake to think the intent is to benefit individuals of specific races. This has very much been something where the intended benefactor is American society in general.
As an example, I went to a good public school that had a policy where the top 5% of high school students were automatically given admission to the university. While this was technically race blind, it was de facto affirmative action, because a more poor high school is not as competitive as a rich high school.
At first, I too, thought that affirmative action was bad because racism of any kind is bad. However, it dawned on me one day that if this policy wasn't in place, there just wouldn't be many minorities at our university, and in a way I would be deprived off a well-rounded, diverse college experience.
Simply put, being exposed to a a rich, diverse student body is good for everyone, not just minorities.
I don't think it's really any different in how the American justice system doesn't exist solely to provide justice for victim or the accused. The most important beneficiary of our justice system, is what happens when you have justice for society. Sure, individual cases don't always have what is perceived as the "right" outcome, but that's considered acceptable in our system if the result is justice for society.
OP's point is still important, though: you're talking about the wrong kind of diversity. If you go to a school with a bunch of kids who grew up in upper-class neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., who cares if a few of those kids have black skin? They're contributing ~nothing to the diversity on campus, because they grew up in the same place and come from the same income level.
On the other hand, if your admissions policies make a point of drawing from many income brackets or many countries, suddenly you have a whole world of people who you likely would never have associated with and who are actually different than you in meaningful ways.
Country of origin and socioeconomic status are a much bigger deal when it comes to diversity than race, because race isn't real. It's a proxy for things that are real, and continuing to use it as a proxy perpetuates a subtle form of racism.
There’s a parenting tactic out there where you spend the money on private elementary and middle school then turn your kid loose on a low performing HS augmented with outside tutoring. They graduate top or very close to top of their class and stand a good chance of getting into the school of their choice + scholarships.
> Simply put, being exposed to a a rich, diverse student body is good for everyone, not just minorities.
Why does the student body need to replace part of its Whites and Asians with minorities to be "rich and diverse"? Can't it be rich and diverse by having different people which are each his own individual not defined by his race?
Also, aren't you worried about how getting denied admission to a college because of your race will have a very negative effect for "society"?
> Why does the student body need to replace part of its Whites and Asians with minorities to be "rich and diverse"?
Hey, so there are two parts to your question, the "rich" part and the "diverse" part. I'll start with diverse because it's the most obvious.
In order to have a "diverse" student body, it should be represent a plurality of points of view. If everyone was White/Asian then the student body wouldn't be diverse, because, by definition, there would just be people from those backgrounds. Obviously there's more to diversity than just race, and I'm not not trying to argue there isn't. I am trying to keep this response short though, so forgive me from enumerating on other things when you asked specifically about race.
Ok so now the "rich" part of the question. College is an important time in one's life where many people get the opportunity to experience freedom for the first time, while they pursue a challenging, serious education. However homework and lecture is not the only place where our education happens. Being exposed to a lot of ideas, people, and experiences is also critical to the college education. By this line of reasoning being around people of all sorts of different backgrounds is part of that aspect of education.
I grew up in a suburb of Texas. There were not a lot African Americans. I actually can't remember there being any. My family wasn't wealthy though, and my parents are immigrants (just to give you some context and to keep my story honest). I truly think that if my university hadn't had its affirmative action program, there's a good chance I would have made it to adulthood without having ever been around non-white people in a meaningful sense. When would I have? I didn't choose what family, city, state, or country I was born in. All of those things happened outside of my control, and, frankly, from the perspective of someone who was from a city like New York or London I would have seemed pretty ignorant.
It's sort of like traveling, you know? Having the opportunity to travel gives you a baseline level of experience in the world that there really is no substitute for. I think having an ethnically diverse student body is similar, and that is why I said society is the primary beneficiary of affirmative action. That's my best way to answer the question without there being an actual person in front of me and being able to have a face to face discussion, so I hope you take my answer as one given sincerely, even if you don't agree with it.
> Also, aren't you worried about how getting denied admission to a college because of your race will have a very negative effect for "society"?
I am Italian. My "race" invented pizza, so no.
Edit: Also, kidding aside, give me a break. I don't even know how to answer that. You're acting like you're the victim of some kind of race war, and it's cringe. I hate to say it, and I don't mean to be disrespectful, but it's true. You sound like one of my parents when they pretend like "you can't joke about anything anymore" or that everything is "so complicated with all the political correctness". Madonna.
I wouldn't consider that affirmative action. In any case, I would support more universities with similar policies. Your point about the justice system is interesting. In principle, it sounds good to me, but I'll have to ponder it. Thanks for that food for thought!
Glad you thought it was interesting, that makes me really happy to hear. Re. "not really affirmative action", I'm not like an AA expert, but my university went all the way to the Supreme Court to defend that very admission policy, in a lawsuit that attempted to repeal affirmative action.
I think in general the population is mostly against affirmative action because it seems racist, and they just substitute their own ideas of how those policies are implemented. It's the same thing where if you asked people if murderers should be let go over some kind of procedural technicality, then they'd probably say no because murder is bad. However, in practice those technicalities are stuff like how evidence is collected, which can lead to potentially innocent people being convicted, etc...
As an example, I went to a good public school that had a policy where the top 5% of high school students were automatically given admission to the university. While this was technically race blind, it was de facto affirmative action, because a more poor high school is not as competitive as a rich high school.
At first, I too, thought that affirmative action was bad because racism of any kind is bad. However, it dawned on me one day that if this policy wasn't in place, there just wouldn't be many minorities at our university, and in a way I would be deprived off a well-rounded, diverse college experience.
Simply put, being exposed to a a rich, diverse student body is good for everyone, not just minorities.
I don't think it's really any different in how the American justice system doesn't exist solely to provide justice for victim or the accused. The most important beneficiary of our justice system, is what happens when you have justice for society. Sure, individual cases don't always have what is perceived as the "right" outcome, but that's considered acceptable in our system if the result is justice for society.