Over the past three years at Dartmouth I have been told repeated times that I am privileged because I am white, heterosexual, male, American, and upper-middle class. All of these privileges are said to justify Affirmative Action, the opening of opportunities to people based upon their race, ethnicity, sex, etc. Internships, scholarships, housing, and special administrators are made available to people based upon these different "qualifications."
Perhaps I am the lone voice at Dartmouth, but I am convinced that Affirmative Action is a socially accepted form of racism and sexism.
Let us look at the different forms of racism and sexism here at Dartmouth. Women are given priority to internships in certain "male dominated" sciences such as engineering. Yet if I was to start up a "Men in Women's Studies" program to encourage men to enter this "female-dominated" major, I would be at best laughed at and at worst labeled a sexist. Deans of African American and Latino students were demanded by students, but could you imagine a Dean of White Students? Such a picture would be reminiscent of 1950s Alabama. While the United Negro College Fund frequently runs socially accepted advertisements on television, a United Caucasian College Fund would be banned from the airwaves. The double standard is more than obvious.
Proponents of Affirmative Action argue that it is necessary to give people these advantages to combat the advantages given to the white, heterosexual males. This would be fine if there are any advantages afforded to me because of my inherited traits. However, I have never received my own dean, special funds for college, my own programming coordinator, or free airline tickets so that I can visit the college. Frankly, my genetic "advantages" have done absolutely nothing visible to promote my life. Being a white, heterosexual male means only that I can get sunburned, I like women, and I can urinate standing up. What has advanced me is money.
Yes, I am part of the upper middle class of America, or at least my parents are. That has enabled me to take great trips, get cool computers, and enroll in SAT prep courses. Yet in my upper middle class high school, women and minorities were able to do all these things as well. My minority friends are currently attending schools such as Yale and Duke. Why? Because they also had money. Money gave them the same opportunities as the white males, and they took advantage of it.
That is why I am proposing that we change our race and sex based Affirmative Action to an economic Affirmative Action. Why should Michael Jordan's children, who have obviously received every advantage possible, be granted more advantages through Affirmative Action while poor white males from Mississippi receive no special advantages?
Through economic Affirmative Action, people who are truly disadvantaged will receive that extra edge they need, regardless of what race or sex they are. Economic Affirmative Action will also erase any toll that racism and sexism has caused in the world, since those who suffer from racism and sexism would have lower incomes and be greatly helped by economic Affirmative Action.
In all likelihood, economic Affirmative Action would disproportionally help minorities, since minorities on average make less than the majority (See U.S. Labor figures for proof of this). This would be fine, since over time that wage gap would be erased by promoting disadvantaged minority individuals while not forgetting the disadvantaged majority individuals.
While I am sure that many people will regard this article as an expression of racism, I see it as just the opposite. I believe that all races, sexes, ethnicities, and sexual orientations are equally capable of succeeding. We are all the same. The real discriminator out there is socio-economics, and by concentrating on helping out those who are economically disadvantaged we can stop the discrimination. Racial and sexist Affirmative Action is nothing more than double standards and special treatment based on the color of one's skin or sex. Discrimination based upon sex and race is the definition of sexism and racism, no matter who is implementing it.
