Where did the equality go?

Where did the equality go?

I was saddened to see that Tara Stroll (“Where did equality go?”) thinks that affirmative action has caused discrimination against whites? Really?

Well, let’s examine this. Let’s say, all things in our country are “equal”. Then, the proportion of different races in professional jobs and colleges would be equal to the proportion of different races and ethnic groups in the general population of this country. Does this make sense? It does to me.

Now I’m in the Physical Therapy program at Sargent, what I would call a very respected professional program. I look around in my class of 35 I see 30 people who are white, 3 who are Indian, and 2 who are Asian. Using demographic statistics provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, if everything was “equal” 26 (75%) would be white, 4 (12%) would be Black, 4 (12%) would be Hispanic, 1 (4%) would be Asian. I’m not sure how the law, medical, dental, and business programs look here at BU, but I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark and say that they’re not much different. Anyone still thinking whites are being discriminated against?

Some may think, this is just school, it doesn’t affect the workplace. How is someone supposed to get a job as a lawyer if they don’t go to law school? Med school is kind of important in becoming a doctor. As a part of my coursework, I’ve done some clinical internships and I’ve worked in hospitals and outpatient clinics. Guess what? All the physical therapists I worked with were white. All the doctors I interacted with, they were white too. All the nurses? No surprises here, they were white. Now I’m not sure what law firms and corporate offices look like, but I’ll let you guess. For some reason, I’m really doubting that whites are being discriminated against.

College admission and retention practices actively shape the society’s workforce. Does affirmative action have a place in higher education? Without a doubt. A college education and professional degrees are the stepping stones to personal and financial success in this country. If the door is shut to minorities at admissions office, how are they supposed to attain a good job? Affirmative action is NOT a hand-out. It is a hand-up and there is a HUGE difference between the two

To the faculty reading this, you may not be involved in the admissions process, but you can make a difference in student retention. Take a look at who’s not passing your classes and dropping out of your programs. Do minorities represent a disproportionate amount in those groups? There’s a great book called “What the best college teachers do” by Ken Bain. In the 2nd chapter he talks about why some minority students don’t succeed in college and what excellent professors have done to make sure they do. They didn’t give handouts. They provided a hand-up. They set up their classes to ensure everyone succeeded.

Tara’s argument would be justified if this country’s playing field was level. Unfortunately it is not. It has long been slanted by poverty, racism and discrimination. That idea I talked about earlier, about proportions of minorities in the workplace and college being equal isn’t just me rambling. Its the principle that affirmative action is based on. Because if everything were equal in our country, the numbers would be too.

Next time you’re in class, look around and ask yourself are things equal and ask why they’re not. If you oppose affirmative action, come up with a better solution for racial equality. So to answer the question of where did equality go? It hasn’t even arrived.

Lisa A. Hellenbrand Physical Thearpy ’06 Sargent College 617/816-7176