Entry 35: Race to College

   At dozens of universities across the nation — including, in September, the University of California, Berkeley — Republican or conservative student groups have kept the issue of considering race in college admissions at the boiling point with “affirmative action bake sales,” where the price for cupcakes or cookies is based on race, with whites charged more than blacks, Hispanics or native Americans.
   Some institutions have blocked such bake sales, bowing to complaints that the price differences are inherently racist and that the sales create an unwelcoming campus atmosphere. But, wrote Shawn Lewis, president of the Berkeley College Republicans, “It is no more racist than giving an individual an advantage in college admissions based solely on their race or gender.”
 
What do you think about the above quotation (from a New York Times article)? Should race or ethnicity be considered in college applications? What about gender? Nationality? What do you think is fair for college admissions boards to consider when looking at potential applicants? Why do you think so?

• I believe that the above quotation can stir quite an argument concerning the issue of racism. I believe that race and ethnicity should not be considered in college applications. This also implies to gender and nationality. Instead, the economic status and situation of a applicant should be what is actually considered. This would be the most reasonable because the reason for race and ethnicity to be considered by colleges when looking at college applicants in the first place is because of the differences in economic status. It just happened to be that people who are ethnicities or races other than whites have lower levels of economic status. These people are usually immigrants or African Americans, and many of them have stayed in America because of either slavery during the past, or because of hopes for better opportunities. Therefore, the best way is to just look at the economic status instead of the race or the ethnicity.
• Even though it is important to consider economic status when deciding which applicants should the college accept, it is also import to put the majority of the college's focus on the applicant's actual grades and his or her qualities and characteristics, because that's what is the deciding factor is. It is only when two applicants have similar grades and qualities should the college consider economic status.