Affirmative Action: Stereotype Training

Abigail Fisher
 courtesy of MSNBC and the Associated Press

     The issue of affirmative action is being brought before the Supreme Court again. The Supreme Court will decide whether or not affirmative action is just during its session this year, thanks to Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. Abigail Fisher, a 22-year-old woman, was denied admission to the University of Texas in 2008. Fisher said she was denied admission because she is white and hopes "that they’ll completely take race out of the issue in terms of admissions." 
     Affirmative action has been a highly debated topic for many years. The whole purpose of the policy was to ban discrimination of people because of their race or gender. In 1978, the Supreme Court decided that affirmative action was legal, as long as quotas weren't used. The thing is, the very policy of affirmative action hinders our ability to move past race and gender discrimination in America. As we should all know, not all people of the same racial background or gender think and act in the exact same way. I am a white female, just like my roommate, but she and I have entirely different interests and opinions. We do not act alike, and we don't approach projects or work in the same way either. If we were stereotyped based on our race and gender, people would end up with a flawed conception of our actual personalities. When universities are required to consider race and gender during the admissions process, that sends the message that stereotyping people is okay. If America is supposed to be a land where all people are created equally, then stereotyping shouldn't be allowed, much less encouraged.