College is a big section on one's education and getting accepted is no easy task. When it comes to acceptance rates, one's race can create a big impact with whether or not an application is accepted or declined. In the ideology of a “model minority” along with systemic racism and struggles among minority groups, the education board across the nation has been deciding on if college benefits should be applied to specific races or not. Generally speaking, college admission offices should consider the race of applicants as a factor of admissions due to the injustices of their day-to-day lives; however, it should not be the single determinator for the outcome of their decision. 

Breaking down racial issues can be a tremendously sensitive topic. In the novel, White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo states, “Interrupting racism takes courage and intentionality; the interruption is by definition not passive or complacent. So in answer to the question "Where do we go from here?” I offer that we must never consider ourselves finished with our learning” (DiAngelo 132). Some may argue that Asians don’t count as a minority when relating to college benefits. This is because despite there being a low percentage of Asians in America, they don’t fit as a “model minority”. A model minority is described as the stereotypical minority lifestyle. In modern day society, Asians are looked upon with being extraordinarily intelligent when relating to academics. Numerous achievements obtained by the Asian race are undermined due to stereotypes and are often casually only credited to “being Asain”.  Another example of an issue within the minority community, including Asians, is discrimination. Throughout history many had rights taken away from each other due to the color of one’s skin or the shape of one’s eye. From slavery to the Japaneese internment camps, it’s no qiestion whether or not discrimination is a stuggle for minorities.  In addition, the modern day Western beauty standard targets the racial majority in America. In an article relating to American beauty standard, Donnell says, “Our notions of beauty are colonized.” (Donnell). This can cause detrimental effects on young minority children growing up like body dysmorphia or anorexia due to the beauty standard only being one body shape, skintone, hair type, etc. Not only do minorities have to deal with not fitting an ideal look, they also have to experience hateful words. Racial slurs are very common when wanting to oppress a specific race. For example, the n-word is a very common one that’s talked about in today’s society. This hateful word was used to take away power from people of color by referring to their skin tone in a degrading manner. Racist actions can occur to oppress races too. Many Asians have experienced peers squinting their eyes at them or mocking their natice language. Looking at social normalities alone, it seems that the Asian community’s oppressions consistently fit in the “model minority”, which leads to the question, what sets apart Asians from other minority groups? It is unsure why, but the Asian community on average has had the highest income in America for many years. Ranging from a cultural mindset to disciplinary tactics, the Asian community takes an extensive amount of high paying jobs within the US.  This statistic is exceedingly intriguing considering conditions of immigrant families from Asia aren’t giving them much of an advantage over other minority races. Like the other minority groups, Asians started off poor during the gold rush and got discriminated against. “In 2019, the median Black household earned just 61 cents for every dollar of income the median white household earned (up from 59 cents in 2018), while the median Hispanic household earned 74 cents (unchanged from 2018)” (Wilson). Perhaps slavery and segregation can play a major factor in the black community relating to job opportunities and education in older generations, but the modern day factor that leads immagrant/minority families to the ideal american dream is still being debated. 

Higher education can be very stressful, but open up an abundant amount of opportunities for students. Statistically speaking, the majority of college students are of the caucasian race. When viewing statistics, it’s no question that diversity within colleges is exceedingly encouraged throughout the nation. When creating openings while keeping an ideal percentage pertaining to each individual race, it opens up more opportunities for minority races compared to caucasians. In addition, there are numerous scholarships available for specific ethnicities. This is to give minorities more opportunities to get unto higher education, thus increasing minority percentages.  College lacks a simplistic system when it comes to acceptance rates. Numerous factors go into the ideology behind college and acceptance. GPA and ACT scores are not the solitary factors that go into one getting to go to a specific college. This is due to political agendas within the media. There’s no doubt that America was built on white supremacy and racism throughout history. Part of the reasoning behind getting rid of a white majority is to get rid of white supremacy. The idea behind this is caused by the fact that the majority of high paying jobs consist of caucasians. By giving people of color more opportunities, it allows them to have a fair shot of obtaining the same jobs. Although that seems like a utopia to many, some approaches can be out of hand. Many generalizations occurred in social normalities and modern culture to fight against just that for minority races. For example, the idea of “all cops are bad” was a movement against the death of Goerge Floyd. The movement itself generalized all cops due to the actions of one. Obviously there are other inadequate cops, but that idea can also be taken towards anything. The stereotype of all people of color living in the “hood” can be applied too. Obviously not every person of color lives in the hood but some do. Thence, the desire for a diverse utopia for America obtains a worthy cause but a poor approach. 

Obviously the political agendas don’t appear out of nowhere. Minorities all over the nation have their own struggles. Statistically minority families live in poorer neighborhoods. The specific reasoning to this is due to income. The majority of minimum wage jobs are occupied by minorities. This leads to longer working hours for minority parents. “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.” (Fitzgerald 106). Not only do minority groups have to work extra hours for less money, there’s also a very high crime rate within poor neighborhoods. The living style of most minority races already gives children pertaining to these groups a major disadvantage to those growing up in Siberian areas. Factors such as parental guidance and the ability to afford resources like tutoring or school supplies can create a substantial difference in future opportunities. Due to the low percentages of minority races, role models of a minority race are extremely encouraged. For example, Kamala Harris is a major pub

The struggles in the minority community leads to the lines that make a race a “model minority”. Like stated before, the Asian community takes up extremely high paying jobs like doctors and lawyers. This also means that the majority of Asians don’t live in poorer areas unlike stereotypical minorities. This leads to colleges grouping Asian people with Caucasians when it comes to college acceptance rates. Since Asians generally take up more high paying jobs and obtain more materialistic possessions there’s more of an expectation of Asians achieving materialistic wealth. This creates a soft bigotry of low expectations. In addition, Asians genetically aren’t the same as Caucasians. Between the eye shape, hair color, and more. Treatment minorities pertaining to college is inconsistent. 

 The question of whether or not race should be accounted for college acceptance. Using ideology relating to racial majority statistics, the obvious solution is to make race accounted for when accepting students. But, generalizing a race and making acceptance easier would be categorized as the soft bigotry of low expectations. Assuming some races need more help than others is more racist itself than a solution to white supremacy and the lack of opportunities for minorities. The reasoning for a white majority within universities does not just occur due to more opportunities being presented towards caucasian students. The fact that the majority of american is white has to be taken into consideration too, making it no surprise for universities to be made up of mostly caucasian students. According to data collected by the AAC&U, “Since 1997, the US population has grown more and more diverse. In 2017, the population was 61 percent white, 18 percent Hispanic, 12.3 percent black, 5.7 percent Asian, 1.9 percent one or more race, 0.7 percent American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.3 percent Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.”(Dedman).

By removing the race factor when relating to education opportunities, it creates a new way of thinking when helping the “underdogs'' of students in America. Arguably, the missing factor is family income. Universities can cost thousands of dollars per semester just to attend. This is excluding supplies like textbooks or dorm room items. Not to mention, the better colleges education wise cost even more money. A student may have a phenomenal work ethic along with astonishing grades, but none of that will matter if they can’t afford college. At first glance, it seems like a racial issue. Asians and caucasions in America have the highest average income nationwide, but a poor white family with a smart student would have the same education related struggles as a black family with a smart student. “In March of 2020, real median household income increased 10.6% among Asian households from $88,774 to $98,174.”(Wilson). The issue simply comes down to affording education. By targeting families based on income instead of race, that can aid in ridding social normalities and media influence with the soft bigotry of low expectations. Aiding someone with money who needs it still means the student worked for their scholarship and acceptance.  Giving out a scholarship due to someone being a minority is more of a backhanded attempt to help. The novel A Raisin in the Sun provides a great example of hard work and the ideology of earning success. “And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing.” (Hansberry 145).  In addition, Harvard University was accused of discriminating against the Asian community which further led to an attempt to sue. “The group sued Harvard in 2014, claiming it illegally engages in “racial balancing” that artificially limits the number of Asian-American students at the Ivy League school. Harvard denies the allegation and says it is legally promoting student body diversity in keeping with Supreme Court precedent.” (Reuters). 

Using statistics on ethnicity and income in America, a conclusion can be formed stating that one’s race isn’t the main factor when it comes to college acceptance and scholarships. Helping students based on race and not individual struggles creates more of a political agenda than actual benefits for students across the nation, thus it would be more beneficial to give scholarships based on income needs rather than using the idea of racial superiority to justify a poor approach to create a politically correct educational community. 

Annotated Bibliography

"Board Effectiveness, Gender Diversity and Financial Vulnerability in the Council of Christian 

Colleges and Universities." Michigan Academician, vol. 46, no. 1, 2019, p. 24. Gale Literature Resource Center, z. Accessed 16 Feb. 2021.

This source gives an incite on the ideology behind acceptance rates relating to colleges and ethnicity. The article states that colleges, nationwide, want to achieve a more diverse community within their campus. This will create more openings and opportunities for ethnic groups like Hispanics and African Americans. Collage boards keep track of the ratios from Caucasians to other ethnic groups in order to complete the idea of a diverse campus. The ideology behind a diverse campus also directly conflicts with the student performance aspect of acceptance rates.

Dedman, Ben. “College Students Are More Diverse Than Ever. Faculty and Administrators Are Not.” Association of American Colleges & Universities, 7 Mar. 2019, www.aacu.org/aacu-news/newsletter/2019/march/facts-figures#:~:text=In%202017%2C%20the%20population%20was,Hawaiian%20or%20other%20Pacific%20Islander.

This source breaks down the race percentages relating to students attending universities in America. The data presented shows that the Asian population throughout the years has had the highest percentage for being qualified to attend college. When it comes to the other minority groups, by 2016 the Hispanic population caught up to the Caucasian population. Despite the improvement since the 1990's, the African American community was the lowest percentage of high school graduates.

DiAngelo, Robin J. White Fragility: Why It's so Hard for White People to Talk about Racism. Beacon Press, 2020.

This book expresses the idea of why it is difficult for the majority race in America to talk about racism. When looking back at iterations between the majority and minority throughout history, there were numerous sightings of white supremacy. This history can create a guilt for Caucasian people due to the fact that it was their ancestors doing the oppressing.

Donnella, Leah. “Is Beauty In The Eyes Of The Colonizer?” NPR, NPR, 6 Feb. 2019,    www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/02/06/685506578/is-beauty-in-the-eyes-of-the-colonizer. 

Showing the unrealistic beauty standards within America is shown a lot in this article. Beauty standards have been very targeted towards caucasians. This excludes many other people relating to what is seen as beautiful. Beauty is not one specific look. The article talks about how other unique looks should be normalised as beautiful for others to fit the standard.

Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Great Gatsby. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.

The source is a novel relating to wealth, power, and love. It is a story about the hardships of the main character's love for a girl. This love story also shows the reader how hard it is to truly obtain the American dream without an abundant amount of money. The achievements Gatsby was able to uphold were simple because of the wealth he obtained. The novel also shows the reliance and social abnormalities separating the wealthy and poor.

Hansberry, Lorraine A. A Raisin in the Sun: Lorraine Hansberry. GMC Distribution, 2007.

This source is a novel about a family trying to fight the hardships of poverty. This story shows the racism and discrimination minorities face in America. It also displays the extra mile of determination and effort it takes for some minority groups to obtain the American Dream and the obstacles white supremacy creates along the way. The novel also shows the classes society America displays and the connection between class and race.

Jamerson, Joshua. “Black Women Ready to Virtually Cheer On Kamala Harris's Inauguration.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 17 Jan. 2021, www.wsj.com/articles/black-women-ready-to-virtually-cheer-on-kamala-harriss-inauguration-11610895600.

This source is a visual representation of the lack of minority role models in America. People of the vice president's ethnicity were very excited to have her in office due to her influence and encouragement towards minority ethnic groups. This is a bigger deal to the public since the majority of public figures are Caucasian. Many consider her inauguration "history being made" due to the fact that she is the first female monitory vice president.

“Racial Disparities in Income and Poverty Remain Largely Unchanged amid Strong Income Growth in 2019.” Economic Policy Institute, www.epi.org/blog/racial-disparities-in-income-and-poverty-remain-largely-unchanged-amid-strong-income-growth-in-2019/.

This source shows the income of different races in America. It gives information and data addressing the major wage gap between different ethic groups. In the data given, the Asian community on average has the highest income out of all the races whereas the African American community has the lowest percentage. There is a very extensive gap between the two ethnicities and their average income. In 2019, the average income gap between Asians and African Americans is about fifty-two thousand a year. 

Reuters. “Pivotal Harvard Race Discrimination Case to Be Weighed by U.S. Appeals Court.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 16 Sept. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/pivotal-harvard-race-discrimination-case-be-weighed-u-s-appeals-n1240242. 

This source shows the injustice done to Asian Americans. Many of that ethnic group are being declined from Harvard due to racial balancing. This is because of the abundant amount of Asians attending Harvard. The university is being sued for discriminating against the asian race to fit a political agenda.