Imagine that you are in the top 5% of your class and you apply to the college of your dreams, but you receive a letter a month later saying that you haven’t been accepted, but a student in the bottom 7% was accepted only because of their ethnic background. Affirmative action is when a college accepts a minority over a majority because of their ethnicity, this is done to help stop racism across the campus. Some people believe this is fair however; affirmative action is unfair because it belittles merits and it is reverse discrimination.
Affirmative action belittles merits by accepting students for their ethnic background, and not on all of their accomplishments. “…Should be individual achievements—not just grades and test scores, of course, but a broad range of accomplishments, in athletics, music, and others, but race and ethnicity don’t have a place on this list.”(David Sacks and Peter Thiel 2) I think that they are right students shouldn’t be accepted just for having a certain race or ethnicity, but for their achievements that they have accumulated over their high school careers. This is also being racist, which is the irony.
When accepting these students for ethnicity it isn’t really helping out because what if the student that receives help from affirmative action and he is only “ok” at academics. If a student receives help from affirmative action it also lowers their self-esteem. Knowing that they didn’t fully earn their spot in the college greatly impacts the way they think of themselves. This is like a handout, but instead of food or money it’s a education. They also might not have the intelligence that is required to attend the college. I do not believe that is fair because kids that are truly unqualified to attend that prestigious academic academy are getting in solely based on their ethnicity. Many of the minorities that get in end up dropping out of the college. They are being forced to drop out because of their educational disqualification. So why would they get in over someone who really is qualified? It’s because of affirmative action.

Some people say that affirmative action is used to stop racism. This is not stopping the problem, which is racism. They say minorities need help getting into colleges. Actually many minorities have gotten into college on their own. They can get scholarships even if they are poorer than a majority. They don’t really need affirmative action.

“So what,” you say,” this doesn’t effect me.” It affects everyone because you will be affected by it if you are applying to college or if your children are applying to college. This is why I do not believe affirmative action. This is being utilized to stop racism in American colleges, but it isn’t working it is only making things worse. This is why it’s time that we try something else America.