I was having this discussion with a few people from school, and I want to hear other people's input.
It started when a friend of mine with financial need was denied a scholarship for being white. Apparently, there are many scholarship applications (I have come across a few myself) that purposely exclude caucasians from applying regardless of merit or financial need. This made us think: if there were a "whites only" scholarship, there would be a huge uproar - as seen by the "whites only" scholarship made by Roger Williams (which was made to protest the thousands of minority-only scholarships out there.) Why is this allowed, legally? Why can other minorities have exclusive scholarships, but not whites? My father has told me stories of white people being denied jobs which are then given to people of a different race because the company has to meet a quota, and the same is happening in college admissions. The argument here was that race should have no bearing on ANYTHING in society, but our successes should be based on merit, so that people of ALL races who get what they deserve for their hard work. The counterargument was that such exclusive scholarships and preferences in the workplace are there to help "level the playing field" and get more minority groups involved.
So what is your opinion on this? Would you say this is discrimination, or do you think this is a necessary action? I'm looking for all sorts of ideas, since I'm just in high school, so I don't know what it's like out there in the real world. I am not here to take sides or argue - I want to hear the opinions of other's so that I can learn from them.
It started when a friend of mine with financial need was denied a scholarship for being white. Apparently, there are many scholarship applications (I have come across a few myself) that purposely exclude caucasians from applying regardless of merit or financial need. This made us think: if there were a "whites only" scholarship, there would be a huge uproar - as seen by the "whites only" scholarship made by Roger Williams (which was made to protest the thousands of minority-only scholarships out there.) Why is this allowed, legally? Why can other minorities have exclusive scholarships, but not whites? My father has told me stories of white people being denied jobs which are then given to people of a different race because the company has to meet a quota, and the same is happening in college admissions. The argument here was that race should have no bearing on ANYTHING in society, but our successes should be based on merit, so that people of ALL races who get what they deserve for their hard work. The counterargument was that such exclusive scholarships and preferences in the workplace are there to help "level the playing field" and get more minority groups involved.
So what is your opinion on this? Would you say this is discrimination, or do you think this is a necessary action? I'm looking for all sorts of ideas, since I'm just in high school, so I don't know what it's like out there in the real world. I am not here to take sides or argue - I want to hear the opinions of other's so that I can learn from them.