Perhaps you’ve heard of a scholarship fund set up by Boston University’s College Republicans intended solely for Caucasians. The reason? It says right on the application form: “We believe that racial preferences in all their forms are perhaps the worst form of bigotry confronting America today.” Reactions have ranged from outrage to extreme outrage, from the blogs I’ve read (with a hint of liberal superiority in the latter). I personally find nothing wrong with it. I don’t necessarily agree with their reasons (BU’s College Republicans president Joe Mroszczyk admitted it was just to stir the pot), I don’t see any reason why it should piss people off. I realize that minority scholarships were designed in order to combat past discriminations, so don’t start calling me a racist. But it may come as a surprise to some people that there are actually underprivileged, intelligent, college-education deserving white people out there who could use a scholarship.
Really, it is absurd to cry racism when someone creates a whites-only scholarship when there are other single-race scholarships out there. I can understand the reason for affirmative action, but it’s a rather flawed reason. Affirmative action exists to “correct” past discriminations against minority groups by giving these minorities a leg up in employment, college admissions, and other things, regardless of whether the people deserve it or not. But really, how does this help? Affirmative action essentially says to minorities that they can’t get ahead in life on their own merits alone, and that they need help to achieve. This is complete bullshit. Yes, yes, I know the world isn’t perfect, but race shouldn’t be a factor AT ALL, especially in the case of college admissions or scholarships. Admissions should be based on achievements while scholarships should focus on need and/or achievement. If you’re black and did well in school but come from a poor family, you should have the same chances of getting into a college as a rich, white kid. Unless he’s a stupid, rich, white kid. Then you should have better chances. I think we can all agree on this. But affirmative action isn’t the way to achieve this equality. The Brits call it “positive discrimination” and outlawed it. I think it’s high time America realized that apologizing for discrimination with reverse discrimination isn’t going to work. Denying underprivileged white kids the chance to succeed will never make up for denying blacks or Hispanics or women the chance to succeed. We all deserve a level playing field.