NationStates Jolt Archive

as a student in a university town in iowa city, i would suggest that it is. diversity of a student body introduces new cultures to students that might not have ever encountered them before. new cultures produce interaction between concept or introduce new ideas to studentsl. with this they can incorporate new data to fill in blanks or strengthen perception.

My mom who works at the university as a professor and was a scientist back in the days when she made up about 5% of scientist told me that the way the U of I does affirmative action is that if 2 students are equal by any descernable measure, then the one that would increase diversity more gets in.

I living in, and growing up in the aftermath of such a community have found it both pleasent and enlightening. Regrettably i fear leaving iowa city now though, after encountering some people on the outside i worry that they are filled with hate and prejudice. it scares me.

Well culturally your right. It is more interesting. But i don't like the idea of afirmative atcion. Just a new word for raqcism. Just like political correctness ;)

Ehh affirmative action has its good and bad, like everythign else. I wont diss it cause i dont have a better option, but i wont support it cause i know there IS a better option.

so where does that leave us?

Back at square one. At least wit affirmative action, the playing field is tilted a little more for the minorities.

Well, it isn't a necessity, and I'm not convinced that a school/university would do any worse if it had 99% caucasian (spelling?).

It's probably a nice thing to have though.

Just to make sure Affirmative Action doesn't hijack this thread (because it's kind of a different issue): http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=346521

actually i think under U of I standards it still tilts for the whites, since many minorities go urban schools and while the majority of people live there, the majority of kids get educated in suburbs, so urban schools get over crowded and teachers aren't given decent resources. heck, i know my high school is one of those rare ocasions where the local government is doing everything in it's power not to cut back on it, but others aren't as fortunate. so this leaves minority students disadvantaged because while just as many of them are intellectually gifted as white students, they aren't getting the environment to let it flourish.

while i wish it were an equal playing field, i'm not sure aff action can be carried out in any method to ensure more equality with as little chance of corruption as it is at the U of I and a few other institutions.

Diversity is nice but it isn't an important aspect of higher learning, at least compared to you know actually learning the stuff.

Of course diversity is important in higher education. College shouldn't just be about more fact cramming. It a chance to learn how to think, to make judgements for yourself and develop and express your own opinions in an environment that mirrors the real world while having some built in protections. Without having to confront opinions that are different than yours, you miss out on the development of the critical thinking skills that college and university should be fundamental in providing.

while i wish it were an equal playing field, i'm not sure aff action can be carried out in any method to ensure more equality with as little chance of corruption as it is at the U of I and a few other institutions.
It can. (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=346521)

as a student in a university town in iowa city, i would suggest that it is. diversity of a student body introduces new cultures to students that might not have ever encountered them before. new cultures produce interaction between concept or introduce new ideas to studentsl. with this they can incorporate new data to fill in blanks or strengthen perception.

I'd be inclined to agree with you. An important aspect of higher learning is the development of new ideas. New ideas can be absorbed from different cultures. For example, some of the ideas of equality that have been absorbed into western society & given rise to concepts such as modern democracy and human rights were initially picked up from Islamic philosophers.

I learned a lot of things in college, and the least of them was the subject matter itself. Coming from a predominantly white community and living in a predominantly black dorm, I learned a lot of things about racial difference and racial similarity. The number of conversations I had with black floormates about things we just didn't know about each other, from some of the basics (black guys asking me how I was able to shave with a razor every day) to bigger social issues (me asking how the African international students mixed into the African-American cultural at the university), helped me learn a lot about human beings as a whole.

Whether or not it is right to "force" diversity is something I'm not sure about. But having a diverse student population really helped me grow as a human being, that's for sure.

It can. (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=346521)

wow, i hadn't thought of that. i should bring that up with my mom and dad, roll it around with them and see if it's aplicable to the situation, thanks!

I think if diversity is broadly applied, and the stipulation is that *the two applicants are equal in every other way,* it is a good idea. However, actual ability (generally as measured in grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, essay, etc.) in higher education should not be sacrificed for the sake of diversity. Thus, if a *more diverse* person is less qualified, they should not be accepted just because they happen to increase diversity.

Diversity itself should not be defined simply on a basis of race, either. In fact, it should *not* be defined on the basis of race at all, as this is admitting an inherent difference that isn't there. It should be based on cultural and economic background, life experiences, and other things (Hey, I'm tired here, harder to think =)