Affirmative action has been a hot topic these days in the college world. Recently, the Trump administration has decided to rescind Obama’s policies on affirmative action. These policies favored minorities of certain races, which led to others being penalized for their race. Affirmative action is something that will not likely be abandoned, as colleges have already began to fight back for their right to consider race in admissions. As a high school student who will be applying for college in the fall of 2019, it’s a matter that highly concerns my generation.

Affirmative action has gained such a bad rep due to the fact that Asian Americans have been especially disenfranchised. Despite being considered as a minority in most spheres of life, they are considered an over represented minority when it comes to college admissions. This means that Asian Americans must be substantially better than applicants of other races. A widely cited 2009 Princeton study affirms just that. To have the same amount of consideration as a white applicant, Asian Americans need to score 140 more points on the SAT. When they are considered to Hispanics however, Asian Americans must score 275 more points on the on the SAT. And compared to blacks, Asian Americans must score an astonishing 450 points higher. SAT scores are only a part of admissions however. Other areas like essays and extracurriculars are large factors, and it’s been shown that Asian Americans need a boost in these as well.

A few weeks ago, files from Harvard were revealed, showing how Asian Americans were rated lower on the category of personality. Asian Americans have long been stereotyped as a “Model Minority” — docile, hardworking and quiet. It was a smack in the face to see that this stereotype still persists at one of the world’s elite institutions. This concrete evidence goes to show that racist perceptions are still not beyond us. It shows that minorities are great in a small number. Once there becomes too many of them, it’s a problem and informal quotas abound. However is this a problem just because the students are Asian American? If there were as many high achieving Hispanics applying for admissions to top selective colleges, there would probably be a quota for them too. It’s similar to the situation of the Jewish applying to Harvard in the 1920s. A quota was placed on them to limit their numbers. Top private colleges have now moved towards a process called holistic review which takes into count not only academic performance but personal qualities and experiences. But from Harvard’s evidence, holistic review seems to be a facade to blatantly discriminate.

However, affirmative action doesn’t just hurt Asian Americans. It perpetuates stereotypes about Hispanics and blacks as well — that they aren’t as capable of doing well academically. It leads to lower expectations and a feeling of resentment from students who aren’t getting the advantages of affirmative action. I had read an article about black students at Harvard who felt out of place due to their peers assuming that they had only gotten in due to affirmative action. As well, affirmative action does not take into account the socioeconomic state of the applicant and the family, only race. Thus a privileged individual of a race that is helped by affirmative action gets an unfair advantage. I would be much higher favor of a policy that gave a boost to those of a lower socioeconomic status. From my perspective, affirmative action seems to do more harm than good.

As a Indian American who is a rising junior in high school, it’s disappointing to know that because of my race, there are much higher expectations for me. I’m expected to achieve higher test scores, have better extracurriculars and write better essays due to a factor that I had no control in. Luckily, this does not extend to all colleges — just the most selective ones. However, I believe diversity is an admirable goal. Diversity means that a multitude of viewpoints, a variety of experiences and differing circumstances are represented. To be in an environment filled with people similar to yourself would be not be as enriching. College is regarded as a bridge to adulthood, and this is an important time to be introduced to people who are different to yourself. Top private colleges have historically been quite homogenous, and this is the perfect time to make a change.

This decision from the Trump administration might make affirmative action something of the past. It may restore true meritocracy, it will always be at the expense of others. With such high stakes, it’s impossible to reach a decision that will be fair to all races. Only time will tell, and it’s highly likely that when I apply for college, nothing will have changed.