Again and again, our government won't attack the root of the problem

[johncmcleod]

Problem: Women being prejudiced and not getting equal opportunities to get sport scholarships at colleges.

Government's solution: Title IX Force the colleges to provide the same amount of scholarships for women and men.

Why it's bad: Men who are extremely serious athletes might get turned away and a much less serious and talented woman might get accepted.

Better solution: End the prejudices but changing the public's mind instead of enacting a law. This ends all problems related to the root and takes out the main problem itself.


Problem: Minorities not getting accepted into college because of racial biases.

Government's solution: That one law (I can't believe I forgot what it's called; total brain fart and I'm too lazy to go look up the name) that forces colleges to allow more minorities in.

Problem: A white person who is better suited to going to a college not getting accepted and a black person who isn't the same material getting in. (I do NOT mean to sound racist)

Better solution: End the prejudice by changing the public's mind about other races instead of enacting the law. This ends all problems related to the root and takes out the main problem itself.

Problem: People drinking too much alcohol, which is bad for them.

Government's solution: The Prohibition

Problem: It took away from the people's rights, didn't stop them from drinking alcohol, and turned the black market from a minnow to a whale. This ends all problems related to the root and takes out the main problem itself.



I wish things were different.


Better solution: Eliminate the public's demand for alcohol

[MichaeltheGreat]

Uh, slight detail, but how do you go about "changing the public's mind?" Considering that there's more than one of them, and each individual owner pretty much does whatever the hell they want with it, and any interest in facts, philosophies, whatever, are pretty much coincidental.

In particular, how would "the government" go about doing this, and why? Gee, our government wants to tell us what to think, even more than usual.

[Kepler]

The point is never to solve the problems. It's to posture and preen and appear to do something. Problems are important resources for governments, since they cause the public to give up more of their rights and riches to try to "solve" them.

This is why all problems must be made to persist forever. Happily, problems like racism and sexism have and will exist independently of whether governments address them or not.

[Az]

Problem: Minorities not getting accepted into college because of racial biases.

do college personel see the applicants before accepting? I could see prejudice somehow taking place. Solution: accept the applicants according to grades in nation-wide exams, and let everyone have an equal opportunity. The tests would be anonymous as well, with ID numbers only. problem solved.

[aliveandwell]

Problem: Minorities not getting accepted into college because of racial biases

I think u got it wrong man, i cant apply to some scholarships becuase im white. But if i started a white-only scholarship i would be called a racist.

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Azazel
do college personel see the applicants before accepting? I could see prejudice somehow taking place. Solution: accept the applicants according to grades in nation-wide exams, and let everyone have an equal opportunity. The tests would be anonymous as well, with ID numbers only. problem solved.

I've had to send away my picture for every application and scholarship this year.

The nation-wide exams would never work. People would call them racist and gender biased.

[Drogue]

Besides, basing everything on exams seems a little harsh. Some people are very talented but do not perform well in exams. I agree it is a problem, and it shouldn't be tackled with laws enforcing quotas based on the colour of someones skin. I agree that it would be great to have a system whereby the admissions people do not know the race or sex of an applicant, but obviously that isn't possible with interviews. Are admissions tutors still racially biased? In Britain if anything it is the other way round, in that most Universities don't know which applicants are of which race, and there are special aids for ethnic students going to some universities (Oxford's special access sceme for one). While they may succeed in getting more ethnic applicants into university, it does hint at 'positive' discrimination, which is a contradiction to me.

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by aliveandwell

I think u got it wrong man, i cant apply to some scholarships becuase im white. But if i started a white-only scholarship i would be called a racist.

So may I assume that you'll be first in line when we invent the Race-Ray, that turns white people into black people? Boy, life will be SO much easier for you then...

[aliveandwell]

yep

[Az]

The nation-wide exams would never work. People would call them racist and gender biased.

WHAT? WHY?

[Capt Dizle]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
Uh, slight detail, but how do you go about "changing the public's mind?" Considering that there's more than one of them, and each individual owner pretty much does whatever the hell they want with it, and any interest in facts, philosophies, whatever, are pretty much coincidental.

In particular, how would "the government" go about doing this, and why? Gee, our government wants to tell us what to think, even more than usual.

Desegregation and forced busing were examples of how public policy forced the public to change its mind. Not that I liked the busing, but by forcing people together it did force many whites and blacks to start to see people of the opposite color as people rather than just "one of them".

Of course a lot of people thought desegregation was about providing equal access and stuff like that. But it wasn't.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Azazel

WHAT? WHY?

Because Black kids don't get the same quality education in pre-college years, therefore they can't compete as well vis-a-vis white kids. Women have already made up the difference, and affirmative action in admissions for women should be ended.

There's nothing wrong with Title IX, by the way, aceept, of course, that College should be about academics and not sports.

[Az]

oh. but can't the parents choose the school to which their kids go? or does it have to be inside the neighbourhood or something?

[chequita guevara]

It depends. In the larger cities there's some choice, but once the threshold of a certain percentage of Blacks is reached, white parents have a habit of pulling their kids out of the public school system and sending them to private schools. Then, because their kids aren't in the public school system, they resist expanding the school budget.

[Shi Huangdi]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Because Black kids don't get the same quality education in pre-college years, therefore they can't compete as well vis-a-vis white kids. Women have already made up the difference, and affirmative action in admissions for women should be ended.

There's nothing wrong with Title IX, by the way, aceept, of course, that College should be about academics and not sports.

Except there are plenty of middle class blacks who do get the same quality education in the pre-college years, and many lower class whites who don't. Which is why we must go by socioeconomic class, not race.

[Az]

Shi is right, che.

[chequita guevara]

Shi is also right, and while class based AA would really help a lot of people, there is also an impact that overall racism takes upon Black kids. It's not very big, only amounts to about a 5% deviation from the norm, but it's there. I favor both forms of AA, actually. It just needs to be more heavily weighted to class, so that middle class Blacks don't have to get the AA stigma and lower class white kids can get an education.

[Az]

Che, blacks also tend to favour other blacks. all of this is very wrong, but the only way you could fix it is education. Meanwhile the current laws are discriminatory, against your constitution, choose your favourite answer.