Affirmative Action, confirming bias?

In deciding wether or not to allow an applicant into a college there is a broad scope of aspects to review. Has the student done well in their previous course of study? What is their life experience?  Are they an asset to thier community? Do their intrests fit in with the offerings of our college? Yet , for California, perhaps the simplest thing on an application will have the most weight . The mark one checks off indicating their race. The question of affirmitive action is one I had not previously considered . Perhaps because I get to check the "white" or "caucasian" box. At the universtiy I am hoping to attend the minority representation is around a meager seven percent. (Yet this seems like more than my current school). The concept of affirmitive action in my opinion is respectable. Encouraging diversity on a college campus should be considered important in hearing different viewpoints, especially when discussing subjects about race. However, the reason these programs are getting attacked is because they are seen as providing a certian advantage to minoirites and making the ....... to be completed

Privilege by Tim Wise

In my assessment of the portion of this biography I read I would have to agree with Amazon's analysis. One of the very first stories that Wise starts out with is of him and his two friends, Bobby and Vince playing a game of monkey in the middle during recess. What Wise chooses to mention is that his two friends were black. Amidst the game when Wise is in the middle, he begins catching every pass. Bobby and Vince jokingly refer to Wise as "My nigger Tim". Although Wise might not have realized it that day, at the age of nine his friends were already sensitized to the demeaning nature of the word they called them. In the expressive setting of a school playground was the only relief from the burden of being black. For, the opposite of a privilege is a burden. In Wise's mind being white is a privilege that he will be indebted to his parents for forever. In his view the privilege of being white is priceless, because as a privilege their are certain  presumptions about one simply based on their appearance. No one will admit to such belief but it has somehow become embedded in the subconscious of Americans. Is it the perpetuation of European history, white media, etc. or is that fundamentally white people don't want to give the same privilege that is awarded to them through their skin color to someone black. For the white man, the fear of losing his advantage is enough to take pride in the color of his skin and the treatment he receives for it.