Collegiate Times

I found Wednesday?s column (?While flawed, affirmative action is the best we can do for now? CT, April 5) regarding affirmative action to be ludicrous and offensive. The author justifies the use of race as a factor for college admission with arguments including varying income levels and differing scores on basic achievement levels on national educational assessment tests.

The column suggests that if your family?s mean income is less than $30,000 a year then you are not smart enough or willing to do the work required to enroll in a college or university. Drawing a connection between the amount of money your parents make and your personal drive to succeed is simply inane.

The author then goes on to say that there is, on average, a 200 point difference in the mean SAT scores of blacks and whites, and says this is a reason that affirmative action is needed to help minorities get into college. This tells me that some of the minorities gaining acceptance to college are not qualified to be here based upon their academic performance, but are only here to ?provide an atmosphere of diversity.?

I?m sorry, but my academic performance had nothing to do with how much money my parents make or the color of my skin ? it came from my own personal drive to gain a higher education. If someone, regardless of race or monetary worth, seriously wants a college education, then they will work for it in high school and gain entry into a university based upon their hard work and achievement.

Factors such as parental income belong on college loan applications, where that sort of thing would actually apply. Factors such as race do not belong on any sort of application, regardless of attempts to provide an atmosphere of diversity.