Martin Luther King once told Americans of his dream that one day the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners would sit down together at the table of brotherhood; that one day his children would not be judged "by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." That is why Affirmative action was originally started. Affirmative action in college is a program for correcting the effects of discrimination in education against members of certain groups. It doesn't mean selection or rejection of students solely on the basis of race or gender, but unfortunately that is what it has come to. .
Affirmative action's main purpose in college is to give more of diversity among the campuses. 38% of high school graduates are African American and only 14% are amongst the college students. Affirmative Action was made up in order to make up for the discrimination against African Americans in earlier times. Back in those times it was necessary because African Americans were not equal at all. They had always had a lower education; therefore African Americans needed affirmative action to even receive an equal opportunity to get into college. Right now college campuses are six percent African Americans and without affirmative action there would be around two percent. Without affirmative action it is hard to keep a balanced campus.
What affirmative action is now is reverse discrimination, people who didn't have any affect in affirmative action, are being punished for other people's wrong doings. It discriminates against students, when it is meant to be good. Therefore now college admissions are based more on skin color than on skills and merit. The University of Michigan rates students on a scale that awards points for SAT scores, High school grades, and race. A perfect SAT score is worth 12 points, but being black gets you 20 points. Now tell me, is there anyone who can look at those numbers and say they are fair? You are given the impression that there is nothing you can do in your life to get into college and your fate is predetermined.