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[foodtaster]

Affirmative Action should be based on both socioeconomic situation AND race.

In the modern day, I would argue that socioeconomic class has more to do with lack of opportunities for advancement than race does.

Minorities that are socioeconomically successful are actually looked up to by most people. So I think it's only fair to reward people that are discriminated both based on race and based on class.

If you think it should be entirely based on race, do you think Indians and Asians should gain the benefits of affirmative action as well?

They currently do not. Despite the fact that one could easily argue that Indian people are not culturally empowered in a fairly white-washed world either.

Absolutely not

 

[Stephen Colbert]

It's apparently VERY effective at something atleast...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=454483

 

[MorisUkunRasik]

Well that's a pretty typical blame others response. You didn't mention anything about personal responsibility and that's why I mentioned it. You fill in the blanks (with beliefs about me/society/the world) to make your world view seem to make sense.

No one growing up in poverty and violence has a high likelihood of succeeding in life (define success however you will). Though, having unprotected sex with numerous people and having children with no means to raise them is about personal responsibility. Growing up in a poor neighborhood and deciding that because I don't have something (a car, money, whatever), doesn't give me the right to take it by force from someone else (commit a crime). That is about personal responsibility. Knowing that idle time is the devil's plaything is a very real concept, and is even more important, when there are more forces at will looking to distract your child into negative behaviors. Whose job is it to teach these things? Whose job is it to monitor the kids growing up? This job falls primarily on the parents.

I guess what I'm saying is that if you wantt neighborhoods/homes to improve, expecting the government to step in will leave you pretty disappointed. As cliche as it sounds, it all starts in the home. And this doesn't have much to do about race as you'll see the same type of dysfunctional families living in poverty and violence.

No one is saying that some people aren't responsible for their actions simply because they're poor.

The problems that you stated, having kids early is problem due to lack of proper education and limited access to family planning centers like planned parenthood. Go to the poorest neighborhood you can think of and try to walk to the nearest planned parenthood, better yet, ride a bus there.

It definitely is the parents responibility to ensure the best possible life for their kids. But its not surprising that kids check out from school mentally when they're nothing more than government daycare. Schools in bad neighborhoods do not properly prepare kids for college, they often suffer from bad or inexperienced teachers due to their undsirable narture, lack of supplies like books and sometimes chairs and overcrowding. Now combine that with strict districting of schools that make it incredibly hard to bus your kid to a better school. Live in a poor neighborhood? You're almost certainly doomed to attend its underwhelm school.

Its easy to say its their parents fault, but it misses the point. The parents themselves are often not very educated due to going through the same system their children are, and they often consist of a single parent due to unfairness in courtrooms.



I believe Dream-vision said it best in a different thread. It is a multi-pronged issue that can not be solved through a single channel. When and if it changes it will be because of improved schools, greater awareness and better access to planned parenthood facilities and an unbiased legal system.

Its a tall order but not impossible.