In the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s new proposed policy, which is already being followed, UWM outlines its version of “affirmative action.”

The policy states that UWM will no longer take into account only ACT scores and GPAs, but will look at many different areas in order to determine the applicant’s worthiness of being a student. I have a slight problem with this, as ethnicity is taken into regard.

I am just going to assume that I am not of the privileged ethnicity in this case. Now, I shouldn’t be complaining, seeing as I got in just fine, but I have a baby sister who will be applying to colleges next year.

I guess I just don’t agree with this scenario:

My sister applies to UWM, she is right on the cusp grade-wise and ACT-wise. She is tied with another girl who has the same cultural background when it comes to child-rearing, location, school system. These two girls are alike in every way but two: my sister does volunteer work and the other girl is an ethnicity other than white.

Both girls are equally qualified, so am I crazy to think that the tie should go to the person with more community involvement, not the person with a different skin tone?

It is simply not possible to be unbiased until applications cease to inquire about gender or ethnicity. No matter my skin tone or gender, I want to believe that I got into college due to my merit, not my hair or eye color.

This isn’t only a problem with skin color, but also with gender. Again, I want to know I got into college because of my merit, not the fact that I have ovaries.

UWM has apparently been following these guidelines for some time now. I would be interested to know how the students with lower GPAs that were admitted because of this policy fare in graduation rate against the students admitted on their merit alone.

I can’t imagine being let in because of that program. Are the students notified that they were admitted because of their parents’ skin tone, or are they left to believe they are as qualified as the people around them? How embarrassed would these young people be to find out that they were “affirmative action” students?

The answer is not to allow in students with worse records, but to take better care of students with the ability and drive to do well while they are still young. Milwaukee Public Schools are horrible because of the over-crowded classrooms and the fact that no one knows what to do with the “bad kids.” Many of the unruly kids who are ruining school for everyone don’t have decent role models.

Separate out the “problem students,” put them in different classrooms with more basic learning and teachers who are trained to deal with disruptive students. Take the kids who want to learn and make sure each one has the opportunity to live up to his or her potential. If our grade schools and high schools were teaching children, we wouldn’t need to judge admittance of skin color or gender.

In the world I want to live in, all students would have the same opportunities for education. In my perfect world, there would be no more “Check here” boxes for race, ethnicity or gender.

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