How can affirmative action help marginalized students?
“The US has a complicated love affair with equal opportunity,” opened one panelist in a discussion about affirmative action in the US, Brazil and South Africa.
The prospect of promoting one race ahead another appears unfair, but education systems are unfair. Race still matters in the US, as in many countries, and affirmative action helps students from minorities have fairer access to higher education.
In the US, the percentage of minorities is increasing, and the White population might soon become a minority, but US higher education institutions (as well as the government and judiciary) are yet to reflect this demographic shift.
South Africa’s higher education institutions are also attempting to redress past inequalities. “In South Africa, affirmative action is enshrined as a human right,” explained one panelist, but controversially, some universities are now moving to a hybrid race and merit-based entrance system, before South Africa is truly ready to set race aside; the playing field is not yet level. “Equality cannot always be achieved by treating all people equally,” she added.
In Brazil, home to the largest Afrodescendent population in the Americas, affirmative action is first based on socio-economic background, with racial quotas being slowly introduced over four years from 2013.
Yet for all the positive impact affirmative action might have, the problem of marginalization and inequality is not going to be solved with a new higher education act, pointed out one panelist. Inequality is a much larger issue, and most factors – race, gender, geography, socio-economic background – have already had an impact before student even reaches post secondary education.
