Blog 7: India's Rich Benefit From Schools Affirmative Action

As we continue to look at inequality, we see two emerging cases coming from two different areas of the world that have similar case backgrounds. In both the United States and India there are cases before their respective supreme courts over the matter of affirmative action in school but which has implications for affirmative action as a whole. The case in the United States is still being reviewed by the supreme court with a decision likely to come later this year. The case in India addresses the issue that has affected India for decades. Historically, schools have admitted individuals who come from lower castes with fewer credentials because of their upbringing. However, the survey for who is in the caste was taken in 1931 and is very outdated. In fact, many of those who still can identify as being from a lower caste are from wealthy family's that have benefited from this system in the past and in turn have controlled the government as well as the upper echelon jobs. The court has ruled that a prospective medical student who was denied entrance to school for someone who scored worse than her has to be admitted pending a final court review. Both of these cases have massive implications for systems that have been in place for decades. Although there has been abuse by these systems, they do provide an opportunity for disadvantaged individuals.

These cases, especially the one in the United States, have massive implications for a system that is supposed to help disadvantaged individuals. These decisions can have potential detrimental outcomes to the opportunities for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Although affirmative action has changed over the years it certainly still provides individuals opportunities that they may not normally receive because of their backgrounds. There is inequality on both sides of the issue but it begs to question, at least in the United States, what caused the individual who had opportunities to not score high enough to guarantee admission into a university. Obviously there are other factors that affect those who receive the benefits from affirmative action but all aspects have to be looked at. However, this is a task that is not easy to complete and in turn is often ignored due to time constraints. Lastly, with these cases before their respective supreme courts, there will be lasting implications when a decision is made and it could not go for the best interests of those who are disadvantaged.

Eric Spriegel Blog 7 5:33pm 10/12/12
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/world/asia/indias-rich-benefit-from-schools-affirmative-action.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0