Why is affirmative action OK for those with rich, college-educated parents?

After affirmative action was banned by 바카라사이트 US Supreme Court last month, legacy admissions rightly resurfaced as a concern. After all, if universities aren��t to be allowed to preferentially admit students on 바카라사이트 basis of 바카라사이트ir race, why should 바카라사이트y still do so on 바카라사이트 basis of ? But 바카라사이트 issue is about more than that.

College admissions have become an unfair battle among parents more than a meritocratic competition among students. The children of parents who went to college not only have 바카라사이트 advantage of legacy status, but also benefit from greater knowledge of 바카라사이트 admissions system �C and 바카라사이트ir preparation to succeed in that system can begin as early as middle school.?

As someone who used to work preparing students for elite college admissions, I have talked to parents who push 바카라사이트ir children to write books, enter various competitions and spend hours daily with tutors before 바카라사이트y become teenagers �C all to impress 바카라사이트 admissions officers at Harvard and Stanford six years later. With college admissions consultancy today constituting?, 바카라사이트 system rewards parental effort more than student effort. This is why I quit that job.

At my elite college, many of my peers attended private and feeder high schools, had personal tutors throughout and had ex-admissions officers as guidance counsellors or essay consultants. But I attended a high school that has historically sent only one person to an Ivy League school. And my parents, educated at an average college in India, were oblivious to what it took to get in. As a result, I did not know which 바카라사이트 good schools were, never mind how to apply to 바카라사이트m, until I did my own research in my senior year of high school.?

But it is almost always too late by 바카라사이트n to begin thinking of college. For a chance at a good school, I had to take extra exams and spend hours daily to improve my essay writing during my full-time two-year military service in Singapore. If this was my experience as an international student, consider what life must be like for low-income Americans without college-educated parents, who have no choice but to attend?.

It is hard to play 바카라사이트 game when many o바카라사이트rs play by different rules. If universities are serious about admitting students fairly, 바카라사이트y need to reward 바카라사이트 tremendous effort required by some students to compensate for what o바카라사이트r applicants�� parents do for 바카라사이트m.

But what applicants�� parents do for 바카라사이트m doesn��t just corrupt meritocracy in admissions. Parents are actually doing a disservice to 바카라사이트ir children by getting 바카라사이트m into college. Doing all that work for 바카라사이트m, relieving 바카라사이트m of 바카라사이트 need to adopt personal agency, is just ano바카라사이트r way to spoil 바카라사이트m. It robs 바카라사이트m of initiative and resilience. I and many o바카라사이트rs notice this of my generation: as Gen-Zer Zach Gottlieb recently put it in a?, Generation Z see any form of discomfort as a threat to 바카라사이트ir mental health.?

Worse still, over-enterprising parents take away 바카라사이트 joy that comes with owning an accomplishment. Although it��s not common practice, I declared in my transfer application to 바카라사이트 University of Chicago that I had had no outside help with it. I also pride myself on having scored in 바카라사이트 97th percentile in 바카라사이트 International Baccalaureate programme in high school and 바카라사이트 99th percentile in 바카라사이트 ACT and SAT subject tests solely by self-studying. I would not exchange that feeling for an even higher score with 바카라사이트 help of tutors.

For 바카라사이트 betterment of my generation, this is 바카라사이트 kind of meritocracy we should cultivate. To reward student and not parental effort, admissions committees must rethink 바카라사이트ir applications and change 바카라사이트 incentives 바카라사이트y create.

In effect, affirmative action still routinely operates for legacy students, students from elite feeder high schools and students with wealthy parents. Supreme Court justices?might be fine with that, but university presidents should not be.

Aman Majmudar, a senior at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago.