Before applying to a wide range of college my senior year of high school, I had no understanding as to why Affirmative Action was set in place, where colleges must have a quota on the different proportion of races that must be accepted into their college. This law would make it much harder for Asian males to get accepted into a college since only a certain proportion of Asian males could enter X college. However, after reading Nakamura and Chow-White’s Race After the Internet, I was able to make a correlation between internet accessibility and the reasoning for Affirmative Action being in place.
With a great economic disadvantage for Native Americans, it is not a shock to see why they have the lowest probability of all the minority groups to hold an occupation in a professional occupation. This economic disadvantage, however, has a high probability of repeating as a cycle for generations to come since the newer generation does not have a path paved for them from the previous generation. In a time period where technology is the fastest growing industry yet Native Americans cannot easily gain access to this, information will surely bypass them, thus unable to be able to evolve along with the surrounding population in terms of technology. For them to be able to advance, education is essential in order to learn how to advance along with those around them. However, another challenge is faced for Native Americans as schools are too far for them. A statistic is given stating that from a class of 26 freshmen, only three were able to graduate. It is hardly a coincidence that so many students drop out of high school since the distance to school is too far, their family has financial burdens that the student probably helps with, and they do not have an adequate source of information to rely on.
With this reason, I believe Affirmative Action was born. The United States government was thinking in favor of minorities who could not obtain the privilege of obtaining the resources that more well off students could. With those students not being able to access the internet, they would never have a chance at being able to enter a college due to their lack of knowledge the new era provides for the population that can access internet. By placing this law in, the government has helped even the playing field so that those of the minority group feel that they are getting aid and are not ignored.
However, in regards to the professional field, though the data and number may suggest that those of the White race do not give the opportunity for the minority group to advance to a higher position, I believe that the main factor is their lack of ability to be able to withstand the task at the top of the ladder. Childhood education does set the pillar for higher education, but without the proper education, trying to pursue a field in a professional career path can only be next to impossible. The government does help in pursuing a higher level education through Affirmative Action, but achieving a career cannot be helped by the government, only through their own achievements.