The American Dream is based on the idea that anyone can be successful in the US. A key component in this concept is access to education in order to improve one’s lot in life. However, if you’re poor or a minority, it is becoming increasingly difficult to access the education that one needs to make such advances. Which is why it comes as a surprise that the US Supreme Court looks like it might roll back the ability of universities to consider race in college applications, basically undermining the last reserve of Affirmative Action, a program that exists in order to correct for structural inequalities. (For background on the case, see the New York Times).

One example of such inequalities is that, unlike most other countries, the American Federal government only funds about 10% of primary, middle and high schools. (PBS) This means that most funding comes from local and state taxes, i.e. income and property taxes. Because of this, the value of the homes in a certain area often dictates the funding for the schools, thus richer areas almost always have better schools. In many cases, people with enough money will move into a better neighborhood for better schools. This means that educational inequalities start early on. By the time they reach university levels, students from the worst school districts have a harder time getting accepted into high-performing universities with good alumni networks.

Granted, not all minorities are poor, but the rate of poverty in minorities is much higher than in whites. “In 2010, 27.4% of blacks in the US and 26.6% of Hispanics were poor, compared to 9.9% of non-Hispanic whites.” (University of Michigan) In addition to this, minorities experience other types of structural inequalities, such as discrimination in the workforce. All of this is all the more reason to continue with a serious effort to instill programs to correct for these inequalities, such as Affirmative Action.

I agree that the program needs to be re-thought. Perhaps, as this article argues, (New York Times) universities have been over-emphasizing race and under-emphasizing students’ family wealth. I agree that the university system needs to re-focus on reaching poorer students. However, it is crazy to think that the concept of Affirmative Action could be taken away completely as a tool for fighting inequality. As it stands, quotas are already illegal in the US. Considering that minorities make up about 35% of the population, but only 3% of our Senate, and 3.8% of CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies, we still have a lot left to do. And everyone knows that without strategies and goals to correct for these inequalities, nothing will change. The poor will stay poor, and the American Dream is as good as dead.