Scholarships for Minorities

Illinois is the first state to provide a private scholarship for the children of illegal aliens. I'm actually disappointed, but not overly so. I think it's heading in a right direction, but essentially along the wrong path. I think it's terrible to label those who have been raised by illegal immigrants to be themselves illegal. It seems to me very cold indeed to go into the classrooms and pick out a few students and say that they must leave their friends and home behind, move to a new country where they speak a different language, where they won't be provided the same opportunities as their current peers, and will most likely be a much more dangerous place to live. Those students did not choose their parentage, and to say that they are criminals because of it seems absurd. So then why am I disappointed that Illinois has a private scholarship for the sons and daughters of illegal aliens? Because I hate scholarships based on anything other than merit.

I think that the fact the person A gets a scholarship over person B because of their race, ethnicity, parentage, or any other demographic is wrong. We denounce such things as racist or discriminatory if it is done in one direction and call it beneficial if it is in the other direction. Why should a son of a legal resident have to take out student loans and a son of an illegal resident have a free ride? The only correct answer to this question is that the son of the illegal resident happens to have worked harder in high school, made better grades, or scored higher on a standardized exam. Any other reason is in my book total bunk- unjust discrimination masquerading as charity. Honestly, I think if I were in the shoes of a minority who just received aid over a more qualified applicant due to my minority status that I would be insulted that some people think that just because I'm of such-and-such a race, or because my parents are here illegally that I somehow need more help than anyone else, implying that I am less capable because of the minority status.

I believe that I have a good idea why such scholarships exist- that a particular minority is underrepresented in higher education, and that a certain minority group is trapped in a particular low economic class. I think that it is perfectly noble to try to rectify such a thing, but that these minority scholarships are treating the symptoms, not the disease. Shouldn't we instead be working to make such minority groups produce more capable students, instead of giving mediocrity a chance to continue being mediocre? Please don't think that I'm calling all minority scholars mediocre! I've met some very very intelligent ones and were very good friends with them. What I'm intending to say is that instead of putting moneys away for scholarships, we invest it instead in producing the kind of students who will win equal-opportunity scholarships by merit. Instead of realizing that a certain minority doesn't typically produce as good of students as a majority and saying,
"well this is the best you can produce, let's see if they can succeed at a much higher level of academia" we say "let's try to help some of these minorities to develop into the kind of people who will succeed at a much higher level of academia."