Last week, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) decided to not allow students the option of indicating their sexual preference on the state’s common college application form.
While the Board did not disclose its motives, one can assume that this determination was made after carefully considering if the decision would result in any discriminatory repercussions.
On the surface, the decision to omit this form of self-identification appears exclusionary, but it actually indicates the Board’s concern with promoting equality.
However, many other aspects of the application form are inconsistent with this judgment, and remain discriminatory in nature.
The information that is used to assess academic potential should be limited to only what is relevant to academic performance.
Sexual orientation, while inborn, is still a personal matter just as religious affiliation and political beliefs are. As such, these characteristics have no bearing on a person’s GPA or testing skills, and should not influence decisions concerning college acceptance.
Attempts to include this type of information in the application process are aimed not toward protecting a group of people but rather toward gaining preferential treatment.
The belief in the merits of “diversity for diversity’s sake” often motivates minority groups to emphasize irrelevant personal traits and manners while downplaying the importance of ability and achievement.
Assuming that an individual’s academic ability is tied to their affiliation with a particular group is inherently biased.
According to the state’s website, THECB’s duty is to “promote access to quality higher education across the state with the conviction that access without quality is mediocrity and that quality without access is unacceptable.”
Stated another way, the Board’s objective is to provide all students with an equal opportunity to try to enter college, while at the same time restricting entry to those best qualified.
The Texas Common Application form has the potential to become an unbiased means of determining college admissions based solely on scholastic merit.
The refusal to consider sexual preference was a step in the right direction, but as long as extraneous details are included, the existing system will undercut its stated purpose of promoting excellence above all else.
"Assuming that an individual’s academic ability is tied to their affiliation with a particular group is inherently biased."
"The belief in the merits of 'diversity for diversity’s sake' often motivates minority groups to emphasize irrelevant personal traits and manners while downplaying the importance of ability and achievement."
So why do you assume that people of minority groups downplay the importance of ability and achievement? Are you suggesting they are inherently inferior?
Nothing against homosexuals, but I'm tired of the LGBT community acting like the world doesn't know they exist. If I (a heterosexual) decided it was important to make sure everyone knew my sexual status on applications, they would label me homophobic.
I agree. I also disagree with the author of the article saying that sexual orientation is inborn. There is no evidence of that. In fact, some people who claim to have had religious conversions have left the homosexual lifestyle. A black person is still black when he has a religious conversion though. Lastly, there is no such thing as homophobia. If somebody disagrees with the mainstream media's or mainstream liberal college Joe and Mary about homosexuality, he or she is labelled a homophobe. That is just a thug tactic to denouce all who disagree. Plus, how can one say somebody has a phobia without a psychological analysis? The word has to be the most slanderous and thuggish word used today.
The author said that the board cared about equality. Since when? Look at any college newspaper in the country and you will find grants for women causes, women's centers, women's studies, etc., etc. Where will you find a men's center, men's studies, prostate cancer awareness month, men's month? You say college is all about men already. How? I have to register for selective service and could get drafted one day, when they reinstitute, and the women don't have to register for the SS. That means I have to go die and she gets to live. That is the way it has always been. How is that a man's world? That is called women's priviledge!