However, affirmative action is more than the mere quota that so many people seem to think it is. Affirmative action doesn’t mean that a completely unqualified minority or woman is going to be hired or admitted in place of a qualified white male. The purpose of affirmative action is to prevent or offset discrimination that still occurs. Minorities and women still get discriminated against, unfortunately. They are still discouraged from a young age from going into science and engineering. They still get graded more harshly be prejudiced teachers and professors. They still get lower SAT scores RELATIVE TO THEIR ACTUAL SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE as measured by grades. Affirmative action seeks to correct this injustice. Is it a perfect system? No, it’s not. But it’s not just a quota, and it doesn’t put wholly unqualified candidates into positions they can’t handle. Its motive is good, and it’s one that needs to be achieved some way or another as long as discrimination persists.

When the budget cuts hit, I was out the door, because I wouldn’t voluntarily give up my position as a pilot candidate for different “slot” in the USAF. The year before, I had received the “Cadet of the Year” award. I was the poster-boy high speed cadet.

In my class there was another “white” pilot candidate like myself. He managed to hold on to his pilot slot. Why? He was a first generation American; his parents immigrated from Spain. He was of Spanish descent. (You know, the same Spain that is just a hop, skip, and jump from the Czech Republic from where my ancestors emigrated?)

I’m currently working on a space program. There is a academic outreach segment of this program. This segment will spend its resources specifically targeting minorities. Is this truly the kind of final solution we want to the question of white men in America?

Mark

Race was never an issue for me until graduate school, when people from “the majority” continued to bring up my race as a reason why I probably will “never fit in” or why they would “never understand me”. The judgments were made before the judges even met me; they noticed my race when I came to visit after being accepted. My second worse experience in an unreasonable focus on ethnicity was in NASA Academy. I do far better in an environment in which race is NEVER discussed as a handicap.

That being said, I recognize that I grew up in an environment in which I was surrounded by very few other African Americans. There were perhaps 5 in my high school of 1600 students. So, I completely respect the very different opinions of those who grew up differently.

I get pretty pissed off every time someone suggests that I got a position or had an opportunity because I’m a woman. I am offended by what that suggests: that my talents, background, and all of my hard work don’t mean anything because I have ovaries. There are lots of people out there who, even if my work should speak for itself, will see me not as a qualified person but as the “token woman”.

Hiring people based on gender or skin color only gives certain people reason to continue believing that women and minorities don’t deserve the positions they have. Diversity IS very important, but the diversity that NASA needs to be looking for is diversity in thinking, approaching problems, and educational and experiential backgrounds. To get this, NASA needs to hire from the entire pool of educated people and the larger that pool is, the better for NASA. That’s where gender and race and other factors come in: if certain groups of people or excluded or discouraged from the field, NASA loses a significant pool of intelligent and potentially qualified people.

The under-representation and unequal treatment of certain groups in science and engineering is a problem and solving it is tricky. While I hate quotas and race- or gender-based hiring, I think that outreach programs that encourage students of all backgrounds to enter the sciences and work for NASA are wonderful and important. All children should be encouraged to believe that they can grow up to be rocket scientists, not just white boys (and not just black girls either). Likewise, programs that help people of all backgrounds get a start in their education or a foot in the door in the space industry are important for encouraging those students who were promised an equal chance as youths.

I was tempted to put ‘Purple People Eater’ on an application once but then I realize I would never be taken as a serious candidate, even though I wanted to be taken seriously for something other than my lack of a y chromosome.

Its a hard line to walk, and I really don’t think anyone can walk it well. The workforce needs diversity, but at what cost?