Stereotype Revision
April 28, 2008
Michael Decker
AP Language and Composition
Ms. Robinson
April 8, 2008
White Power in the Job Market
There I sat in my AP Government class. There I sat, listening to a barrage of attacks on what I represent. There I sat in agony. We were discussing Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action led to discrimination. Discrimination led to reverse discrimination. Reverse discrimination led to the white male having all the advantages. The white male having all the advantages led to my agony. I could not even shed light on the topic because “I was obviously defending myself as a white male” (alas, the cruelty of circumstantial ad hominem). I so wanted to stand up and say “you bigots and your pompous attitude takes this stereotype without even basing it on any fact or truth” and from that day I was perplexed: do I truly get more advantages in life for being a white male or am I (now being) discriminated against because of it? My personal feeling is that this is a fallacious stereotype only propagated by those who feel they deserve extra help, but I will let the data and my experiences lead me to my final decision. Thus I have chosen to employ the statistics of white males in the job market and white males in college-associated affairs.
Unfortunately, my whole life I have been confronted with the “fact” that I am a white male and thus I have no reason to not succeed. I always felt hurt by this. This “fact” nullified my achievements. This “fact” belittled all my struggles and accomplishments. This “fact” only put pressure on me because it is a choice for me to succeed and should I not it will have been my decision to not even try. So, here I am confronted with this hypothesis. How do I confirm or deny it? Percentages will be the best way, but which ones? – Ah, of course, job opportunities: these are the culmination of all the work that one has put in for their entire life. The best way is to compare the percentages of these to the population at large.
To start, white men have the highest employment rating in upper and middle level professions, the lowest unemployment rating, and the lowest seasonal change (which suggests higher job stability) (“Table”). To my dismay, white men held more managerial and professional jobs than any 2-variable demographic other than white women by a slight margin (“Table”). To my dismay, white men make on average much more than any other demographic group (“U.S. Population”). White men, for most jobs, make more than 40% larger incomes than all others in equal professional jobs with an average of over 60% (“U.S. Population”). Additionally, white men make more money in every category than any other 2-variable demographic, from high school drop-out to PhD and even to MBA (“U.S. Population”). Most shocking of all is that white men, in general, are considered impoverished less than half as much as black men (“Table”). When comparing statistics of each gender and race to the population at large, there is a significant under representation of black men and black women in almost every field and a disproportionate share of higher level jobs held by whites (“Table”). Furthermore, to be less than 50% of the population, men do better than women almost all the time, statistically speaking (“Table”); (“U.S. Population”). Still, Affirmative Action is a confusing leaking variable that may very well bring my entire foundation crumbling down. Affirmative Action makes employers take into account race and gender in the hiring process. It requires them to reach “quotas” of people based on the representative population at large of that race/gender. Though many companies hire the bare minimum required by law, many companies such as GSA hire disproportionate amounts of minorities (2.94 times the Affirmative Action goal of 7.1% for blacks). Affirmative Action does cause some reverse discrimination in the workplace against whites (“Summary”). Let’s say another person (and also let’s say he is a minority) and I go in for a job. If we are equal in qualifications or even if I am slightly better than him, I could still lose the job due to my race because the Corporation has to keep US Government off its back and get the minority “quota” it needs (“Affirmative Action”). White men came. White men saw. White men conquered. So it seems. They do seem to share a disproportionate amount of the jobs and wealth in our nation’s top professions even with the equalizer Affirmative Action in place.
Speaking of equalizers, one great one is education. With college approaching, it is a hot topic at my job. I work with a predominantly teenage black crew in the afternoons. As we stood talking about college, admissions come up. I was flabbergasted by the whole discourse. They spoke of how difficult it will be for them to get accepted. I retorted how difficult it will be for me “too.” They spoke of how I have no idea what I am talking about – colleges love white men. I spoke (in my mind) of how they have every advantage possible for college. But do they really? So, now I come to the thing casting an ominous shadow over me at this time in my life: college. How do I stand as a white male trying to get accepted and get aid to college in comparison with everyone else? In a Google search of college scholarships, not one scholarship solely for whites was found. For minorities, millions of Google results came up. Still, this is to be expected because they probably are a little less inclined to be able to pay for college. They have the ability to use a status as 1/8 minority heritage as a plus for college applications (Grodsky). Though this may be the case, women take a harder beating when getting into college. In an “interview” with the astute Jessica Robinson, I found that women are finding it harder and harder to get into college as compared to men because colleges receive more applicants from women than men but they still attempt to make their student body 50% female, 50% male. My deciding factor is what comes after all the admissions. After all the admissions comes performance. Performance by men and women, black and white is becoming more and more equitable due to college efforts to improve standardized test scores (Arthur).
Thus, it is less merit of the white male that has made him master of the job market, but it is his continued mastery of common misconceptions that has deluded the public to allow himself to hold his reign over it. I guess white men do in fact have more advantages in life than I had expected. I do accept that they have an easier time than women getting into college, do equitably well in college with all other races, but are able to obtain higher levels of status in Corporate America. Still, I know in my heart of hearts that my strife and perseverance is what will get me into college and make me successful.
Bibliography
“Affirmative Action.” Wikipedia. 2008. Wikipedia. 11 Apr 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action_in_the_United_States>.
Arthur, Hu. “Education and Race.” HighBeam Encyclopedia. 1997. HighBeam Research. 10 Apr 2008 <http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-19751436.html>.
Grodsky, Eric. “The Declining Use of Race in College.” Department of Sociology, UCD 2007 3-46. 09 Apr 2008 <http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=ucdsoc>.
“Summary: U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Reverse Discrimination.” U.S. General Services Administration . 09 Dec 2003. Just Say No. 09 Apr 2008 <http://www.adversity.net/GSA_lawsuit/gsa_overview.htm>
“Table A-2. Employment status of the civilian population by race, sex, and age.” US Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2007. US Bureau of Labor. 10 Apr 2008 <http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t02.htm>.
“U.S. Population Statistics Desegregated by Race and Gender.” US Bureau of the Census. 2007. US Bureau of the Census. 09 Apr 2008 <http://www.maec.org/stats.html#unemploy>.
