In order to promote equality, many countries have taken measures to guarantee all people having equal opportunity to receive education and other forms of rights and welfare. In the United States, this was done by "affirmative action", that is, setting quotas for people of different races. Afro-americans usually underperformed to their white counterparts, owing to social status. With affirmative action, virtually they were given the same opportunities to be admitted by universities. Nonetheless, this had resulted in unfair competition, in the sense that, they could be admitted with lower score in entrance examinations. Several states had ruled out affirmative action was unfair, and was therefore no longer adopted by many well-renowned universities. In fact, affirmative action had generated distrustful and perhaps anger among different peoples. It would not help creating a cohesive society either. It contributed nothing to cohesion and solidarity. In reality, it was responsible for some negative impacts. This also explains why Afro-americans are still considered different from the mainstream American culture. Here at Purdue University, concrete examples include the existence of a Black Cultural Center, and a Black Culture Library. Yes, these facilities might be helpful in preserving the Afro-american culture. On the other hand, they maintain a different symbol and identity for the Afro-americans. Afro-americans were once brought to the United States by slavery trade. Nearly all of them have lost their own nations and culture. The United States is their only home, like those having European or Hispanic origin. And yet, they have never been mainstreamers of the American culture. While descendents from different part of Europe could live together with the same cultural identity, they are still regarded as different people. I had a couple of experiences made me feel uneasy and sorry for Afro-americans. The very first lecture that I attended in the United States was conducted by an Afro-american professor. He acted like a British noble, dressed elegantly in suit. He did not allow anybody from his class to put on a cap! Another Afro-american professor did not allow people to be late for more than 5 minutes, or else these late-comers would be embarassed by him in front of the whole class! I could not understand why. But I guess it was because they would like to show they are not the suppressed minorities. They could also have decent jobs, and exercise certain power over the others. I am particularly interested in how French deal with this issue. France, like the United States, is multi-cultural. Many of the present-day French people are decendants from former French colonies round the world. Unlike the Americans, French never distinguished people by their origins, and they do no collect any racial information in their census. Naturally, France does not have the racial problem as American does. Let us put aside the rule of courts on Affirmative Action. In your opinion, do you agree Affirmative Action should be justified? There was a television documentary on late Professor Chang Lin Tien, then President of UC Berkeley. He attempted to eliminate inequality by setting up a college for the suppressed minorities to catch up academically and culturally, through courses and exposures. The outcome was encouraging. My alma mater is now going private - collecting school fees. The principal and the school council is particulary keen to avoid getting labelled as a school only for the rich. They provided funds to assist students from poor families financially. More than that, they are giving priorities to the poor in admission. I doubt if this could really help avoid getting labelled, and promoting solidarity among the rich and the poor. In my opinion, a need-blind policy in admission, regardless of family background is already good enough to promote equality. I am worried what the outcome would be if the issue is not appropriately handled. 13:13