RE: Scholarships for Everyone

I just now noticed the blog posted by Meredith last week about scholarships in the United States that are based on race. I just wanted to add in that I recently heard about a scholarship in Texas created for only white males because they are now the minority there. I'm not sure of the details of this scholarship but I just thought it was interesting. In response to the scholarship discussion in general, I must say that I agree entirely with the argument made by the representative of the organization. I definitely do not think that race should be a factor in scholarship money. I am well aware that race can often play a role in economic status, but it also often does not. A persons race is not always the most accurate way to decide whether a student can afford college or not. The point about having scholarships be based on class structure and not race seems like a much more reasonable criteria for scholarship money. I know that in my experience with scholarships and race, my being "white" may have negatively affected me. I know there were many factors that went into deciding who received scholarships, but there were often times where a student of a minority race from my school with the same or lower grades, same extra curricular's and same economic status as myself received the scholarship over me. I by no means am trying to say that I was more deserving of the scholarship than these people, because they worked very hard and deserved the money as well. I just found it interesting that in my high school we were constantly told by guidance counselors and teachers that, we would be much better off as a minority for scholarship purposes, because when it comes down to it, the minority tends to receive the scholarship. I don't even know how accurate these statements were, it was just something we were constantly told. I went to a diverse high school in a lower socio-economic district. All of the students were of different races but of similar economic status, so I guess you could say that I am biased and often see past the connection between race and economics. So in situations such as mine I don't see how race should be factored into scholarships. I hope this doesnt make me seem naive to the connection between race and economics, or sound like I feel that because I'm white I didn't receive certain scholarships, because that's definitely not the case. I just feel from my personal experiences and background that race should not be a factor in determining scholarship money.
-Ryan Fleming blog#11