Question: Which kid should get to go to college? Should the black kid get to go? Or should the white kid get to go? Or the Latino, or the Asian, or the Native American?

The affirmative action debate frames the discussion with this type of question. But it's a trick question that skillfully leads the discussion away from the real problems facing education. Instead, it leads us into a dead-end discussion which pits one section of working-class people vs. another section of working-class people.

Answer: All kids should go to college!

Education should be a right of all people, and not a privilege for those with the thousands of dollars that it takes to send their kids to college.

Perhaps a better question would be, "If America is the richest country in the entire world, then why can't all kids grow up and go to college?"

An America where everyone has the right to a college education regardless of money is not just a wild daydream. As a matter of fact, recent American history shows that this idea is completely possible. All tuition money spent in 2003 for two- and four-year colleges in America added up 10 only $23 billion. That is less than 3 percent of the $800 billion U.S. military budget.

Looking back through time further to the period just after World War II, the G.I. Bill of Rights paid for the college tuition of thousands of veterans returning from military service, as well as for their living expenses while they attended college. AInerica needed skilled workers to fill millions of positions. Now the economic situation is quite different. The capitalist ruling class doesn't need the government to create legal help for people like it did with the G.I. Bill. With advanced produc- tion technology and a globalized labor market, there is no longer the economic demand for millions of highly skilled American workers.

We should remember while we are fighting to protect affirmative action that parents and kids need a lot more. They need a society where parents and kids can make a stable and secure family life. Kids need an elementary and a high school system that provides them with a decent education to prepare them for college. They need a system that provides for the books, the child care, the living expenses, and everything else that people need to attend college... If we had a society like this, we wouldn't even need affirmative action.

The Supreme Court's recent decision on affirmative action was a victory for the AInerican people, but it was a hollow victory. The Court upheld the existence of affirmative action, but at the same time it undermined affirmative action by striking down the "quota" system. How can colleges implement affirmative action without using clearly defined numbers'? By being so vague, the Supreme Court's decision has cleverly undermined the ability for colleges to implement diversity programs and opened the door for more legal attacks, while loudly and proudly "defending diversity."

We need to fight for all children of every nationality, of every religion, of every background. This means defending affirmative action and fighting for a society where all are provided for, regardless of their ability to pay, a world where the re- sources of society are shared equally by all.

This article originated in the People's Tribune (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10 / October, 2003; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654, http://www.lrna.org. For free electronic subscription, email majordomo@gocatgo.com with a message of subscribe pt-dist
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