Saturday, September 05, 2009

Should the question of 'race' even be asked?

Should it be legal to ask race, religion, or sex on applications for employment, admissions, or unemployment? Wether it be an application for employment, unemployment, or even college admissions- race, religion or sex shouldn’t even pertain to the qualification, so why would they ask the question. Okay I understand there may be some jobs that may be gender specific but the race of said persons should never matter.


I personally feel that race (or religion) should not be asked on anything I fill out since this should not be used to help, or hinder, me (or anyone else) in any way.

I would like to think that any gain I have obtained in life has been obtained through my own knowledge or connection and not because someone needs to fill a ‘quota’ of any kind. The same goes for things I may have been denied in life. Hopefully these have been denied because I am not qualified and not because of race, sex, or religion.


Okay what made me think about this is I recently had to fill out the application for unemployment benefits in the state of Michigan and was very surprised when the application asked my race. I have to ponder the question, what on earth does my ‘race’ have to do with my eligibility for unemployment compensation? If I have worked the amount of weeks required to qualify, then that should be all they need to be know. I would think in this day and time the question of race should not be asked on anything, especially an application for unemployment benefits.

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