Initiatives aimed at minorities fail

University and education is of great importance to society in seeking progression as a whole; increasingly, this is being targeted as a mechanism for seeking progression for underperforming or under-represented groups within society, be it Maori, women or any other social or cultural group. The use of quotas, of reserved scholarships, and of what is often described as "positive discrimination" has origins in noble intentions, but their nature and their outcomes are profoundly misguided.

We should consider what these intentions really are. That is, to enhance the achievement and the perceived as well as actual performance of minority groups.

Why is that? Because many individuals within these groups become victims of circumstance; historical injustices leave Maori in a disadvantaged position, leading to lower average wages, higher crime rates, lower education completion rates and generally negative social indicators such as these. This creates a cycle in which Maori youth are then too often placed in a disadvantaged position than the average New Zealander. This cycle continues, and is self-perpetuating.

It is certainly of great regret that this exists within society and this is by all means a cycle which must be broken; doing so is of paramount importance to improving the social fabric of our nation.

However, we must first question whether these initiatives of positive discrimination achieve the aim of helping those individuals who are part of this dangerous cycle.

Initiatives such as scholarships and university places reserved only for minority students, in fact, fail to do this in most cases. This is for the simple reason that the scholarships still go to the top-performing students within that particular social group. So the student who receives the Maori scholarship is one who already achieves highly, has had a sound upbringing and is not at risk of being another negative statistic.

Moreover, we should be wary of the implications of such policies on society as a whole. Because minorities are not just the victims of circumstance. Children born into impoverished families are disadvantaged, too, regardless of the colour of their skin. These students are systematically ignored by a system which assists high-performing students, and those within minority groups in society.

How can we change this? By targeting assistance not at students who have a particular skin colour, but at those who are clearly feeling the effects of a poor upbringing.

So students who are receiving bad marks at school should be identified for extra assistance; those coming from backgrounds of financial hardship should have scholarships available to them.

By doing this, we will still go a long way to solving the inequalities that exist in our society. Because of the fact that Maori have higher rates of poverty, we will see a disproportionately large amount of Maori applying for these financial hardship scholarships, or receiving extra assistance, which is important. But we also provide avenues for assistance for non-Maori students who are disadvantaged through their upbringing, too, which must also be seen as a role of society and the state.

The will within society to assist these groups in reaching equality can sometimes be sporadic or scattered, too, which is a great shame.

However, creating programmes exclusively for minorities only makes discriminatory individuals more hateful towards these minorities; it fuels their sense of siege-mentality, makes them feel more threatened and less willing to engage with measures to reduce discrimination and increase equality.

Finally, the effect on those disregarded even at the highest level of performance due to quotas or specific scholarships is also an important moral issue in the debate. It's easy to look at this issue from a broad perspective and look at social or cultural groups as a whole, but it is important to remember the individual human effects of such policies.

Those who have worked for a goal with great enthusiasm and passion for many years can often find this snatched away from them in the name of false, legislated equality. Students of medicine at New Zealand universities who study for hours on end each night to receive an A- grade average might see their position sacrificed for another student who received a B grade average but was prioritised because of the social group they belong to.

Let me be clear: fighting discrimination and under-performance for minorities, particularly Maori, in New Zealand is of vital importance. The way to do that is not through so-called "positive discrimination." This only creates the same outcomes as normal discrimination: a clear lack of progress, cultural divisiveness, and individual cases of immoral suppression.

James Penn is deputy head boy at Wanganui High School and is captain of the NZ secondary schools debating team.