Shirley Xiao, Shenzhen College of International Education

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its ban on Affirmative Action, implying that colleges across the country will no longer consider students’ racial identities for admissions. The ruling sparked controversy worldwide.

As a high school student in China, I am unaffected by this decision. Nonetheless, it prompts me to reflect on the loopholes in the U.S. college application system. While the U.S. strives at diversity in all aspects of its social life, Affirmative Action had been implemented so that American universities would have diversity in their student populations. Otherwise, Asian Americans, who often outperform students of other races and can be more easily accepted into top universities, would make up a bigger proportion of the student populations in those schools.

However, I find this concept quite ironic. Although the U.S. purports to welcome diversity, their definition of it has become limited to racial diversity alone.

In my view, diversity encompasses much more than superficial differences such as skin color. It should highlight varied perspectives, personalities, hobbies, and talents. Each individual is unique, and we all contribute to diversity.

Sadly, American society has not fully grasped the true meaning of diversity, potentially drifting away from the once thriving American Dream.

Another loophole in the college application process is the pressure on students to focus on their hardships, which further restricts diversity. Personal statements that emphasize racial struggles may make it easier for students to gain admission, possibly because these stories add a layer of diversity to universities. However, in the long run, this trend may lead to the assimilation of students rather than fostering diversity.

Once in elementary school, we were tasked with writing about our mothers. The majority of my classmates wrote about how their mothers tirelessly cared for the family. Many shared similar stories, such as their moms carrying them on their backs and rushing to the hospital on a rainy day. They, too, chose to write narratives about hardships in order to earn high marks. In doing so, they forfeited the opportunity to share more authentic stories about their interactions with their moms — stories that were not sad but could reveal true emotions.

There can be a similar trend in college application essays. As students strive for diversity and seek to elicit empathy, they may abandon other aspects of themselves in favor of narratives centered around racial discrimination and hardship. The result could be similar contents and hollow words that ultimately fail to demonstrate true diversity.

While actively pursuing diversity, the American society becomes a lost ship drifting away from its intended destination. I sincerely hope that people better understand diversity, which transcends races and other stereotypes.

True equality may prevail when each individual can be valued for their own merits as equal humans.