The ethics discussion tonight presented some good insight into what people of a different race or minority might go through. We started out by formulating questions and then going through them one by one. The most interesting discussion took place off of one of the most basic questions: Are people being held back from achieving what they set out to do? A lot of the discussion went toward the name differences between white and black people. The best argument I took from it was a third (actually in my Rhetorical Traditions I class). She described her entrance into VMI and other schools with her in cringing detail. Her real name, Kreisha, was put on many applications when applying to school. But also, she sent in additional applications using her middle name, Ashley. Ashley got into more schools than Kreisha did when they had the exact same credentials. Discrimination is everywhere and college is no exception to that. But it’s pretty obvious that just because her name was associated with being black, she wasn’t let in.

That being said, drawing from the readings we can go back and look at the Sophists and their conflict with Plato. Plato is now starting to piss me off a little bit. Just like the college admissions offices were holding people back because of where they come from, Plato did not want anybody but his select group of upper class to receive the benefits of a good education or be virtuous. The sophists were teaching anyone who so desired an education. Plato didn’t want his precious hierarchy to be dismantled by all of these new educated people in the masses thinking that they knew what they were talking about. The thing though, Plato hardly gave them the slightest chance at bettering their circumstances. The sophists were making opportunities available. Comparing it to today’s society, we can see that we still hold people back in order to protect our own interests. We need to be more involved in ending inequalities and it starts with ourselves.