Cmv: affirmative action policies encourage the prejudice they seek to prevent.:
Affirmative Action's purpose is to level the playing field and give each student a chance at college, no matter the student's background. Basing this giving on skin color, while providing a change to a perhaps disadvantaged historical stereotype, does not accomplish Affirmative Action's purpose. 
Skin color is a gift, not earned or chosen by a person, but given at birth by parents. Why should this unearned, pre-decided trait determine the scholarship a student receives? 

I believe that all scholarships should be merit-based, and while many are, some schools that have to fill "race quotas" to "diversify the campus" in the process, ignore more qualified students in favor of the correctly colored one. 

The intent behind the Affirmative Action is certainly well-meaning, aimed at helping needy students. However, the blanket label of race as a signal of need harms all students, regardless of color. 