Affirmative Action Programs Pros And Cons

Affirmative Action is a federal agenda passed in the 1960s designed to counteract historical discrimination suffered by minorities and other underrepresented groups in the United States. To foster diversity, institutions with affirmative action programs prioritize the inclusion of minority groups in employment and education. For example, Affirmative Action programs have allowed minorities entry into certain professions formerly deemed off limits. However, one can argue that affirmative action has failed to improve anti-discrimination in the areas of employment and education. Utilitarianism can promote the use of Affirmative Action with its goal of improving employment and education opportunities for minorities. The focus should be on minorities

Since the problem of education still exists in minority communities, diversity-focused Affirmative Action has failed to meet the moral standards of utilitarianism. Diversity is severed as a primary goal from any corrective justice considerations. Thus, race cannot be solely privileged among other types of diversity such as religion, ethnicity, and economic background, just to name a few (Blum, 2013, pg.5). Equalizing K-12 education to benefit African-Americans and Latinos serves as moral justice. Many advocates of diversity centered Affirmative Action will see 8% of African-Americans and Latinos at elite colleges as progress. However, proponents fail to realize that these percentages could be higher if a social program based on morality could be implemented to equalize education for

African and Afro-Caribbean Black students are better educated throughout K-12 and are consequently "overrepresented among the black populations at many elite institutions (Blum, 2013, pg.5). Daryl Fears (2007) stated that African and Afro-Caribbean students made up more than a quarter of all Black students at elite institutions of higher learning. It speaks to the level of education being taught abroad because African, and Afro-Caribbean students are not subjected to unequal education stemming from the legacy of segregation. For example, the education a student receives is consistent whether schooled in Jamaica or Trinidad. In the United States, African-Americans are subjected to a lesser education that of white due to the legacy of segregation. The land mark Supreme Court Case Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional has done little to prevent segregation. This separation exists presently due to neighborhoods segregated based on income. Fears (2007) reiterated this point that Afro-Caribbean and African students were in the majority and did not have to experience the stigma of segregation that African-American students still face. Anderson could argue that Afro-Caribbean example does not apply since the populations in those nations are homogenous. That may be the case, but this model provides a potentially fruitful alternative which