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Arguments Against Affirmative Action

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Affirmative Action is defined by “an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially in relation to employment or education”. Results of affirmative action have been seen by almost everyone. In America, affirmative action had been first created by an executive order signed by President John F. Kennedy in the year 1961. This order required that government employees “... ensure that they are... treated without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin” (hg.org).
Affirmative action was expanded in the year 1965, promoting equal employment opportunities and it was again expanded, this time to include women, in the year 1967 when the class of “sex” was added to the “list of protected categories” (hg.org). …show more content…

Thus it is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates.
And he went onto state that to “right these wrongs, ‘equal opportunity is essential, but not enough” (Califano). While affirmative action was set out to promote non-discrimination, “it has evolved into a regime of racial preferences at almost all selective schools”. These preferences being unavoidable. Preferences like this, put students in an unworkable environment and they cannot learn or thrive effectively (Sander and Taylor). Affirmative action is seen by many as reverse discrimination and it is said that it “destroys the idea of a meritocracy and instead puts race as the dominant factor in admissions and hiring procedures”. The person who is most well suited for the job should be thrown into it and those chosen by affirmative action may not be that person which reflects badly upon the university and/or company and the person in it because it “lowers self esteem” (Scalia). Having employees or students in a work or a school environment that are racially diverse, does not mean that thought processes or the opinions or even level of education, work ethic or ability, are going to be diverse as well (Scalia). Affirmative action is also hard to remove once imposed upon a society.

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1289 Words | 6 Pages

Ira Katznelson is the author of When Affirmative Action Was White, a historical analysis of the history of affirmative action and racial inequality in the United States of America. Katznelson takes a definitive approach to the history of legislation and inequalities and prepares the reader initially with his title. Katznelson’s argumentative position and approach to the title of his book makes the reader question about affirmative action for white Americans, but in reality what Katznelson means by his title, When Affirmative Action Was White, is more based on the social programs and federal grant opportunities that were created and provided to Americans during the Roosevelt and Truman administration. Katznelson argument encompasses historical

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1556 Words | 7 Pages

Katznelson’s argument that affirmative action policies were enacted with purposeful, deliberate discrimination is convincing. Namely, he considers the historical context that would have shaped Americans at the time and swayed their opinions. For example, Katznelson references the Civil War and the end of slavery, and how these events shaped the attitudes of key players like the Southern Democrats, which would then result in the faulty policies that perpetuated affirmative action’s favoritism of whites. His evidence is sufficient as well. Katznelson highlights the trend of Southern Democrats interfering in affirmative action policies and the footholds they had in specific acts.

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411 Words | 2 Pages

Erica Beckman Duran English 1A 28 October 2015 Affirmative Action In Chapter Seven of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? , Beverly Tatum discusses affirmative action, an action that guarantees equal opportunity to all individuals, regardless of any circumstances (117). Tatum remarks on the history of affirmative action, in which it was introduced to language and our legal system by executive order 11246 by President Lyndon B. Johnson (1965), and obligated federal contractors to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, religion, sex, or national origin” (116-117).

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1629 Words | 7 Pages

We have seen in the past four decades race-based affirmative action programs that have arisen and fitfully developed through judicial challenges. As in most case, the best of intentions do not always lead to positive outcomes. Nothing could be more apt in describing the perilous position we have bestowed upon millions of minority students who have been admitted to higher learning institutions under the auspices of diversity. As illustrated by the standardized test and GPA numbers in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the students admitted to the medical school of UC-Davis under their affirmative action policy were extraordinarily less qualified when compared to the student body as a whole. This not only unfairly displaced white and Asian students who would have otherwise been admitted to those spot on merit but also places those underperforming students in an environment in which they are destined to fail.

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155 Words | 1 Pages

Shelby Steele’s perspective about affirmative action is that it’s didn’t help African Americans achieve equality. Continuously, he believes that affirmative action only reinforces the misconception that people should be treated differently according to their outward appearance. Affirmative action is created to improve opportunities for minorities in employment and education. Like any legalization, affirmative action has positive and negative sides, however I disagree with Shelby Steele that negative effect on minorities. In our country, we have decades of racial, economical, and social inequality for minorities, and affirmative action tries to address that disparity.

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1526 Words | 7 Pages

Is affirmative action still necessary for guaranteeing equal access to educational opportunities at elite universities and graduate schools? Should admissions decisions be based solely on academic criteria and merit? Key Words: affirmative action, Grutter V. Bollinger, and diversity. Grutter V. Bollinger Research Paper 3 Affirmative Action in Education Affirmative action was formed more than fifty years ago.

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322 Words | 2 Pages

Considering this, he is stating America is a white man's country and every other race has no voice in this country. However, even with the ratification of the 13th,14th, and 15th Amendments, discrimination and prejudice still remain strong.

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423 Words | 2 Pages

Like “c”, the quality of the students has diminished. Not only that think about the job professions were affirmative action have people that shouldn’t be qualified to take jobs like doctor and engineering and scientist because of affirmative

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987 Words | 4 Pages

Thus, often without realizing it, the United States has practiced what, in effect, was white affirmative action on a highly generous and widespread basis, followed by a much more modest program of black affirmative action. By understanding this history, we can come to terms with the widening gap between blacks and whites noted by Lyndon Johnson and with the incapacity of many blacks to be able to make good this gap in the following four decades (Katznelson,

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1106 Words | 5 Pages

After the Brown decision, many institutions of higher education began to desegregate, although the process was slow and uneven. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent legislation further strengthened the legal basis for desegregation in higher education. While affirmative action has been a controversial topic, with some arguing that it is reverse discrimination, others argue that it is necessary to address historical inequalities and create a more diverse and inclusive society (History.com,

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426 Words | 2 Pages

What can be done about homeless people, those poor, sick, jobless souls who just can’t seem to get their acts together and whose suffering makes the streets and sidewalks so uncomfortable for the rest of us? It is to criminalize homelessness, because while homeless people are conundrums, criminals are not. There are systems for dealing with them. Forbid their unwanted presence, their unwelcome behaviors, their unsightly possessions, and you can drive them out of view into jails or a neighboring county.

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1152 Words | 5 Pages

Due to Affirmative Action, institutions have to reach certain quotas to gain funding. However, once quotas are reached, there are many people of color who do not benefit. Timing is very important in whether or not a person of color can benefit from the government policy. Therefore, it benefits people by the situation and not as a whole. As diversity is very important to colleges and universities, their actions in the scholarship and admittance processes say otherwise.

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1011 Words | 5 Pages

Affirmative action has become obsolete in today’s society. Affirmative action is an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups and women; also: a similar effort to promote the rights or progress of other disadvantaged persons (Merriam-Webster, 2011). Today’s affirmative action will demoralize the very concepts that the policy was implemented to uphold: those of equality for all people regardless of color and discrimination. This policy supports racial multiplicity at the price of distinction, impartiality and experience; it also follows the line of reverse discrimination and sexual bias against white men (Reyna, Tucker, Korfmacher, & Henry, 2005).

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1028 Words | 5 Pages

According to the dominant theory the affirmative action was firstly introduced to deal with two types of social disruption in the 1960s as campus protests and urban riots in the North. However, this article is based on different theory as dominant theory's empirical evidence is limited. It examines the initial reason for advent of race-conscious affirmative action in 17 undergraduate institutions in the United States. And according to the research this article concludes that there were two waves that contributed to affirmative action: 1) first wave in the early 1960s introduced by northern college administrators 2) second wave in the late 1960s introduced as a response to the protests of campus-based students. This article will help me to establish the main reasons for introduction of race-conscious affirmative action in undergraduate

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1734 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout many of the affirmative action legal cases, one of the main arguments from proponents is that it is necessary in order to right the wrongs of past racial discrimination. Some say that affirmative action is justified because even though white applicants may be more qualified, this is only because they did not face the same hardships as their minority counterparts (Rachels, Ethics, 1973).  Many argue if we do not integrate disadvantaged minorities into mainstream social institutions, they will continue to suffer the discrimination that has plagued our country for centuries and that this is detrimental to not only the minorities but also society as a whole (Anderson, 2002, 1270–71). However, the debate has recently shifted to the benefits of diversity in the classroom which the Supreme Court has affirmed as being a positive thing

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