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Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

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Affirmative Action
Our society has built a nation based on a moral golden rule, which states “treat others the way you would like to be treated.” Unfortunately, this golden rule isn’t always represented in the discrimination experienced by many women and minorities. Affirmative action attempts to increase the representation of those who have been historically excluded in employment, education, and culture as a result of this discrimination by giving them preferential treatment. This effort to restore equality is noble, but actually achieves the opposite. Giving preference towards minorities, especially in universities, is immoral because it does not reward individuals based on their qualifications. Instead, it rewards those who have been identified as …show more content…

If we continue to give preference to these minorities rather than those who have worked hard for their merits and are exemplary candidates, the prestige of attending a university is lost and is instead a compensation for wrongdoings when it should be an honor rewarded to students for their hard work, intelligence, and ambition.
Those in favor of affirmative action look at present and future scenarios in order to accommodate for prejudices that stem from past conceptions and judgments with respect to race or sex. Arguments from a justice point of view look at three fundamental types or justice: compensatory (backward-looking), discrimination blocking (present-oriented), and integrative (forward-looking) (Anderson). As humans, we have an implicit bias, or unconscious mechanisms that influence prejudice. This bias can come in the form of placing stereotypes on an individual based on name, socioeconomic status, or other defining characteristics. Although not always intentional, these biases are there and can often interfere with our

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Critics of affirmative action frequent describe the policy as being unfair, asserting that it contravenes a conserved system of meritocracy in the country by basing selection decisions on demographic characteristics at the expense of ability and achievement (Thernstrom & Thernstrom, 1997). Defenders take a different position that can be explained by two facts: racism and sexism are still present in the United States society and affirmative action is the most efficient and effective way of reducing discrimination than the present alternatives. However, affirmative action increases fusion and fairness in employment and in education because it works as a proactive observing system. As Crosby and Smith (2005) consider, “such policies may help ensure that patterns of bias—including selective system bias— are uncovered and

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In his article “Affirmative Action in Higher Education: Is It Necessary?” , Rodney Reed debates the necessity of affirmative action as a critical measure in the fight against discrimination in higher education. In order to stress this conviction, he does not eschew the usage of strongly biased diction and argument. Firstly, on page 333 Reed states that “in [his] view, affirmative action is a series of positive steps” and that “[his] concern is with Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans”, where he does not conceal that this is his perspective and not necessarily the truth.

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“Affirmative Action may not be a perfect system, but there should be no doubt that it has endangered many successes. It has opened the doors of America’s most elite educational institutions to minority students, granting them unprecedented opportunities” (Ogletree 12). Thanks to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson a policy that prohibits employment and education discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, and sex is offered today to those who suffer from said discriminations (A Brief History). Affirmative action has opened abundant openings for minorities, allowing the cycle of going to college to be passed down generations and provided job opportunities that otherwise would not be considered by most. Affirmative

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Affirmative Action, a Hurtful Tactic Chosen by Colleges Yearly early, it is brought to public attention the boundaries, exigencies, academic requirements, desirable college admissions test scores, the idea of being involved in extracurricular activities, and the increasing pressure for these students to not only graduate from high school, as well being admitted to their dream college. Thus, it is a constant battle these students have to endure to earn a “fat envelope”.

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An outrage among society today; high school students are not being admitted to their dream colleges based on ethnic background. Adolescents should not be burdened by the thought that they won’t get into the college they deserve to attend just based on their skin color. Affirmative Action is the cause of this appalling injustice in the college admissions process among big universities. There have been several cases where people have fought for their right to be admitted solely based on their qualifications. Universities’ use of Affirmative Action, and racial quotas in their admissions process should be exposed and terminated.

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Affirmative Action Affirmative Action is a policy or program intended to redress past discrimination and promote equal opportunities in education and employment. This is a highly controversial and well known topic, especially when considering it as part of college admissions. Many argue that colleges and universities should consider a student’s race and national origin when reviewing submitted applications. This is merely an attempt to create a more diverse student body, and assure that discrimination not occur. Although there is evidence to support that Affirmative Action is beneficial to the college and its student body, it should not exists in admissions because it limits the number of qualified non-minority students admitted.

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Those who are against Affirmative Action do not argue against the values for which its proponents stand; in actuality, members of all sides of the academic spectrum hold the same values to be true. The argument at hand is not with the values, but with the methods and potential negative results of Affirmative Action. It had been suggested that colleges which institute Affirmative Action implement their admissions systems so that minority students are more likely to be accepted that non-minority students. In his model, Professor Qiang Fu demonstrates that college systems are designed to “favor the minority [student] and allow the admissions not to be awarded to the [non-minority] [student]” (Fu 424). Potentially, this can be viewed as a form

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Subsequently, already-overrepresented races such as whites would be represented in an even more disproportionate manner. This is not ideal because as in today’s modern world, all races are equal, but this disproportionality undermines that characteristic. Affirmative action helps colleges and universities work towards true diversity, which would be equal representation of all racial groups. However, while that would be a challenging task to accomplish in a short period of time, affirmative action helps jumpstart the journey by providing a means to slowly introduce more diversity on college campuses. Affirmative action is not an end-all solution, but it helps improve the lack of diversity present in colleges and universities today, an issue that needs to be tackled to fulfill the idea that all racial groups should be equal, including in education.

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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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Without affirmative action, the percentage of minority students at most of our more selective colleges would drop significantly. Despite gains made in most aspects of employment and college admissions in the past 25 years, the ratio of white-to-black advantage still remains the same. Many seem to write off minority students who get into universities and colleges with Affirmative Action. These students do not deserve the opportunity any less because they got it with Affirmative Action initiatives. These students have still worked hard for their success.

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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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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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