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The Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

1508 Words7 Pages

Across the board, equality in America is a heavily debated topic. Whether it is on the subject of job opportunities or police brutality, equality is understood to a utopic idea and that is suppressed by an ingrained social ideology that some people are “superior” to others. The case of education is no different. There are many factors in education that contribute to an overall imbalance in the system and one of the more debated factors would be the implementation of affirmative action in the college application process and the effects of this policy on the students affected by it, both majority or minority students. Affirmative action has had a negative impact on student education, more so on minority students. The application policy was designed to with the idea of reviewing college applicants based on academic achievements and race or ethnicity; all with the intention of accepting a certain amount of minority students in order to increase racial diversity in the school. The idea behind affirmative action can be argued as being a fair system for minorities, …show more content…

The introduction of the idea of affirmative action was mainly sparked by former President Lyndon Johnson signed Executive Order 11246, which enforced the Fourteenth Amendment that states that no state can “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” (US Const. amend. XIV, sec. 1) The executive order enforced the idea that businesses will have non-discriminatory processes in hiring employees and that minority employees cannot be discriminated against in the workplace. (Arcidiacono) From this order, colleges began picking up a similar policy in their admissions processes. By adopting this policy, colleges saw more minority groups entering their campuses, ultimately achieving their goals of increasing

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How Does Affirmative Action Affect Minorities

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Compare Eviction And The Reproduction Of Urban Poverty By Wendy Wang

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Affirmative Action-ACLU Position Paper

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Affirmative action is a tool that is used to ensure that minority groups are granted equal opportunity. Whether it be college admissions, or in the workplace, affirmative action makes it possible for all people to enjoy the same opportunities despite skin color, gender, or nationality. Affirmative action was started by President John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy started affirmative action to make sure that during the hiring process, and also during employment, that all employees were treated the same, despite their race or nationality. Thereafter, President Lyndon B. Johnson followed up by making it a requirement for government to hire without counting race, religion, nationality, or gender against applicants.

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Affirmative Action Paradox

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On the Paradox of Affirmative Action Inequality has pervaded American society throughout history, and it continues to invade the lives of young Americans in the form of affirmative action. Affirmative action, a process in which colleges favor minorities and other disadvantaged groups, fails to serve its intended purposes: to compensate for historical discrimination. Worse, it creates aptly named reverse racism, wherein the majority has a disadvantage. Affirmative action also has a goal of creating diversity, but diversity includes more than race; moreover, the importance of equality vastly dwarfs the importance of diversity, though the two are closely entangled. Despite benevolent intentions, the institution of affirmative action policies

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Affirmative Action Hurts White People

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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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Should Affirmative Action Be Used Towards College Admissions

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Affirmative action should be used towards college admissions because it allows a fair evaluation of applicants and compensates for gender and racial inequalities. This policy was originally put into place for white veterans and women, but after the Civil Rights Movement, it began to include minorities. The action does not make it easy for students to get into college based on just their race and only makes up for their disadvantages. Still many conservative whites argue that it is seen as reverse racism and that white students are being discriminated against. However, affirmative action is a response that has developed throughout centuries of discrimination upon people of color and women; this policy is by no means discriminating against white

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Affirmative action is an action that benefits those who are discriminated against whether it is at work or school. It was implemented to be a positive factor for minorities, but stirred up great debate all the way to the supreme courts. The Chronicle of Higher Education newsletter exposed U.S. state legislation being against affirmative action policies. “If an applicant to a state college or university presents the academic qualifications for admission, that’s all there should be to it”. (Schmidt, P. 2014).

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Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

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If it appeals to the masses after several years of use it could be an exemplary model for education and employment in the United States. However, in such systems where one group or groups is put ahead of others, it can cause a state of disarray where one group or groups can seriously dwindle over the years. This could cause a panic in the public and create a distrust in Affirmative Action, which was meant to promote equality but might cause inequality towards others. The question now is, if Affirmative Action should continue to exist then what exactly has it done or will continue doing that will make its use beneficial to our institutions, companies, and everyone in general, in other words, did the means justify the

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Arguments Against Affirmative Action

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Affirmative Action policies provide equal access to things that excluded groups were denied from obtaining. What put this motion in order was John F. Kennedy when he issued Executive Order 10925. Which was a policy that government employers "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin. " the purpose of the executive order was to guarantee that the government commitment to equal chance to all qualified participants and to take positive

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Arguments Against Affirmative Action

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The fear is that without this policy, diversity will not always happen if left up to chance. It is true that schools and other organizations have discriminated against women and people of other race. This problem created an unfair advantage for males of the superior race. Supporters also charge that without affirmative action African Americans would have a more difficult process of being admitted into prestigious and predominately white universities (Hopkins, 2010). Affirmative Action allows minorities to reflect different areas of study and work that otherwise would have never been considered.

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Arguments Against Affirmative Action

1524 Words | 7 Pages

By establishing quotas or limits to how many people per racial group can be accepted into an establishment or university, it indirectly limits the amount of well qualified people that can be accepted, regardless of race. Along with this, expectations for the more “privileged” races were raised. In order to consider someone of Asian descent equal to someone of Hispanic descent, the Asian candidate must have a substantially higher score on the SAT, disproving the idea that affirmative action assists in working towards showcasing equal ability between races. Though affirmative action policies claim to work against stereotypes, it does the exact opposite as the action of implying that all Asians come from the same background, or all African Americans come from the same background is stereotyping within itself. Likewise, the groups being covered by affirmative action fail to recognize Asians as minorities, due to the unfortunate “model minority” stereotype being put on them.

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Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

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One of the most debatable aspects is the evidence backing up the harm caused by affirmative action. Many believe that affirmative action does nothing in regards to the success of students and schools and deny the idea of the mismatch effect. “...Proposition 209 led to an improved “fit” between minority students and colleges in the University of California system, which resulted in improved graduation rates.” (brookings.com). People also believe in the undermatch effect, where students go to “... a school that is not demanding enough, and are less likely to graduate as a result.”

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The intention of affirmative action, although controversial, is to assist those in minority groups from being discriminated against in order to achieve certain positions. However, it can be argued to be in fact just reverse discrimination. Some places in which affirmative action exists is in the workforce, the government, as well as the educational system. A problem with the idea is that although a person might be more qualified, they might fail to get land the spot because they aren’t in the minority.

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Minorities should be given the opportunity to attend the college of their choice; if they have earned the required grade average, than they should not be denied that opportunity for admission. Affirmative Action was struck down by voter in the state of California in 1996, because of legal reversal; reverse discrimination is allowing others that are not qualified to enter in to institutions, such as universities, hospitals and more. That type of discrimination will only have a negative impact and disfavor someone who was in a majority position. Opportunities for jobs should be given to the quailed candidate regardless of their race.

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