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The Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

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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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In the article, “The Truth about ‘holistic College Admissions”, Sara Harberson expresses how universities that are not allowed to use racial preferences on college admissions, are still devising strategies to work around the laws to produce the same result. Harberson states how the institutions are using what is called “holistic admissions”, which allows a college to factor in a student's background, race and income. By filtering out the minority groups, they are creating a less-diverse community, preventing students of certain backgrounds from a proper education, and taking away opportunities from students based on their ethnicity. Colleges are using racial segregation in the admission process so that they can have a white-favoring campus

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Affirmative action policies promote diversity in public spaces, which will prepare students for future after graduation. This is essential because the world has become rapidly diverse, especially in the United States. Furthermore, affirmative action provides an environment for minority students in which they can have more chances to overcome their handicaps and to compete equally. From many aspects, minorities still have many obstacles to excel in this society, especially due to their socioeconomic status. Proponents of affirmative action programs assert that non-minority students blame their failure on this policy.

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The article I will refer from is “From Jim Crow to Affirmative Action and Back Again: A Critical Race Discussion of Racialized Rationales and Access to Higher Education” by Tara Yosso. Affirmative action in education was set up because it would give minority groups access to higher-education. However, this article discusses that minorities still have a problematic time getting into higher education schools. This was an issue in Brown vs. Board of Education, which stated education should be equivalent to everyone (Yosso, 2004). Not everyone agreed with this idea.

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In 1995, the number of black college students was less than 5%. By 1990 over 11% of college students were black. This jump in percentage is thanks to the role of affirmative action. According to Casey Quinlan, in her article, “Why We Still Need Affirmative Action Policies in College Admissions”, there are two kinds of affirmative action approaches used in college and university admissions. The soft approach is when colleges and universities use outreach programs to attract a diverse population of students.

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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 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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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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With knowledge about America’s extensive history of racial tensions, discrimination, and segregation, however, this appears to be an appropriate method of academic assistance and equality in regards to college admissions. The nationwide affirmative action program based on race appears to be a fair and reliable method of college admittance; however, there remain slight discrepancies, like a potential for reverse discrimination, which cannot be ignored. Proponents on all sides of the academic spectrum agree that using a different criteria for college admissions, socioeconomic status, could prove to be the better option in keeping with the promotion of diversity while establishing reasonable boundaries for the number of admitted students (“Socioeconomic Status” 79). Similarly to how Affirmative Action in college admissions currently gives advantage to students of ethnic minority, affirmative action will begin to give advantage to students who live in families of low socioeconomic status. Additionally, this new criteria will serve the core values of promoting diversity, equal opportunity, fairness, and the elimination of discrimination in 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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Affirmative Action is the policy which promotes and installs active engagement in organizations, institutions, and companies to better admit into and employ a diverse environment of students or employees. Introduced in the 1960’s “for aggressive hiring of minorities by the Federal government. The passage of Civil Rights legislation in the late 1960s and the impact of the massive anti-racist struggles waged throughout the United States expanded the idea of affirmative action beyond the immediate locus of Kennedy's memo”(Chrisman 1). Whether it is in a public or private institution, the desire to improve upon the systems of employment which have excluded minorities and women is now encouraged by law. Historically excluded and discriminated groups who could not before have an equal opportunity for a successful career can now have an equal opportunity for success in this country.

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Affirmative action in education prepares minorities and women for positions in STEM(science, technology engineering and math), medicine and business, positions traditionally occupied by white men. Affirmative action was created in education to prevent admissions office from purposely avoiding applications from people of minorities just because they feel they are “inferior”. Without affirmative action many people would be deprived of opportunities that they truly deserve. Affirmative action not only brings diversity into our but it also creates a fair playing field in these places that are usually very competitive. Affirmative action makes sure that everyone receives an equal chance at an

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If those students were not able to receive sufficient education, they will struggle through college. They may not have the capability to perform at the same level as other students. Several non-white college students drop out due to this. At the same time, white students with academic ability may find themselves rejected due to the college’s affirmative action program. If the college needs to have a certain percentage of non-white students, they may choose a student from a minority over a white student with better qualifications.

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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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Affirmative action is one of the more complicated issues in relation to college acceptances, as it was intended to remove the injustice of racial discrimination, by assisting racial groups who historically faced discrimination due to their skin color. Historically, some college campuses preferred white candidates to black candidates, leading to a very narrow minded, one dimensional viewpoint on many topics, especially controversial topics such as race. By ensuring diversity, forming echo chamber-like environments in workplaces or college campuses. Due to this, factors such as race, gender, and background are now factors used in determining a candidate’s worth.

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