The Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action by definition is “the practice of improving the educational and job opportunities of members of groups that have not been treated fairly in the past because of their race, sex, etc”. (Merriam Webster). Affirmative action was thought of as a remedy towards African Americans who have been discriminated against over generations. While Affirmative Action’s intentions are good, giving the minority a chance and helping them obtain a better life, it does not solve the problem with discrimination or promote equality in the workplace and education. Affirmative Action has only led to reverse discrimination, promotes biasing in colleges and workplaces, and contradicts Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of equality between races. Affirmative

He also slashed the budget of the major agency for enforcing affirmative action against federal contractors. “In his first budget, Reagan cut funds for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs by 12 percent, from $49 million to $43 million. Measured in constant dollars, the agency's budget continued to fall through the Reagan and Bush presidencies. By 1992, its $54.7 million budget amounted to only $39 million in 1982 dollars”. Reagan's actions changed the federal government's stance in affirmative action cases from support to opposition. Reagan’s two attorneys general William French Smith and Edwin Meese III both opposed affirmative action, as well as the head of the department's Civil Rights Division, William Bradford Reynolds. Reynolds declared the department would oppose any quotas or numerical or statistical formulas in employment cases except to provide relief in proven cases of individual discrimination (Rethinking Affirmative

Professor Rogers Elliott of Dartmouth College said that “The most elite universities have very high levels in their admission standards, levels which minorities – especially blacks, don’t come close to meeting. [Thus], Affirmative Action in elite schools, which they pursue vigorously and successfully, leaves a huge gap, probably bigger than it would be for affirmative action at an average school. Elite institutions are very performance oriented. They deliberately take people at a very high level to begin with – with a few exceptions – and then they make them perform, and they do a pretty good job of it. If you are not ready for the first science course, you might as well forget it. They take their first course, lets say chemistry; at least 90 percent of the students in the course are bright, motivated, often pre-med, highly competitive whites and Asians. And these [minority] kids aren’t as well-prepared. They may get their first C- or D in a course like that because the grading standards are rigorous, and you have to start from day one” (Rethinking Affirmative Action). From reading Professor Rogers Elliot’s quote, Affirmative Action will do more harm than good for minorities. Minorities are being accepted into elite level schools such as Harvard and Yale where they are accepted in based on their skin color rather than their academic prowess.