The Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

In the United States, we have long since shed our discriminatory views on specific ethnic groups, and we have tried to create ways to make higher education easier to access for these groups. This system of positive discrimination is known as Affirmative Action, and during the time it was originally issued it provided minorities with the opportunity to peruse an academic education. However, as time goes on this loses its original purpose as many universities accept anyone who is qualified and can afford tuition, and this causes admissions to accept minority students based simply on race. For example a rich African-American with a less qualifying academic record has the same chances of getting accepted as a poorer Spanish resident with a superior

In an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education they say how, “what we know as affirmative action… will not solve the problem because it doesn't include discussion of the truly disadvantaged Americans, who are disproportionately black and brown schoolchildren isolated in communities with high poverty rates and poor schools“ (Par. 22). Students who strive for success from these conditions are not favored over minority students that have better economic grounding. Admission offices hardly pay attention to who they are accepting, and they should put an emphasis on the background students come from. A minority student from a lower class neighborhood should not have the same rate of acceptance as a middle class or even high class student with the same qualifications. In a book by Carl Cohen and James Sterba, they attempt to clarify the original intend of Affirmative Action by saying how it is, “a policy of favoring qualified women and minority candidates over qualified men or nonminority candidates, with the immediate goals of outreach, remedying discrimination, or achieving diversity” (200). Affirmative Action has long since strayed from its original purpose, which was to give minorities and people who weren’t able to attend white male dominated universities a chance at academic success. This is not the case anymore as higher education is readily accessible to anyone who can afford to attend or qualify. The argument today is the economic stress that many United States citizens face despite their racel, and this can be considered a leading factor in the debate of whether or not to switch to a class based form of affirmative