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Impact of affirmative action on society
Effects of affirmative action on education
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Racial diversity is a desired concept that intends to secure the right of equal opportunity that is promised to all citizens of the United States. Such an idealistic vision has been attempted through a process called affirmative action. As a program created from the 14th Amendment, affirmative action aims to impose “equal protection of the laws” by requiring schools to adopt a quota for the enrollment of minorities. This program is intended to compensate for the centuries of discrimination that minorities have faced, but affirmative action has became problematic as it has failed to do this. Affirmative action is not the solution to ensure equal opportunity for minorities to access higher education. Although affirmative action has increased diversity in selective schools, it defeats its purpose because the resulting diversity is not equal representation of the nation’s communities , the process has led to reverse discrimination, and the education standard has been lowered in the selective schools. At the start of a new era, the Constitution was created in order to ensure security and prosperity for the citizens of the United States. Within this sacred document is the 14th Amendment which states “All persons born or naturalized in the United States….are citizens of the United States….nor shall any state deprive any [citizen] of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (14th Amendment). This amendment was created in order to protect the Civil Rights Act of 1866 that gave citizens the same rights “without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude” (1866 Civil Rights Act), but it was written such... ... middle of paper ... ...ades and effort because they are learning in an unmotivated and less competitive environment which later affects their education as well. This unfairly prevents students from gaining the higher education that they had originally applied for which counteracts the purpose of equal opportunity. Throughout time, more problems have arisen through Affirmative Action. Although it was a program enacted with the good intention of decreasing the discrimination of minorities, it had the opposite effect. Much to the dislike of majorities such as whites, minorities were able to receive a better education despite low education scores and as a result, the whites were less motivated to do better or were denied admittance into colleges despite being qualified. The attractive concept of racial equality was unsuccessful as it did not take into consideration many real world factors.
Discrimination is still a chronic global issue, and drastic inequalities still exist at the present time. Thus, the Affirmative Action Law is an important tool to many minorities most especially to women, and people of color, for the reason that this program provides an equality on educational, and professional opportunities for every qualified individual living in the United States. Without this program, a higher education would have been impossible for a “minority students” to attain. Additionally, without the Affirmative Action, a fair opportunity to have a higher-level career...
Last summer, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of race in the college admissions process in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas. Since then, affirmative action has become a big issue in the media; however, many people still do not even know what affirmative action is. Affirmative action is a policy to prevent discrimination on the basis of “color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Overall, it favors minorities that are often discriminated. It might sound like an excellent policy; however, the use of this policy in the college admissions process is prejudice. In the college admissions process, affirmative action lowers the standards for some races, while raising the standard for other races. For example, an Asian might need a SAT score of 2300 to be considered for admission at a top school such as Yale and a white applicant might need a score of 2100, while an African American or Hispanic only needs a score of 1700. While affirmative action provides equality in the workplace, it has no place in the college admissions process and should, therefore, be abolished and replaced. This type of policy can be repealed completely, replaced with a college admissions process that favors first generation college applicants, or replaced with a policy based on an applicant’s socioeconomic status.
...ith the ability to work their way up the social ladder, and bringing in revenue for local and nation governments. The students at the University of Michigan may or may not have a case against affirmative action that it is based on race, but the real problem with affirmative action is that it is not based on socioeconomic status.
California's decision in 1996 to outlaw the use of race in public college admissions was widely viewed as the beginning of the end for affirmative action at public universities all over the United States. But in the four years since Californians passed Proposition 209, most states have agreed that killing affirmative action outright would deepen social inequality by denying minority citizens access to higher education. The half-dozen states that are actually thinking about abandoning race-sensitive
The problem is determining if a person’s ability and character is devalued due to this preference for minority groups. Affirmative action is often abused when people use their ethnicity rather than workmanship or skill level to receive a job or college opportunity. Through the years after President John F. Kennedy first introduced affirmative action, there has not been significant steps toward equality of the races in the workplace or schools. Therefore, new actions and plans should be put in place to help solve this on-going
Affirmative action is a term used for policies that are designed to help the effects of past discrimination against minority groups in the United States of America. Here are three reasons why affirmative action needs to be abolished.
Affirmative action was created to allow minorities to have more opportunities in the workforce and in education. It still remains to be a debate whether affirmative action should be a necessary route even though we have made progress towards greater equality. The argument over Affirmative action has been going on for some time with two opposing sides. There is one side who finds Affirmative action as an opportunity to the less fortunate; those who are against have the belief that it promotes less qualified individuals rather than a person own merit.
Today there is considerable disagreement in the country over Affirmative Action with the American people. MSNBC reported a record low in support for Affirmative Action with 45% in support and 45% opposing (Muller, 2013). The affirmative action programs have afforded all genders and races, exempting white males, a sense of optimism and an avenue to get the opportunities they normally would not be eligible for. This advantage includes admission in colleges or hiring preferences with public and private jobs; although Affirmative Action has never required quotas the government has initiated a benefits program for the schools and companies that elect to be diversified. The advantages that are received by the minorities’ only take into account skin color, gender, disability, etc., are what is recognized as discriminatory factors. What is viewed as racism to the majority is that there ar...
Affirmative action is needed to create diversity in America. Affirmative action allows people of different races and backgrounds to interact in the workplace and universities. During 1996, Neil Rudenstine, president of Harvard University, explained Harvard's commitment to diversity by using John Stuart Mill, who emphasized the value of people being in contact with people who are different from them (5). Justice Powell who stated "a diversity of opinions, experiences, backgrounds, talents, aspirations, and perspectives" helped college students to feel great intellectual exchange, exploration, and growth (5). With such great advantage to the students with colleges with great diversity the education system itself should have implemented a policy such as affirmative action. According to Patricia Gurin, a psychology professor at University of Michigan, students experience better learning in a diverse educational atmosphere and are more prepared to become active in our pluralistic, democratic society after they leave college (5). In America today, we are already have enough problems with people being apathetic and not involved in society. When students grow up in diverse schools, they can become active and help the democratic society. Affirm...
In many cases, affirmative action can be said to have become “a political lightning rod,” as stated by the authors due to its ability to ignite an argument. Taylor and Sander attempt to validate mismatching as a passable reason for why affirmative action should be rescinded and why many minorities across the nation fail at the nation’s best institutions. Mismatching leads to an environment where minorities are unable to learn and compete with their white peers because the course material is not at their level. Taylor and Sander claimed “racial preference policies often stigmatize minorities, reinforce pernicious stereotypes, and undermine the self-confidence of beneficiaries,” as some of the side effects that can occur when institutions use affirmative action to diversify
The subject of affirmative action in college admissions has been hotly debated since its inception. Although affirmative action was originally supported by the vast majority, that same majority is now starting to wonder if there is a better way. Commonly asked questions include: “Is affirmative action still working?” and “Is there an alternative?” The answers to each of these questions will provide insurmountable evidence that affirmative action in college admissions no longer fulfills its intended purpose and that the only viable alternative is to focus more attention on primary schooling for the underprivileged.
...ns. The evidence supports the fact that if racial preferences are not used in admissions, the country will be withholding quality educations, both graduate and undergraduate, from large numbers of minority students. One of the staples of slavery when it is employed in this world is preventing those who are enslaved from becoming educated. We must work for the advancement of the human race as a whole, and this includes making sure that entire races of people are not left off prematurely on the road of education.
Civil Rights activities are believed to have led to the Affirmative Action being pioneered in the United States. The sixties era was full of Civil Rights movements and the search for minority equality. In 1961 President John Kennedy issued an executive order for the government to employ more minorities. This was the Committee on Equal Opportunity’ task to administer. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. Trying to create equality President Johnson then unintentionally created reverse discrimination. In 1969 President Nixon passed the Philadelphia Order. This order was to ensure equal opportunity hiring in the federal projects that required construction workers. In 1978 the Supreme Court placed boundaries on affirmative action to ensure while providing opportunity for minorities it was not at the expense of the majority in the landmark case of Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke. In 1980 the Supreme Court again ruled that 15 percent of government contracts be held for minority contracts and that this was perfectly constitutional.
For the sake of this essay, affirmative action in education is defined as: “policies and programs designed to advance equality of educationalopportunity for individuals from groups that have suffered systematic historical discrimination” (Mickelson 29). What is being referred to here is race-based affirmative action, or the act of taking into consideration an applicant’s race in the college admissions process. This is a hot topic all over the United States and has been for quite a while, the debate raging between two sides: those in support of affirmative action and those opposed. The ethics of affirmative action itself are difficult to determine, but here an attempt will be made to prove that affirmative action is indeed unfair. In addition, perhaps people are looking at the wrong issue. Maybe the real problem is the early education gap between the minority and majority students, something that, if fixed, could solve the issue of affirmative action once and for all.
A lot of minorities within the United States do not receive the education they need for a