Affirmative action, reverse discrimination, positive discrimination, and employment equality; these are all forms of discrimination, though not quite as distinguishable as typical types of discrimination. Many questions can be raised by affirmative action; what impact does human nature have on the use of affirmative action? How is affirmative action viewed in the United Kingdom vs. the US? What is the history of affirmative action in America? What is the impact of affirmative action in international relations? Let’s look strictly at the UK vs. the US where Affirmative action can happen in a multitude of places; such as employment and education.
First off, what are the benefits to having affirmative action? When UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Rice University all dropped their affinitive action policies, the minority admissions fell up to 61 percent. This is a surprisingly large number of students that fail to be admitted every year. The world operates on a global playground; students must be surrounded by a diverse student body to be able to play well with others in this new international economy. Also many of the graduates that benefited from affirmative action programs would tell you that they have better jobs, higher pay, and overall better lives because of the advantage they were given. (Messerli)
After reading the last paragraph many people would wonder what could possibly be bad about affirmative action. The main concern most individuals have is that this is reverse discrimination; just like discrimination towards minorities from long ago but now turned back at the majority. A study by the Hoover Institution also has shown that affirmative action programs assists middle and upper class minorities, instead of the lower ...
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• "Google Books Ngram Viewer." Ngram Viewer. 2013. Accessed December 12, 2013. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=affirmative action&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=7&share=&direct_url=t1;,affirmative action;,c0#t1;,affirmative action;,c0-1.
• Hanna, Jason, and Bill Mears. "Appeals Court Strikes down Michigan's Affirmative Action Ban." CNN. November 16, 2012. Accessed December 13, 2013. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/15/justice/michigan-affirmative-action-ban/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1.
• Messerli, Joe. "Affirmative Action: Overview." Affirmative Action: Overview. April 2010. Accessed December 11, 2013. http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/affirmative-action-overview.aspx.
• "What Equality Law Means for You as an Education Provider: Schools." EHRC. August 31, 2010. Accessed December 13, 2013. http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/.
Affirmative action is a label for a large range of programs, but all of these methods began for one reason: as a way to fight racism. There were voluntary efforts and mandatory laws enacted in order to accomplish this feat (Wu par 6). It was begun under President Johnson with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and was followed by his Executive Order 11246, both of which emphasized the fair treatment and employment of minorities. Two years later, women were added to the list. Today affirmative action benefits women, racial and ethnic groups, and the physically, mentally or emotionally disabled to the detriment of white males (“affirmative action” par 1). Due to affirmative action’s efforts, doors have been opened allowing for the equalizing of opportunity in the United States, seen in the types of people working in places such as police and fire departments, as w...
Overall, I am arguing that affirmative action policies cause a significant more amount of harm than they hinder. These policies are wholly arbitrary, lack common reason, and create discrimination while simultaneously trying to eliminate it. They additionally encourage mediocrity while attempting to award less competent individuals over more competent ones. The diversity affirmative action policies try to promote could easily manifest itself naturally, but is instead forced where it need not be. If western society is going to have any hope of eradicating discrimination, it need not be promoted in any form, even positively.
Affirmative action is without a doubt, one of the most controversial and debated political topics found throughout the entirety of the history of the United States, especially in regards to college admissions. On both sides of the argument, you have millions of Americans vitriolically defending their beliefs as to whether or not affirmative action is a positive thing that benefits the entirety of America as a whole, or rather an outdated model existing well past its expiration date. Both sides of the argument have its pro and cons, but personally, I am of the opinion that affirmative action in regards to college admissions does more harm than good for America as a whole on a social, political, and economic level, and that it at the very least needs to be modified heavily, if not abolished altogether. However, in order to first understand the arguments both supporting and decrying affirmative action, as well as the controversy behind it, we first need to delve into its history for the related context.
The policy of affirmative action was created to promote equal opportunity in the workfield, however the policy has its own issues as it has produced lots of controversies since its inception. In particular, opponents of Affirmative action argues against the real effects of affirmative action and skeptical whether societal disparities in employment opportunities and incomes were simply the outcome of socioeconomic labelling, hence the effectiveness of affirmative action to address the disparities was also brought into questioning. Moreover the policy is also controversial in that it does, to a certain extent, exert discriminatory racial tension because it discriminates against non-minority groups. Therefore this essay will discuss some of the issues related to the controversial policy as well as explore some of the underlying causes of the policy and assessment of some of its measured benefits.
Subconscious prejudices, self-segregation, political correctness, reverse discrimination, and ignorance all wade in the pool of opinions surrounding affirmative action and racial animosity. With racial tensions ever present in this country, one might question whether the problems can be solved by affirmative action.
Affirmative action has been the topic of debate for many years. It has been controversial because it has been said to be a form of reverse discrimination. This paper will discuss the purpose behind affirmative action, as well as, its various strengths and weaknesses. Also, this paper will look at the following issues surrounding affirmative action such as the incompetency myth ( are companies hiring less qualified people?), the impact on employment (what has changed in the work place?), the impact on women (how have their lives changed?) and the impact on employment law (what documents back up affirmative action?). Lastly, a discussion of affirmative action on an international scale, and what international documents have to say about the topic. The purpose of this paper is to bring to light all the issues, and then make an educated statement of whether affirmative action is a worthwhile activity or if there is a better solution.
Affirmative action started in the 1960’s as a way to end discrimination against African American and later all minorities - including women. By migrating people of all color into workplaces and colleges/universities seemed to be the suitable solution to diversify our nation. Although blacks had been freed for a 100 years, they continually struggled with segregation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned the segregation of all sort in the United States, however that was not enough. Congress mandated the affirmative action program as a plan of desegregation. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy made reference to this plan, but it was not until September 1965 that it was enforced by President Lyndon Johnson. The program affected federal jobs, to include federal contracting company, and universities. In order to receive federal funding, each entity had to hire and enroll minorities. Affirmative action was a good jump start to get our nation to where it is today. However, affirmative action should not be continued because it is a form of discrimination, it is more harmful than helpful, and it supplements race or gender for one’s qualification.
The outlined goals of affirmative action are what we need for this country. The United States society needs to change the way it sees and treats its citizens. The methods that affirmative action uses, however, are not conducive to ac...
Affirmative action is the process of improving employment, hiring, and admission practices for groups previously discriminated against. Executive Order 10925 issued by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and introduced affirmative action to the country. Affirmative action is a way of compensating for the previous 345 years of slavery and legalized discrimination. Higher education has been utilizing affirmative action in their admission processes since the 1960’s. (Stewart)
Many individuals do not know the meaning of the term “affirmative action.” In order to clearly understand the issue, one must first know the necessary terms associated with it. Affirmative action is a term given to an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination (i.e. African Americans, Asians, etc.). For example, certain scholarships for African Americans can be regarded as affirmative action opportunities. Another example of affirmative action could be an institutional program designed for African Americans. So why is it important? Affirmative action policies and programs are designed to insure that qualified individuals of minority groups have equal access to programs and are “to par” with other individuals of the same merit. Please note that I said qualified and of the same merit. Affirmative action does not place individuals in minority groups at an advantage. This is a common misconception by some people. Affirmative action can be seen in the college admission process, the promotion process for higher-level positions, and in other various areas. The goal is to
3.The term Affirmative action has played a huge role in the past one hundred years of American politics. It is simply defined as an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer. Civil Rights of American citizens have drastically changed because of Affirmative action. With almost anything in politics, there is a debate for and against Affirmative action. Supporters of this say that this helps encourage e...
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...
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...
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, affirmative action is “an active effort to improve employment or educational opportunities for members of minority groups and women.” However, despite its well-intentioned policies, it has been the source of much controversy over the years. Barbara Scott and Mary Ann Schwartz mention that “proponents of affirmative action argue that given that racism and discrimination are systemic problems, their solutions require institutional remedies such as those offered by affirmative action legislation” (298). Also, even though racism is no longer direct, indirect forms still exist in society and affirmative action helps direct. On the other hand, opponents to affirm...
The focus of this paper is on the history of affirmative action and its relevance to our society. Affirmative action focuses on the importance of equality and equal opportunity among all people in terms of education and employment. In coordination with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunities Act of 1972, the affirmative action policy was submitted by federal agencies. Is it not true that ethnic minorities do not have the same opportunities in life as whites, and that women should be entitled to the same opportunities as men? This act is only a means to help the less advantaged members of our society. In this case the less advantage would be those of color and women (www.infoplease.com).