Nowadays, education is an important factor in our society. When society started educating themselves, knowledge was passed generation through generation. In past centuries, education was only available for certain groups of people like upper-classmen and clergymen. As time went by, education became more accessible to others, but discrimination existed and many minorities weren’t able to receive the education they deserved. Although there’s still some discrimination present in our society, education is now available to most people. A way in which it is assured that discrimination isn’t present in universities during the application process is by regulating the percentage of students that can get into the university according to their ethnicity. By doing so, the universities grant that their decisions weren’t biased according to ethnicity, they create a more diverse ambient for students and motivate spreading of knowledge, regarding ethnicity. Universities have their own admissions policies, and they are free to change them any time they decide to do so. One of these policies is the percentages of ethnicities that they accept into the university. This policy wasn’t necessary a few decades back but some legal battle have forced universities into creating it. An example of it is the 1978 case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. The instance that led to a legal battle was the fact that a student of Caucasian descent was rejected twice from the UC Davis School of Medicine in spite of having better test scores than many students that were admitted. Twenty-four years later, Hopwood v. Texas occurred, where four white students were denied admission to University of Texas Law School over students that were not as qualified a... ... middle of paper ... ...from the University of Georgetown, “At the country’s 200 most selective colleges, a mere 5 percent of students come from the bottom 25 percent of the income spectrum” (Leonhardt). The statistics derived from his study, show that students that have a better economical background have greater opportunities at superior universities. Economic background is heavily linked to ethnicities and with affirmative action minorities are given an improved opportunity of obtaining a place at a university. Affirmative action is supposed to be about fairness, but with the passing of time, the main purpose has been shifted and many people consider it to be diversity. Diversity is very important when it comes to universities since it is incredibly known that a university with an assorted student body creates a better learning environment. This happens because of cultural diffusion.
The issue of Affirmative Action, preferences towards persons of racial minorities to compensate for prior discrimination, in college admissions is a quite complicated one. Many sides must be explored to gain a better understanding of the theories and views on this issue. It is not easily answered with a yes or no. Since its inception, Affirmative Action’s use has been a major debate in American society. Many questions are left to be investigated. Many believe that we should live in a society where preferential treatment could be eliminated, and admission to college is based solely on one’s merit and character, yet this view seems quite unrealistic.
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.
Why do colleges ask for “race” when filling out an application? Does it really matter? It may seem like a simple question, but it is not. There has been a great deal of controversy over this question and other similar ones. Giving certain groups of people a competitive edge when they apply for schools and jobs is known as affirmative action. There are people who are directly opposed to it and those that support it completely. More often however, people agree with certain aspects of affirmative action and disagree with others. The following introduces a small sample of people who have talked about affirmative action and their views on it. Few of the results are factual but rather they are opinions. The hope is that by combing other author’s thoughts and views it will make it easier for an individual to formulate their own.
Learning institutions should also not use race as a basis of preference at the expense of socioeconomic preferences. They should also not use race-based scholarships rather use need based ones. This will lead to more honest policies and enquiries.
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.
Minority groups are given different criteria to meet when applying to college. This is an attempt to compensate for the hardships many minority groups had to face in history. As examined by Hoover Institution’s Thomas Sowell this advantage benefits minority applicants from middle and upper class backgrounds. As a result of admissions using a zero sum game, which is where one person’s gain is another person’s loss, these preferences hurt some applicants who meet admission standards in unequal numbers (Sacks and Thiel). If this predilection were genuinely meant to redress disadvantages, it would not be given on the basis of ethnicity. Supporters of affirmative action claim that affirmative action advocates diversity. But if diversity were the goal, then
Racial preference has indisputably favored Caucasian males in society. Recently this dynamic has been debated in all aspects of life, including college admission. Racial bias has intruded on the students’ rights to being treated fairly. Admitting students on merit puts the best individuals into the professional environment. A university’s unprejudiced attitude towards race in applicants eliminates biases, empowers universities to harness the full potential of students’ intellect, and gives students an equal chance at admission.
Affirmative action is a much debated topic based on the efforts of our government to overcome prejudicial treatment through inclusion. Affirmative action is a way of helping minorities in our country get jobs and avoid racial injustice. Many large companies have increased their employment of minorities after adopting these policies (Plous).
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
I argue that race should be taken into account along with other experience in college admissions because a student's skin color should not be the only factor being considered for being accepted. If college admission does not look deeper into the applicant and base it on race it can impact them for the rest of their life and can ruin their educational career. Many non-white students have big dreams and goals but cannot accomplish them because they are denied from colleges because of their skin tone. This can also affect many to drop interest in the career field since many are white dominated and they do not want to be involved on being discriminated.
Fletcher, M. (2013, July 31). Minorities and whites follow unequal college paths, report says. The Washington Post.
Issues with racial diversity is not limited to the student body, teachers and admissions people also tak...
In many instances in America, preconceptions about minority races influence the way people treat the people of these minority groups. Because of these stereotypes, people are taunted every day, and put down, just because of the ethnicity that they were born with. These people have a harder time showing their personality due to the fact that people around them have already have preconceptions of how that person must be. One example of this is that universities in the U.S. give minority groups a boost on their college application. This kind of process is often called affirmative action; the idea of making sure that people of minority groups get into colleges, which frequently raises controversy.(add transition) Universities should not take race and gender into consideration in college applications because it can reduce the reputation of the school, gives minorities an unfair advantage to get into colleges, and causes unprepared minority students to drop out of college.
Affirmative action policies were created to help level the playing field in American society. Supporters claim that these plans eliminate economic and social disparities to minorities, yet in doing so, they’ve only created more inequalities. Whites and Asians in poverty receive little to none of the opportunities provided to minorities of the same economic background (Messerli). The burden of equity has been placed upon those who were not fortunate enough to meet a certain school’s idea of “diversity” (Andre, Velasquez, and Mazur). The sole reason for a college’s selectivity is to determine whether or not a student has the credentials to attend that school....
Affirmative action has been a controversial topic ever since it was established in the 1960s to right past wrongs against minority groups, such as African Americans, Hispanics, and women. The goal of affirmative action is to integrate minorities into public institutions, like universities, who have historically been discriminated against in such environments. Proponents claim that it is necessary in order to give minorities representation in these institutions, while opponents say that it is reverse discrimination. Newsweek has a story on this same debate which has hit the nation spotlight once more with a case being brought against the University of Michigan by some white students who claimed that the University’s admissions policies accepted minority students over them, even though they had better grades than the minority students. William Symonds of Business Week, however, thinks that it does not really matter. He claims that minority status is more or less irrelevant in college admissions and that class is the determining factor.