Affirmative Action Policy

I will begin by explaining what an affirmative action policy is and will also provide an example of a situation where an affirmative action policy is being used. Next, I will argue that affirmative action policies are not morally justifiable because affirmative action policies reward the wrong minorities and punish the wrong non-minorities, and affirmative action policies do not support a meritocratic society. Lastly, I will state how an individual for affirmative action policies would respond to these ideas.
An affirmative action policy is a policy that gives preference to a minority based upon the individual’s gender, ethnicity, race, or religious preference. In addition, affirmative action policies could take the form of lowering test scores for college admittance. Michael Sandel provides an excellent example of an affirmative action policy in his article Justice: What’s the Right Thing To Do. Michael Sandel talks of a woman named Cheryl Hopwood. Cheryl Hopwood was a white woman whom was not affluent and was raised by a single mother (Sandel 2). Cheryl Hopwood had applied to the University of Texas Law School with a grade point average of 3.8 and with a score in the 83rd percentile for the university’s admission test (Sandel 2). Unfortunately, Cheryl Hopwood was not admitted due to the university’s affirmative action policy (Sandel 2). The University of Texas Law School gave preference to and admitted African American and Mexican American students even though their academic qualifications were either weaker or the same as Cheryl Hopwood’s (Sandel 2). Cheryl Hopwood later takes this case to court arguing that she was discriminated against, but the university replied by stating that “the law school’s mission was to increase the ...

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...e intelligence as a non-minority that was educated by a high ranking private school, then the minority should be rewarded for their efforts in accomplishing such a task. But, the amount of effort that the minority put into becoming slightly less intelligent than the non-minority does not guarantee the best for society. With the case of the two applicants applying for the bridge building job the sheer fact of knowing that one applicant worked harder than the other to obtain bridge building intelligence does not guarantee that a stable bridge will be built all the time. In other words, knowing that the minority worked harder to obtain knowledge will not allow the minority to build a stable bridge 100% of the time over his current 95% of the time. Therefore, a meritocratic society is necessary because it ensures that the community obtains the best that it has to offer.