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Why should affirmative action be banned
Affirmative action negative effects
Why should affirmative action be banned
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“Affirmative Action causes more harm than good” 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 creates reverse discrimination upon the opposite races. Ever since the civil war of the 1860s and the civil rights movement of the 1960s in which minorities in The United States of America, who majority are composed of African Americans and Women who were refused the opportunity’s to use public services such as public schools and certain Employment opportunities like promotions. The government of the United States has tried to restore equality and balance the society of this country by passing certain policies that would make those who were denied certain opportunities in the past bad times so they would not be left behind in struggle and failure. Affirmative Action was one of these policies. It was first used by President John F. Kennedy In his effort to restore equality of the country...
Affirmative action refers to policies established to benefit the under-represented minorities in the fields of education, employment and culture. This is meant to avert the historical discrimination on the basis of religion, color, national origin or sex during hiring process. Implementation of these policies may encompass preferential selection in the job market. This results in mixed reactions and opinions from the public generating a lot of controversies.
Affirmative Action is the policies that have been introduced to provide equal opportunities to people who have been historically excluded. The action is implemented by providing equal access to education, salary, employment and respect to the group such as women and minorities. The policies were introduced in 1960’s during the civil rights movement in the belief of providing equal rights to the group that has been ruled out by the society. In 1961 President Kennedy was the first to use the term “Affirmative Action” to make sure that all employees are treated in the same manner without discriminating them with their race, color, and national origin. The main reason to establish affirmative action is to increase the employment opportunities and
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...
Affirmative Action is Reverse Discrimination "That student was accepted because of affirmative action policies." With my first intake of the phrase, I realized that the student, whom I knew and worked with so many times, the one with such a lack of motivational ability, confidence, and ideas, was now occupying my chances towards a preferred school. "Affirmative action", I soon found out, was used by President John F. Kennedy over 30 years ago to imply equality and equal access to all, disregarding race, creed, color, or national origin. As a policy setting out to resolve the problems of discrimination, Affirmative Action is simply nothing more than a quota of reverse discrimination. Affirmative Action emphasizes prospective opportunity more towards statistical measures.
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.
Affirmative action or positive discrimination can be defined as providing advantages for people of a minority group who are seen to have traditionally been discriminated against. This consists of preferential access to education, employment, health care, or social welfare. In employment, affirmative action may also be known as employment equity. Affirmative action requires that institutions increase hiring and promotion of candidates of mandated groups. (Rubenfeld, 1997, p. 429)
Considering the subject of affirmative action the following questions frequently are raised: Is there a clear understanding of affirmative action roles/goals? What are the pros/cons of these programs? What are the "loop holes" in the system? Does seniority play a role in affirmative action? Addressing these key questions may help us all in our daily routine, as administrators and/or potential administrator in the public/private sector. Affirmative action programs throughout the United States have long been a controversial issue particularly concerning employment practices (public/private) and university student and/or staff recruitment. Most public agencies have some type of instituted affirmative action program. According to Cheryl Perry-League, Director of Equal Opportunity of the Port of Oakland, every business operating on Port of Oakland owned land must have a standing affirmative action program on record and businesses bidding to do work for the Port of Oakland must have an acceptably diverse workforce. BACKGROUND To understand the role and/or goals of affirmative actions programs we should define what the broad definition of what affirmative action is and what caused its development. The phase "affirmative action" was used in a racial discrimination context. Executive Order No. 10,925 issued by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. The order indicated that federal contractors should take affirmative action to ensure job applicants and employees are treated "without regard to their race, creed, or national origin." A person could define this statement as an order to imply equal access and nothing else. Subsequently, Executive Order 11246 issued by President Johnson in September 1965, "mandated affirmative action goals for all federally funded programs and moved monitoring and enforcement of affirmative action programs out of the White House and into the Labor Department." Affirmative action "refers to various efforts to deliberately take race, sex, and national origins into account to remedy past and current effects of discrimination. Its primary goal is to ensure that women and minorities are widely represented in all occupations and at all organizational levels" (Tompkins, 1995, p.161). Another definition of affirmative action according to Barbara Bergmann is "planning and acting to end the absence of certain kinds of people-those who belong to groups that have been subordinated or left out-from certain jobs and schools" (1997 p.7). Tracing the history of affirmative action, laws against racial discrimination have proved inadequate for workplace integration because they often provide remedies only after the fact.
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).
The issue of affirmative action has been a controversial one since its inception. The law was developed during the 1960’s as a result of the civil rights movement and the need to address injustices committed against minorities throughout the United States history. There were multiple attempts to correct the inequities between the majority and the various minorities including the 13, 14 and 15th Amendments. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 allowed for the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to create rules to end discrimination. Affirmative action came into being with the executive order 11246 issued by President Johnson. The Civil Rights Act and President Johnson’s executive order have been updated throughout the years to address gender, disabilities, age and other characteristics that could be considered discriminatory.
Affirmative Action in the United States consists of the active efforts that take into account race, sex and national origin for the purpose of remedying and preventing discrimination. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal government requires certain businesses and educational institutions that receive federal funds to develop affirmative action programs. Such policies are enforced and monitored by both The Office of Federal Contract Compliance and The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (Lazear 37).
The black rights and women’s rights movements of the 1960’s fought against injustice and discrimination that had been suffered by minorities for years (Hudson). In response, President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925 in 1961, creating a Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and mandating that projects financed by federal funding would “take affirmative action” to ensure that hiring and employment practices were free of racial bias (Hudson). Two more executive orders in 1965 and 1968 prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, and gender, giving the federal government the power to enforce this prohibition (Hudson). However, in current times, affirmative action programs have suffered setbacks. Affirmative action in education has been abolished in Texas by court order, and in California and Washington it has been terminated by public referendum (Bybee).
Affirmative action is a plan to offset past discrimination in employing and educating women, blacks, and other minorities. It is the government's way of apologizing to ethnic groups for the injustices they have suffered. Affirmative action is supposed to preserve liberty and to improve race relations, but it is actually worsening them. It is not helping poor blacks; it is primarily helping well-to-do blacks. More effective programs should be implemented to take the place of affirmative action.
Affirmative Action has been an issue of contention since its inception during the Civil Rights struggles of mid 20th century America. Discrimination could no longer be tolerated and the Unites States government had an obligation to encourage equality at all levels of the social infrastructure. The main type of discrimination being addressed by Affirmative Action programs was racial discrimination. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines racism as: ‘a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.’ The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination of any kind, laid the foundation for the introduction of Affirmative Action programs. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order requiring government contractors to diversify its staff by hiring more members of the minorities. President Nixon implemented a system in which the government could monitor the progress being made by businesses in hiring minorities. Eventually, high level educational institutions would also see the need for Affirmative Action and the benefits of a diverse student body. Affirmative Action was designed to overcome the issue of discrimination in education and the workplace by giving less fortunate members of the minority an opportunity to level the playing field and achieve success similar to that of their counterparts in the majority. Affirmative Action programs, which encourage the inclusion of minorities in education and at all levels in the workplace, are vital in the effort to eradicate discrimination and provide equal opportunity.
The need for affirmative action was a concept noticed in 1865 during the passages of the Civil War amendments. During those years our country was still practicing in slavery and wrongful treatment of the black race. While blacks were being forced to comply to the rules of slavery, many individuals were denied their rights to food, clothing, shelter, employment, education and many other wants and/or needs. Similar acts such as these over time lead the law of affirmative action. Over the years, affirmative action plans and policies continue to merge to further in the efforts of benefiting the equality among historically disadvantaged ethnic groups as well as women. From our past to our present many people who are equally qualified and in need of jobs, services, assistance and/or necessities are denied due to their gender, race, religion, and/or ethnicity. Acts of discrimination are not just associated with employment but extend to educational opportunities, housing needs, contracting for small and large business and other public services.
Affirmative Action was created by the United States government to overcome the effects of past social discrimination by assigning jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women.¹ Now first things first, minority must be defined, a minority is not just the stereotypical African-American or Latino, it is actually a group ...