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Influence of affirmative action
Affirmative action policies
The influence of affirmative action
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Imagine if a student, striving to attend a university they pursued since childhood, was turned away just because the spots were filled with students chosen for their race or gender. Although equality is one of America’s ideologies, students today are being turned away from their coveted school because of the nation’s desire to create a seemingly more diverse student body in universities. This has become an especially growing problem as more immigrants come to the “Land of the Free” for educational purposes. But is American really free when universities are admitting students based on race and gender? Some may say that it benefits our society by creating a diverse and culturally different atmosphere. However, the only things this system does is violate the democratic principles the United States is founded upon, cause a student’s success to ride on race or gender, not academics, and trigger a future society full of detriment. All citizens of the United States are guaranteed rights. The founding of this country, as well as historical events involving inequality, resulted in a series of many important documents protecting basic human rights and freedoms. Whether it is the right to speech, or the right to vote, documents protect what citizens value the most in America: freedom. Education is one of these rights the people possess, yet it is being controlled by the want of universities to create a more diverse campus. The Civil Rights Act, signed in 1964, unambiguously states that no one shall “… grant preferential treatment to any individual or to any group”. However, universities today are setting aside certain percentages for certain races and genders to be admitted into the school. This violates a student’s right to education just... ... middle of paper ... ...ts based on their race and gender helps the future, it does the complete opposite and leaves a damaged society. Considering all the evidence, universities should not admit students based on their race or gender because this undermines the democratic principles that United States is founded upon, causes a student’s academics to be limited, and creates detriment to the future society. Equality in education, protected by our founding documents, is guaranteed to all citizens, including students, who came to America just for this reason. Students, as well as the future generation, suffer when universities pick and choose students of certain races and genders to be admitted into the school. Parity brings good to our society and without it we are unequipped in a world of disunion. Equality is our strongest barrier, so we must protect it in universities to aid our future.
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...
give equal right to these students because of cultural divides. Women and blacks are seen as second to
Through out history education has been a topic of many concerns. Historically Black Colleges and Universities were established to try and provide freed slaves education they were not able to obtain. For African Americans in the 20th century attending school was a burden. The children had to withstand long walks to get to their designated schools, being denied classes that the white students had in their schools, outdated books and hand me down classroom materials. African Americans all across the United States fought for their kids rights to get a good education, education provided to white only schools. There was a period of time schools were able to legally deny a student acceptance into their institutions based solely on the color of their skin. Many African Americans tried and majority of them got denied. Students at all levels were being denied, from Pre-K all the way up to college. After many attempts to integrate schools parents of the children being denied education just like the white kids, they realized it would be easier to just build their own schools.
Affirmative action, the act of giving preference to an individual for hiring or academic admission based on the race and/or gender of the individual has remained a controversial issue since its inception decades ago. Realizing its past mistake of discriminating against African Americans, women, and other minority groups; the state has legalized and demanded institutions to practice what many has now consider as reverse discrimination. “Victims” of reverse discrimination in college admissions have commonly complained that they were unfairly rejected admission due to their race. They claimed that because colleges wanted to promote diversity, the colleges will often prefer to accept applicants of another race who had significantly lower test scores and merit than the “victims”. In “Discrimination and Disidentification: The Fair-Start Defense of Affirmative Action”, Kenneth Himma responded to these criticisms by proposing to limit affirmative action to actions that negate unfair competitive advantages of white males established by institutions (Himma 277 L. Col.). Himma’s views were quickly challenged by his peers as Lisa Newton stated in “A Fair Defense of a False Start: A Reply to Kenneth Himma” that among other rationales, the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action (Newton 146 L. Col.). This paper will also argue that the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action because it cannot be fairly applied in the United States of America today. However, affirmative action should still be allowed and reserved for individuals whom the state unfairly discriminates today.
...an choose to pick certain students just because of their ethnicity. In the constitution it clearly states that everyone is equal and if they can have the same rights as us. Then it should be agreed that colleges and universities should be able to pick the students who are best fitted for their school. Now it is perfectly clear that schools do in fact have a greater ability to affect the first amendment rights of public school students than the government does.
In the beginning of Dinesh D’Souza’s book Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus, he gives enumerable examples of preferential treatment to certain races, ethnicities, sexualities and genders on college campuses and in the work force. D’Souza focuses primarily on where people have been denied what they feel is deserved, such as admission, a job or a place in a sorority/fraternity. On page three of D’Souza’s book, Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus, he gives the point of the University of California at Berkeley’s admission:
Affirmative action, an idea which began in the 1930s but truly kicked off in the 1960s, consists of a wide variety of programs meant to help level the playing field in both universities and the workplace by making race and gender a consideration in the selection process. While supporters believe affirmative action must stay an active policy so that the United States can continue to strive for proportional equality in higher level jobs and education, opponents argue positions should be awarded on an individual basis based on merit alone. Although affirmative action policies have done impressive work creating these opportunities, it is now time to question if, after 40 years, this method is working and should be continued, if the current policies are no longer effective and the negative costs now outweigh the possible benefits and a new approach should be put into place.
Newfield, Christopher. "Targeting Affirmative Action." Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-year Assault on the Middle Class. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2008. 83-85. Print.
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.
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.
The discrimination against Caucasian and Asian American students a long with the toleration of lower quality work produced by African American students and other minority students is an example of the problems caused by Affirmative Action. Although affirmative action intends to do good, lowering the standards by which certain racial groups are admitted to college is not the way to solve the problem of diversity in America's universities. The condition of America's public schools is directly responsible for the poor academic achievement of minority children. Instead of addressing educational discrepancies caused by poverty and discrimination, we are merely covering them up and pretending they do not exist, and allowing ourselves to avoid what it takes to make a d... ... middle of paper ... ...
Known as one of the biggest obstacles in higher education to date would arguably be the use of affirmative action within the higher education admission process for both private and public institutions (Kaplin & Lee, 2014; Wang & Shulruf, 2012). The focus of current research is an attempt to either justify or deny the use of affirmative action within current practices through various higher education institutions, and though any one person could potentially be swayed to side with the rationale to maintain its use or disregard, the facts are quite clear that the future of this practice is unclear. Therefore, this essay will present current research in an attempt to determine if affirmative action should continue to be used within college admission decisions.
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...
Imagine waking up tomorrow and reading in the local paper that the government was giving tax breaks to minorities in order to prevent discrimination. Congress insists that the deductions will “help level the playing field” in American society, claiming that diversity is necessary in creating an ideal nation, but is this attempt to prevent disparities and racism not an act of inequality in itself? By putting this policy into place, the government is giving advantages to minorities without showing the same generosity to Caucasians of the same economic backgrounds. Protests would be taking place around the country as citizens argue that the plan violates their Constitutional right to equality. Yet this is exactly the type of scenario seen in universities across the country. Colleges use race as a large factor in admissions in order to create “optimal diversity” among the students. However, this attempt at variety often comes at the expense of white and Asian students. For these reasons, affirmative action policies in college admissions should be eliminated in the United States.
Education is meant to be the key to a successful life. It is supposed to inspire great ideas, and prepare each and every generation for their future. However, school for today 's generation fails to meet those requirements. Every student knows education is important, but when school is not engaging or in some cases, even relevant, it makes learning difficult. Improving the school system is something educators attempt to accomplish every year. Despite their best efforts, there are numerous flaws students see, but adults overlook. There is a lack of diversity for students to learn, an overabundance of testing, and students’ voices are being ignored on how to create a more productive learning experience.