More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of affirmative actions in college admissions
The importance of affirmative actions in college admissions
Affirmative action in colleges essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In 1973 Mr. Allan Bakke applied to the University of California at Davis, and later received a letter saying that he had been denied admittance. He applied again at a later time and had been denied again. He later learned that he was refused admittance to the school because he was white. Out of the 100 openings for freshman medical students in the University of California 16 of the 100 spots were reserved for people that fell into the category of the following three racial minority groups; black, Asian, or Hispanic. White applicants could only compete for 84 of the 100 spots in the school, but students belonging to the three minority groups could compete for all 100 spots. If the policy of admitting at least 16 students of racial minority groups,
Bakke would have been admitted into the school. Several of the applicants that fell into the minority groups had lower academic, and test scores than Bakke. Bakke himself had scored so high in the admittance test, that he placed in the top 10%. But because white students were only allowed to compete for 84 spots he wasn't admitted to the school. By the University of California not admitting Bakke to the school, they violated many laws and constitutional rights; including the 14th amendment, the 8th amendment, and the Civil Rights act of 1964. Because of that Bakke is filing this lawsuit to force the University of California to accept him into their school.
Established in 1968, the medical school at the University of California implemented a special admissions program to increase the representation of minorities in each entering class. There was one underlying problem with their special admissions program that was not addressed until 1973 when Allan Bakke submitted his application to the University of California.
In 1973 a thirty-three year-old Caucasian male named Allan Bakke applied to and was denied admission to the University of California Medical School at Davis. In 1974 he filed another application and was once again rejected, even though his test scores were considerably higher than various minorities that were admitted under a special program. This special program specified that 16 out of 100 possible spaces for the students in the medical program were set aside solely for minorities, while the other 84 slots were for anyone who qualified, including minorities. What happened to Bakke is known as reverse discrimination. Bakke felt his rejections to be violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment, so he took the University of California Regents to the Superior Court of California. It was ruled that "the admissions program violated his rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment"1 The clause reads as follows:"...No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor without due process of the law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."2 The court ruled that race could not be a factor in admissions. However, they did not force the admittance of Bakke because the court could not know if he would have been admitted if the special admissions program for minorities did not exist.
Affirmative Action Question: Newton and Wasserstrom seem to disagree about whether affirmative action is a form of reverse discrimination. Explain how each arrives at their position about whether or not affirmative action is similar to or different from discriminatory laws of the Jim Crow era
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.
In the lives of minority students, education is seen as essential. It’s a dream, one that we are still trying to interpret. If we know nothing else, we know that education is important because it determines the future one is going to have. The major problem is that the education of minority students before college is poor. This deficiency causes great conflict for minority students in adapting themselves to new educational habits. Lack of good study skills makes it difficult for a minority student to control one’s time management and concentration. While these students are trying to change their study habits, there is another variable that could help or distract them from fixing their weaknesses. It is true that parents and professors do have an influence upon us. These people play a big part in the education of students, but the impact of their persuasion is not always positive. Despite all the struggles that a minority student faces, I believe people in this group can find the secret to becoming educated and successful individuals.
Over the course of the recent past, universities across the U.S. have been faced with decisions on admissions. What was once popular, affirmative action, is now fading with a long past of problems, and new programs are entering into the picture. The University of Dayton and many others are taking actions to improve the standards of their students, regardless of race and background. These new concepts are reflecting higher academic progress, and increase in prestige and national reputation. By basing selection on academic ability and incorporating improved recruiting techniques, the nation would be filled with greater college standards and no use for an old and tiring affirmative action process.
Bakke’s first application to the University of California was submitted late due to a medical condition his mother had been suffering from at the time, the tardiness of the application was most likely a key factor in his rejection. Furthermore Bakke applied again in 1974, this time ensuring the application was submitted in a timely manner. To his dismay the second application was also rejected. Following his second rejection Bakke learned that many minority students with substantially lower qualifications had been admitted to the university under the special admission program. The program was designed as the schools affirmative action program to ensure racial discrimination did not take place during the admission process and to assist in diversifying the student population. The program reserved sixteen out of one hundred seats and was only available to minority students. The program also allowed for minority students to be admitted under lower standards than the regular
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.
We live in a culturally diverse society where there are many differences among various racial and ethnic groups. When these different groups come into contact with one another they interact in many different ways. Prejudice and discrimination are key factors in understanding intergroup relationships. Competition, religious ideas, fear of strangers and nationalism are elements that contribute to prejudice. Many expressions of negative prejudicial attitudes, stereotyping and discriminatory behavior can have negative impact on the social relationships between dominant and minority groups. Many prejudices are passed along from child to parent and the influence of television and movies perpetuate demeaning portrayals about specific groups. Although prejudice continues to flourish, education plays an import role in combating prejudice and racism by providing courses and programs that help to recognize the distinction between various ethnic groups and develop an appreciation of these cultural differences.
Disproportionate identification of minority students in special education is a major concern in schools today. This paper describes the issues in the assessment process with minority students and how we have arrived at a situation where minorities are being misdiagnosed into special education programs. Additionally, several legal cases are mentioned which show numerous actions and rulings that have tried to correct the disproportionate identification in special education. Some of the legal cases discussed include Larry P. v Riles, Diana v. State Board of Education, and Guadalupe v. Tempe Elementary School, which all significantly impacted special education today. Additionally, the Individual with Disabilities Education Act has enforced that minority groups must receive an equal education in the least restrictive environment possible. It is our duty as teachers and citizens to abide by these laws and find different ways to assess and correct the disproportionality of minority groups that exists today.
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 education system is arguably the most beneficial system in the world; however, it also contains many controversial practices. Proper funding, discrimination, and curriculum are just some of the problems in today’s education system. Everyone has a different opinion about what is best for our children and it is impossible to please everyone. As long as the educational system is in tact, then there will be confusion and debate within the system and its’ administrators. The only thing that can be done is attempting to make it so that everyone will benefit equally, but this is much more difficult than one would assume. I will focus on the aspect of discrimination on minorities within special education and more specifically the following questions: Does the special education system discriminate against minorities? If so, how? What can be done, if anything, to correct or improve this system?
Entry into college is one factor of access to higher education for racial minorities, but the opportunity to graduate is another important aspect of the issue. According to Hurtado, when major institutions focus on increasing diversity, the focus mainly on increasing the number of students enrolled, and while this is important, it neglects so much more to the problem (2). The resources offered to black students to help them adjust to historically white colleges and succeed academically are something that is still in need of improvement. In Sedlacek’s article Black Students on White Campuses: 20 Years of Research, he highlights three major aspects of campus life that has a negative effect on black students on historically-white campuses. The
“I have a dream!” Martin Luther King once said. He dreamed of a complete desegregated USA and the same chances for everybody where all men are created equal no matter of race or religious background (King). Schools were an immense issue in the 1960s, many black children did not finish high school to help their parents and those who did could often not afford to go to college. Compared to the white schools, the black schools had a massive lack of equipment and the teachers got paid a lot less. Even though many issues have changed since then, there is still segregation left in parts of the U.S., especially in schools.
Chapter 2. There are many different kind of school task that is given by the teachers to the students every day. Some of this are: assignments, projects, portfolio’s and etc. There is some time that the teacher in all subject given you a task, just thinking about the many things that a student must do they might explode their mind. That is what you called non-integrated school task where a given task is not unified but scattered or not together. This is what the all-time struggle of a student during his school days and it can affect the learning performance of a student, learning performance is the indicator on how well and to what extent is the student learn. There are many factors that can affect a student learning performance some of the