Affirmative Action Should Not Have Any Real Benefits

Proponents of affirmative action believe that it is a necessary step toward racial equality. Opponents argue on the basis of “reverse racism,” which claims that affirmative action keeps certain members of the majority ethnic group out of jobs or other positions that they deserve solely because of quotas that must be filled. The positive effects of affirmative action are the basis behind the arguments of those who support considering ethnicity and race as a part of admissions.

Affirmative Action has become one of the most controversial issues regarding college admissions. It is an issue that exposes profiling to its highest extent. Race, gender and income now become vital factors in education opportunities. Affirmative Action is the procedure that is used as a criteria in admissions that will increase the points a college applicant receives on their application evaluation based on the previous factors. Whether race should be considered in the admission of a college applicant, is without a doubt a must in all states. Affirmative Action definitely will improve the opportunities of a minority student applying at a university but it will not be the deciding factor. When

Affirmative action was created to assist minority groups against discrimination, but affirmative action does more harm than what it can do to help. Affirmative action was created with the intention of leveling the playing field so that everyone can have an equal opportunity to be hired or accepted in to a school, but it does the opposite of what it is meant to do. Affirmative action is reverse discrimination against white males, lesser qualified people are admitted into jobs and colleges, and not all people have an equal opportunity to advance.

Affirmative Action is one of the many social issues facing America today. Affirmative action was signed into place in 1961 by President Kennedy and allows minority groups or people who face discrimination to become employed or get an education that is equal to that of a white male. Groups that Affirmative Action aims to help are women, blacks, Latinos, and people with disabilities. While these policies were signed to slowly rid the workforce and schools from discrimination, it hurts people who do not face discrimination, specifically whites. Many white men and women lose special opportunities to work or go to college because of certain standards that the Affirmative Action laws require. Universities and the military require a certain number of minorities in order to meet the standards and have a more diverse atmosphere. An example of this is the California V. Bakke supreme court case of 1978.

The various alternative forms of Affirmative Action all have received national attention. Yet, the country is divided on all of these issues, specifically how university admissions should assess issues of merit and diversity against national fundamental issues of diversity and fairness.

Every year, millions of students apply to colleges and universities in the United States. The status of their application, whether they get accepted to or rejected by the school of their dreams, may ultimately be determined by two words: affirmative action. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines affirmative action as an effort to correct past injustices, means to right the wrongs of the past, positive steps to correct past discrimination (Affirmative 1). However, for those exceedingly qualified members of a majority group who do not get accepted while less qualified minority members do, affirmative action begins to insinuate reverse discrimination, the unfair treatment of members of majority groups resulting from preferential policies, as in college admissions or employment, intended to remedy earlier discrimination against minorities (Reverse 1). Affirmative action is a topic of contention that has been disputed in the court systems for roughly four decades. It is now time that affirmative action in college admissions be abolished because it erroneously implies that diversity is more imperative than merit and unjustifiably discriminates

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

A topic like Affirmative Action is one that I usually try to avoid during casual conversation because in can quickly turn a conversation hostile. One of the reasons that these conversations turn hostile is due to the fact that I am a white male, which, many would see as two facts that automatically make my opinion on the matter inadmissible. With that being said, just because I would rather not discuss it on a regular basis does not mean that I do not have an opinion on the matter. Also, just because my skin tone and gender would have landed me on the better side of the fence in the past, does not mean that I do not have educated and sympathetic opinions on the matter. Ultimately, I see Affirmative Action as a positive thing which is meant to help out groups of people who are struggling to accomplish what many would call the "American dream". However, I do have several quarrels with how Affirmative Action is carried out.

Throughout the world America is referred to as the land of opportunity a place where opportunity is limitless, but is that so called limitless opportunity available and equal for all? For years Affirmative Action has tried to level the laying field, but its black field workers are still being oppressed. It is evident that Affirmative action is ineffective with the differences in the number of employed black's compared to whites and their difficulties to get and keep a job, blacks repetition in society has been tarnished due to stereotypes, and blacks face hidden discrimination.

(“Affirmative action.” Legal Information Institute) It is wrong and it gives students an unfair advantage. Everyone deserves to get a shot at trying to get into their dream schools no matter what race they are. For instance, if there is an Asian and a white student and the Asian student has the better resume, the white student student still has a better chance of getting into that school, even though he is a lazy student. If it is a really difficult school to get into like Harvard or Yale for example, then he still has the better chance of getting accepted. The bottom line is that it is wrong and people need to join forces and do something about this global

Affirmative action has become one of the most controversial government policies in modern history. Especially in college admissions, affirmative action requires the use of quotas, which results in recruiting members of an underrepresented group rather than the most qualified for the job or university. Is affirmative action really the best solution to making sure minorities are gaining the educational opportunities they need?

According to Raymond A. Noe, affirmative action is an organization’s active effort to find opportunities to hire or promote people in a particular group (Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 68). There are various arguments for and against affirmative action. Some believe that it gives certain groups of people an equal opportunity to find employment where they would otherwise be kicked under the rug. Others believe that even though it creates an opportunity for minority groups, the issue of reverse discrimination comes into play where once predominantly white male jobs offerings go to women and minority groups instead. The topic of affirmative action remains very controversial and

Affirmative Action was originally established by former President John F. Kennedy on March 6, 1961 in his executive order, which included a provision that mandated federally funded projects to take “affirmative action” to ensure that hiring and employment were free of racial bias (#4). Over the years, colleges and universities began to adopt similar policies in their admissions process (#2). The purpose of affirmative action is to provide an equal ground for women and people of color in the workforce and educational institutions (#4). There are many debates and myths about affirmative action, some of which will be unraveled later in this paper. This policy does not mean it benefits unqualified minorities, but rather highlights qualified and over-qualified minorities to be considered by otherwise predominantly white institutions (#4). Affirmative action is supposed to aid the nation in establishing equal opportunity for all. In my opinion, affirmative action has a moral and just purpose and I will be using Martin Luther King Jr., Mill, and Foucault to support my argument.

March 6th, 1961 Affirmative Action policies in higher education were implemented (Infoplease). Affirmative Action was designed to provide equal access to universities for historically underrepresented minorities. The argument of whether Affirmative Action should be decimated is a simple one. Students who have the academic credentials and earn their way into college deserve to be accepted. For no reason should previously excluded minorities gain unfair leverage in an attempt to “right past wrongs”. But with Affirmative Action banned in only eight states, we are left with two questions; how exactly Affirmative Action affects the culture within universities to have it seen as an unjust policy, and can diversity continue to survive without this program.

When looking at Affirmative Action as a whole there are a lot of generalizations that are often made. Some of these include that it is only helping the minority, these people do not deserve the job, they only got into school/job because of their race or ethnic group. I feel like these are some of the main generalizations that you commonly see in today’s society. Some of the strengths would be that it is giving those whom may have been turned down a chance to go to college or get the job now have a way of being higher up on admissions and employers lists. With strengths comes weaknesses which would be that those whom come from a rough background or life often do not have the same opportunities as those whom have not.