Arguments Against Affirmative Action

In today’s society there is a constant pressure to fit in and be a part of something. More often than not these pressures are influenced by the lack of family and social support surrounding an individual. Without proper support and guidance one can be persuaded to make a wrong decision and in some cases live a lifestyle that is both risky and harmful. Knowing how to survive in these situations are not the easiest and sometimes the only way to help the situation is keeping one’s head up and attempting to make the best out of what is available. As seen in the Joshua Marston’s, film Maria Full of Grace, where the main character Maria does what she feels is best for both her current struggling lifestyle and what she wants her future life to consist of.

Discrimination against race, gender, religion, or other social characteristics is occurring in all parts of the United States almost every day. Unfortunately, the U.S. has a history of extreme case of discrimination, which has evoked controversy and in worse cases, violence. To discourage any more of adverse discernment towards certain individuals, the Federal government has imposed legislation called affirmative action. According to At Issue: Affirmative Action, “Affirmative action is designed to promote access to opportunities in education, employment, housing, and government contracts among certain designated groups, such as women and minorities“ (At Issue). This law is necessary in today’s society in order to maintain equality and

The utilization of race in affirmative action policies in higher education has been a topic of contention for several decades now. Since the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we have seen some of the most heated debates over the fairness of affirmative action and the impacts on society the utilization of race creates. With such pending questions on fairness and of the constitutionality of affirmative action policies two major Supreme Court cases have arisen, University of California Regents v. Bakke and Grutter v. Bollinger, both impacting university admissions policies throughout the country and setting precedent in following rulings. Following the two rulings of these cases, I argue that affirmative action and the utilization of

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.

Out of the jaws of civil war, the new United States had emerged. Broken and burning and minus 620,000 men, a new challenge lay before the nation: social equality. How would we address the sickening grievances endured by these African American now-citizens? That question has hallmarked fiery debates from dinner tables all the way to the Supreme Court for more than a century. During the Civil Rights Movement, millions of American citizens demonstrated across the country in pursuit of fairness, and famously in his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King championed the idea of a country that saw no color, but based judgement on the content of character. Through decades of policy, our government implemented social reform within institutions of education and employment. Collectively known as Affirmative Action, this social reform established racial preferences in favor of minority groups at the expense of whites and Asians. This social reform was unquestionably established in good faith, but into what has this festered now? The pursuit of fairness is perhaps the most American in spirit, and a goal toward which we all strive together. Unfortunately, the policies collectively known as Affirmative Action, however well-intended, have further widened the boundaries between us through some ideal of ‘righteous’ discrimination. The time has come, it seems, that our government and our nation rethink the policies

     Affirmative action is an attempt by the United States to amend a long history of racial and sexual discrimination. But these days it seems to incite, not ease, the nations internal divisions. Opponents of affirmative action say that the battle for equal rights is over, and that requiring quotas that favor one group over another is un-American. The people that defend it say that the playing field is not level, and that providing advantages for minorities and women is fair considering the discrimination those groups tolerated for years. This paper will discuss the history of affirmative action, how it is implemented in society today, and evaluate the arguments that it presents.

I will try and keep the stance on affirmative action at a neutral at the moment until after the synthesis. I also believe I have gotten a bit confused between the original document for the progress report, with a paragraph for each of four sources, and the new two pages instead. I will do two pages of the four sources together in a synthesis.

Many critics of affirmative action believe it has failed to achieve its stated goal of equal employment opportunity. A few even believe that it has done more harm than good. A review of the statistics, however, shows

Affirmative action is a long going battle with social and political conflicts focused mostly in education. The Universities of Texas, Michigan and Washington were challenged in recent years due to their controversial court cases all from affirmative action. With the court taking the side of acknowledging diversity in education as a priority, the decision made by the court will continue on with many controversial debates on diversity and whether the policy should be eliminated indefinitely. Even though this will not put an end to the policy soon, the long road to equality will be a bumpy ride with prolong positive and negative effects. I hope affirmative action would be changed or eliminated in the near future because it causes problems within

Discrimination and segregation have been inbred into America’s history from day one. Therefore, there have been many laws and bills passed to break down barriers between privileged whites and unfortunate minorities. Among these government actions are the 14th Amendment, Equal Pay Act, and the Civil Rights Acts. John F. Kennedy perhaps created one of the most heavily debated policies today, his Affirmative Action Policy. Affirmative action is defined as, “the practice of improving the educational and job opportunities of members of groups that have not been treated fairly in the past because of their race, sex, etc.” (“Definition of AFFIRMATIVE” 1). The definition itself is vague and open for a good deal of interpretation which causes much of today’s debates. The most recent interpretation of Affirmative Action came from the Fisher vs. University of Texas at Austin (UT of Austin). Fisher was a white individual who was denied acceptance into the university, and then filed a lawsuit against them. Fisher lost the case at the Supreme Court level in 2013, but the case returned in 2016 again with a much closer vote, so affirmative action is losing some of its power and will continue to be challenged for years to come, but is it worth the challenge (Kut.org 1)? Affirmative Action has served a vital role in the integration of race into universities and the workforce, but now it is outdated and an unnecessary requirement for schools and businesses.

Groups that are in refutation of Affirmative Action professor Gary Becker, who states “Affirmative Action policies lowers standards of account ability need to push employees or student to perform better.” (Becker) Becker’s meaning behind this argument is that students or employees who are affecting by affirmative action tend to try harder than they should know that they are going to be accepted just because of Affirmative Action policies. Becker say this type of polices eventually hurts more than it helps. Another group supporting refutation of Affirmative Action policies is a student by the name of Abigail Fisher, who accused the University of Texas of not accepting her into one of their school program because of Affirmative Action polices. Fisher argument against the University of Texas was that she had higher test scores than most of the minority applicants that were accepted into the program instead of her. Fisher blamed the University Affirmative Action policies that allowed the school to consider race in its admission process. Fisher then sued the University of Texas because of this and after years of going back and forth a federal court ruled in favor of the University of Texas. The reasoning behind this was that the court believed the University was justified in creating a diverse student body and race simply has to be a factor in the decision process. With both sides having very valid points and arguments Affirmative Action policies promotes diversity and

For over forty years the issue of affirmative action has been subject to a tremendous amount of debate and controversy. Affirmative action policies and programs seek to redress and eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, religion, gender, ethnicity, or sexuality; and therein lies the controversy, as much of the opposition to affirmative action argues that it creates reverse discrimination. Affirmative action is beneficial in assuring that women and minority groups don’t assume rolls of inferiority amongst society; and it encourages positive action to ensure that qualified candidates for employment positions and admissions to universities are given equal opportunity and consideration. The issue of affirmative action has become

Affirmative Action policies have shown effectiveness in increasing the number of minority applicants and graduates who benefitted from these programs receive better jobs, earn more money, and essentially live better lives because of the opportunities they received. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (2018), “statistics show that after California abolished its affirmative action programs in 1998, the minority student admissions at UC Berkeley fell 61 percent, and minority admissions at UCLA fell 36 percent”. The reality is not everybody is born into a high socioeconomic status family, and individuals with a higher socioeconomic status have more opportunities than those with low socioeconomic status. Affirmative action polices compensate for this social and economic oppression. I do believe that certain racial and ethnic groups are disadvantaged because they are frequently in lower income brackets consequently not exposed to the same resources than those in higher income brackets. The notion of competition between students based on merit is still supported, but affirmative Action does help compensate for economic

September 11 attack changed our world, the peaceful society we have been nurturing for so long is forced into a war against terrorism. This fact has affected us in more than one way. The one under discussion is the way we travelled. After the formation of Transportation Security Administration, many of us are spending a lot of time in security check queues before boarding an aircraft. As a solution to this problem TSA has launched a TSA PreCheck program to let eligible low risk travelers pass through the security screening faster at a nominal fee of $85 for five years. However, many customers consider this is an expensive program.

Affirmative action in the United States tends to focus on issues such as education and employment, specifically granting special consideration to racial minorities and women who have been historically excluded groups in America. Reports have shown that minorities and women have faced discrimination in schools and businesses for many years and this discrimination produced unfair advantages for whites and males in education and employment. The impetus toward affirmative action is redressing the disadvantages associated with past and present discrimination. Further impetus is a desire to ensure public institutions, such as universities, hospitals, and police forces, are more representative of the populations they serve.