¶ … End Racial Preferences?
Affirmative action was an imperfect solution to the problems which riddled an imperfect society. Centuries of slavery, subjugation, misogyny and other issues contributed to a society where the playing field in America has been far less than equal for an enormous amount of time. This means that women and minorities often have to struggle and work twice as hard to get ahead and often don't. Affirmative action was designed as a means of attempting to level out the playing field, so that these groups could have more of a fair shot at getting into better schools and securing more desirable jobs. Obama has been quoted as still being a supporter of affirmative action as a positive and effective means of discouraging decades of historic and current discrimination; however, as Obama advises, affirmative action has to be more than a simple quote system and take into consideration the whole person, regardless of the fact that the person might be black, Hispanic, white, female or male (Katel, 2008). Regardless, the opinions on affirmative action remain divided. Some criticize it as a mere quota system; others argue that it really is necessary given the hundreds upon hundreds of years of racial discrimination which have subsisted in the America. This paper will show that affirmative action is necessary, but the system is too flawed to remain as it is: affirmative action deserves a safe place in American society, but it first...
"A white student in Texas argues that she was denied admission to the University of Texas while minorities with similar qualifications were accepted. The state's university policy is to admit most students based on their high school class rank -- the top 10% get in -- but to then also choose some students who had lower rankings and who are underrepresented minorities. The student who filed the suit says this is unconstitutional" (Matthews, 2012). Whether or not courts determine that this is unconstitutional remains to be seen. Regardless, there is a certain amount of unfairness which is directly connected to such an admissions practice. This admissions practice radiates a certain amount of preferential treatment to minorities, in a generally biased way. The current system of affirmative action would be greatly improved to imitate California's state admissions system which is founded on class rank and non-racial factors like income/poverty. As Obama has sufficiently pointed out, his daughters won't need to rely on their race to get into better schools or to receive scholarships, but that poor kids, such as white poor kids would need extra support.
Using California as an example is something that more and more experts are doing…
