¶ … 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.
This is a particular problem at the nation's colleges and universities. This has become so much of an issue that law suits and verdicts have been handed down in some states. One of the most famous cases to date involved the University of Michigan's undergraduate and law school policies. These cases are Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger. In 1997, Jennifer Gratz, a white woman, sued the University of
Hence, it is important for the proper application of the AA idea that those who make the anti-discrimination and AA policies understand both sides of the story and both the discriminator's and the victim's perspectives. So, in essence those groups of people who disagree on certain ideas or approaches towards justice must try to adopt an unbiased approach to understanding the reason behind the existence of the differences and
Racial Profiling Drachman, Edward R., Robert Langran, and Alan Shank. "Case 4: Race-Based Affirmative Action in College Admissions: Keep It, Mend It, or End It?" You Decide: Controversial cases in American Politics. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008. 47-67. Print. "Colleges have given three main justifications for affirmative action policies that would aid certain minority applicants, especially African-Americans and Hispanics: to compensate for long-standing practices of discrimination; to achieve diversity of the student body;
Affirmative action is an initiative based on a set of policies that are intended to eradicate both present and past prejudice against women and minority in areas of employment and businesses where they were historically marginalized. Theses discriminations can also be based on ones race, religion, color or nation of origin (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2009). Brief History of affirmative action Civil rights movements originally endorsed programs that would enable African-Americans acquire
Affirmative Action Lit Review Affirmative Action Review of Literature Has Affirmative Action outlived its use in today's society? And if so should the program change or simply come to an end? The issue of Affirmative Action (AA) is one that is currently being hotly debated by both policy makers and the public. Like racism itself there are many opinions all of which are run the gamut between logical and illogical and constructive and
367) According to Sander, none of these questions have been asked effectively and therefore we as a nation continue to believe that affirmative action is a necessary social development for the creation of a more representative society, where disenfranchisement must be answered by active plans, policies and laws. Few of us would enthusiastically support preferential admission policies if we did not believe they played a powerful, irreplaceable role in giving nonwhites
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