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Negative impact of affirmative action on education
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Affirmative action is a method that tries to end discrimination, to bring diversity, and most importantly, to correct America’s historical racism and misdemeanor towards the minority--by giving a preferential treatment or boost towards the marginalized people in admissions to universities or employments. From former President Kennedy’s Executive Order 10925, the first use of the phrase, to Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, supreme court case that set the boundaries of affirmative action, affirmative action’s idea of expanding equality has become an issue continually commended and criticize. The type of affirmative action that is currently being implemented is not the effective tool in equalizing the educational gaps that plague the marginal population. Hard work has become second rate compared to race. Affirmative action has become the decisive factor in accepting students. The implemented method is allegedly the plus factor on deciding between students with equal merits. In Wilson’s research, “Sins of Admission”, includes UCLA’s undergraduate admissions in 1995. Supposedly, UCLA bases its admissions on two criteria: academic and supplemental. Eighty-one percent of the majority was admitted because of academic excellence while eleven percent was accepted because of the latter criteria. On the other hand, ninety-seven percent of minority was accepted because of supplemental reasons while thirteen percent got in because of academic excellence. These numbers suggest that not only is affirmative action in college admissions becoming the main factor on admitting students it has surpassed factors such as talent and intelligence. To compensate the minority from years of oppression is the main reason affirmative action e... ... middle of paper ... ...mmediately it should be repealed. Works Cited Holzer, Harry J., and David Neumark. "Affirmative Action: What Do We Know?" Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 25.2 (2006): 463-90. Print. Neblett, Touré. "Why We Still Need Affirmative Action." Time 12 Oct. 2012: 6-7. Print. Nelms, Rashad. "An Education in Affirmative Action." Black Issues in Higher Education 16.16 (1999): 96. CSN Library Services. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. Potucek, Rachel. "Affirmative Action: Pros and Cons." Web log post. Affirmative Action: Pros and Cons. Kansas State University, July 2003. Web. 04 May 2014. "Poverty Rate by Race/Ethnicity." Research, Analysis, Polling, Facts, Data and Journalism. Kaiser Family Foundation, Mar. 2013. Web. 4 May 2014. Wilson, James Q. "Sins of Admission: Education and Affirmative Action." The New Republic 386 (1996): 12-15. CSN Library Services. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
Another article titled “The Painful Truth About Affirmative Action” (Source B) by Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor Jr. takes a similar stance, but walks the reader through an alternative route in reaching a conclusion by discussing the negative aspects of AA on minority students. A third article by the name of “Actually, we still need affirmative action for African Americans in college admissions. Here’s why” (Source C) by Valerie Strauss provides input from the other side of the spectrum by arguing that AA is still needed. While source A provides an extremely biased perspective on affirmative action and does little to persuade the audience with its weak language, source B presents a slightly stronger argument against affirmative through its descriptive language and academic tone, which appeals to the reader but fails to address the opposite side of the dispute. However, source C offers the most compelling argument through its thorough analysis of affirmative action that considers both sides of the spectrum with strong diction and formal tone to effectively convey its ideas to the
Discrimination is still a chronic global issue, and drastic inequalities still exist at the present time. Thus, the Affirmative Action Law is an important tool to many minorities most especially to women, and people of color, for the reason that this program provides an equality on educational, and professional opportunities for every qualified individual living in the United States. Without this program, a higher education would have been impossible for a “minority students” to attain. Additionally, without the Affirmative Action, a fair opportunity to have a higher-level career...
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.
Charles, Camille Z., et al. "Affirmative-Action Programs for Minority Students: Right in Theory, Wrong in Practice." The Chronicle of Higher Education 55.29 (2009). Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Aug. 2011.
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.
The government thinks that implementing affirmative action will repair inequality, but it cannot. In the midst of tying to promote equality, they are promoting discrimination. Discrimination is the violation of one’s human rights based on gender, sex, race, ethnicity and/or relation. President Johnson felt that blacks being free and able to go to the same school as Caucasians were not just enough for the past discrimination and turmoil the African Americans went through. Affirmative action was used as a cure to remedy lost times. Sandal made some valid points; he noted that th...
Pojman, Louis P. "The Case Against Affirmative Action." Csus.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Holzer, H., & Neumark, D. (2000). What Does Affirmative Action Do?. Cornell University. Retrieved February 25, 2014, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2696075?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=affirmative&searchText=action&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Daffirmative%2Baction%26amp%3Bprq%3Daffirmative%2Baction%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bso%3Drel%26amp%3Bracc%3Doff
Today there is considerable disagreement in the country over Affirmative Action with the American people. MSNBC reported a record low in support for Affirmative Action with 45% in support and 45% opposing (Muller, 2013). The affirmative action programs have afforded all genders and races, exempting white males, a sense of optimism and an avenue to get the opportunities they normally would not be eligible for. This advantage includes admission in colleges or hiring preferences with public and private jobs; although Affirmative Action has never required quotas the government has initiated a benefits program for the schools and companies that elect to be diversified. The advantages that are received by the minorities’ only take into account skin color, gender, disability, etc., are what is recognized as discriminatory factors. What is viewed as racism to the majority is that there ar...
The discrimination against Caucasian and Asian American students a long with the toleration of lower quality work produced by African American students and other minority students is an example of the problems caused by Affirmative Action. Although affirmative action intends to do good, lowering the standards by which certain racial groups are admitted to college is not the way to solve the problem of diversity in America's universities. The condition of America's public schools is directly responsible for the poor academic achievement of minority children. Instead of addressing educational discrepancies caused by poverty and discrimination, we are merely covering them up and pretending they do not exist, and allowing ourselves to avoid what it takes to make a d... ... middle of paper ... ...
Jossey-Bass. Tanabe, C. (2009). From the courtroom to the voting booth: Defending affirmative action in higher education. Philosophy of Education Yearbook, 291–300.
Tairo, Mario. "A Critical Look at Affirmative Action - Panorama - TakingITGlobal." A Critical Look at Affirmative Action - Panorama - TakingITGlobal. Taking It Global, 05 Apr. 2005. Web. 01 May 2014.
Phillip, Mary-Christine. "Yesterday Once More: African-Americans Wonder If New Era Heralds," Black Issues in Higher Education. (July 1995).
Affirmative action policies were created to help level the playing field in American society. Supporters claim that these plans eliminate economic and social disparities to minorities, yet in doing so, they’ve only created more inequalities. Whites and Asians in poverty receive little to none of the opportunities provided to minorities of the same economic background (Messerli). The burden of equity has been placed upon those who were not fortunate enough to meet a certain school’s idea of “diversity” (Andre, Velasquez, and Mazur). The sole reason for a college’s selectivity is to determine whether or not a student has the credentials to attend that school....
Holzer, Harry J.& David Neumark. (Jan. 2000) What Does Affirmative Action Do? Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 53, No. 2, 240-271.