Affirmative Action Discriminates against Asians

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Recommended: The Importance Of Affirmative Action

Affirmative action has been viewed as an effective tool for rectifying the inequalities of racism in our country’s past. It is a set of procedures intended to eliminate the discrimination of an applicant based on their ethnic origin. President John F. Kennedy first introduced the concept “broadly across the United States with his Executive Order number 10925” and “in 1978 the Supreme Court ruled that race could be used as an admission standard” (Wilcher). The utilization of race is a “plus factor” for minority races but it has developed into a disadvantage for Asian-American students who demonstrate academic excellence. They often find their achievements overlooked because of their racial background (Bronner). Although affirmative action was created to prevent the discrimination of minorities in the United States, Asians are instead deprived of their fair chance to gain acceptance into college. These policies claim to help the disadvantaged, but if “preferences were truly meant to remedy disadvantage, they would be given on the basis of disadvantage, not on the basis of race” (Sacks and Thiel). Because affirmative action is misleading and depriving students of a fair chance in college admissions, it should not be factored into college acceptance decisions.
Although there is diversity in the United States, there is also a blend of cultures as well as a sense of unity that exists among different ethnic groups; this does not mean that everyone and everything is in harmony with each other, but in general, the mixing of cultures truly makes America unique. This country is composed of immigrants from all parts of the world and they tend to be of extremely low income and lack educational opportunities. It is evident that colleges aim to ...

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...g Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 May 2014.
Aung, Kinh M. "Point/Counterpoint: Affirmative Action Benefits Everyone."
Abcnews.go.com. 7 Nov. 2007. Web. 16 May 2014.
Bronner, Ethan. "Asian-Americans in the Argument." The New York Times 1 Nov.
2012. Web. 15 May 2014.
Elder, Larry. "Affirmative-Action Programs Discriminate Against Asians."
Discrimination. Ed. Jacqueline Langwith. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "What If the NBA Had Quotas?" Townhall.com. 2006. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 12 May 2014.
Messerli, Joe. "Affirmative Action | Overview." Affirmative Action | Overview. Web. 17
May 2014.
Sacks, David, and Peter Thiel. "The Case Against Affirmative Action."
Alumni.stanford.edu. Web. 13 May 2014.
Wilcher, Shirley J. History of Affirmative action. 2003. Americans for Fair Chance. 14
May 2014.

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