Affirmative Action

535 Words2 Pages

Affirmative action is a difficult topic to argue for or against. When I first began pondering about affirmative action, I believed that it was a good idea because everyone would be ensured an equal opportunity to succeed. However, the more I thought about it the more I realized that affirmative action is unfair. There are many reasons why affirmative action seems to be a good idea but I believe that it is a form of discrimination. If we continue to support it, we will only be causing more problems for ourselves in the future.

I understand very well that minorities have been discriminated against for many years and for no reason. To make up for it we should not give them special rights that allow them to receive jobs or enter into a school over someone that is further qualified then themselves. Affirmative action is another form of discrimination. The definition of discrimination is "to make a difference in treatment on a basis other then individual merit." (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Pg. 149) By allowing affirmative action to continue, we are allowing discrimination to continue.

Rather then treating minorities differently through affirmative action, we should treat them as equals. Affirmative action tells minorities that they are inferior and the only way they can succeed is by cheating. Cheating others that are better qualified then they are at a particular job.

To help myself further decide if affirmative action was wrong I asked myself a question. If I were going to be operated on, would I want the best surgeon or would I want a surgeon that was less qualified but got the job because of affirmative action? This question helped me confirm that affirmative action was unsuitable.

In Stanley Fish's essay "Reverse Racism, or How the Pot Got to Call the Kettle Black" he makes a good point, the only problem is that he dismisses it at the end. Fish makes a remark about reverse racism. Fish writes "In this country whites once set themselves apart from blacks and claimed privileges for themselves while denying them to others. Now, on the basis of race, blacks are claiming special status and reserving for themselves privileges they deny to others. Isn't one as bad as the other? The answer is no." (Pg. 404) The answer is YES not no. By giving special treatment to a group of people and not others, you are discriminating against them.

Analysis Of White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack
775 Words | 2 Pages
Growing up as an African-American you are always taught to be twice as good. Twice as good as the white people to receive the same treatment as them. I grew up hearing this same phrase constantly but never really understood exactly what it meant until I got old enough to actually see the kind of world we are living in. The author of the article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” Peggy Mclntosh, took as step into shoes of black America and found that white privilege not only exist, but many whites are blind to it. She gives a clear argument about how white privilege is harmful to our society and how we can work together to fix this.
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Bernard Boxill's The Color-Blind Principle
642 Words | 2 Pages
I believe that this idea is immoral; I don’t believe affirmative action harms minorities, and I don’t believe people should be accepted to college for the reason of being black, but instead should be a fair process for both whites and blacks.
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Pros And Cons Of Selective Incorporation
906 Words | 2 Pages
3.The term Affirmative action has played a huge role in the past one hundred years of American politics. It is simply defined as an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer. Civil Rights of American citizens have drastically changed because of Affirmative action. With almost anything in politics, there is a debate for and against Affirmative action. Supporters of this say that this helps encourage e...
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Affirmative Action
1139 Words | 3 Pages
majority, does not advance the cause of minorities in a meaningful way, and needs to be
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Quota Hiring Case Study
768 Words | 2 Pages
Affirmative action programs may or may not have been appropriate in times past where inequalities were prevalent and programs to build diversity were mandated. In the United States today, where law bars discrimination, I feel employment opportunities should be based on merit and not on race, sex or any other preconceived notion. Actively recruiting candidates that do not meet minimum requirements or standards is counterproductive to any agency that strives to serve the public in an efficient and effective manner and further erode confidence in government.
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Affirmative Action Encourages Racism
398 Words | 1 Pages
More importantly, Mr. Watulak mentions that "affirmative action has some rather unpleasant racist assumptions hiding behind it. The clear implication that minorities could not adequately get ahead without special considerations seems just a touch bigoted." I agree with this because even though affirmative action looks like a positive policy for minorities, it may have a lot of negative consequences as well. It can be true that it has increased job opportunities for minorities but the question is whether it has done so for correct reasons. For example, when a minority gets a high position in a corporation, the other employers may think about why this person received this position.
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Argumentative Action: The Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action
2623 Words | 6 Pages
Affirmative action is without a doubt, one of the most controversial and debated political topics found throughout the entirety of the history of the United States, especially in regards to college admissions. On both sides of the argument, you have millions of Americans vitriolically defending their beliefs as to whether or not affirmative action is a positive thing that benefits the entirety of America as a whole, or rather an outdated model existing well past its expiration date. Both sides of the argument have its pro and cons, but personally, I am of the opinion that affirmative action in regards to college admissions does more harm than good for America as a whole on a social, political, and economic level, and that it at the very least needs to be modified heavily, if not abolished altogether. However, in order to first understand the arguments both supporting and decrying affirmative action, as well as the controversy behind it, we first need to delve into its history for the related context.
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Racism In America
1597 Words | 4 Pages
Racism (n): the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other race (Wordnet search, 1), a controversial topic in today’s society, a subject that many people try to sweep under the rug, but yet a detrimental problem that has been present in America since the colonial era. Will this dilemma come to a halt? Can all Americans see each other as equals despite their skin color and nationality; and what role has it played in past generations versus today’s generations and how will it affect our future? Has this on going way of thinking gotten better or worse? These are questions raised when many think about the subject; especially members of American ethnic groups and backgrounds, because most have dealt with racial discrimination in their life time.
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Affirmative Action in College Admissions
1570 Words | 4 Pages
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, affirmative action is “an active effort to improve employment or educational opportunities for members of minority groups and women.” However, despite its well-intentioned policies, it has been the source of much controversy over the years. Barbara Scott and Mary Ann Schwartz mention that “proponents of affirmative action argue that given that racism and discrimination are systemic problems, their solutions require institutional remedies such as those offered by affirmative action legislation” (298). Also, even though racism is no longer direct, indirect forms still exist in society and affirmative action helps direct. On the other hand, opponents to affirm...
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Affirmative Action Essay
521 Words | 2 Pages
Affirmative action was created to allow minorities to have more opportunities in the workforce and in education. It still remains to be a debate whether affirmative action should be a necessary route even though we have made progress towards greater equality. The argument over Affirmative action has been going on for some time with two opposing sides. There is one side who finds Affirmative action as an opportunity to the less fortunate; those who are against have the belief that it promotes less qualified individuals rather than a person own merit.
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Is Affirmative Action still needed?
973 Words | 2 Pages
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...
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Affirmative Action
2866 Words | 6 Pages
Affirmative Action is a policy in the United States of America. It is in use to help minorities get equal treatment in admissions policies for big businesses and higher educational programs. In one way or another, this policy affects almost every person in America. It affects people directly, and most commonly, indirectly. When this policy affects people, it usually affects them in a negative way. When Affirmative Action first started, it was a descent policy, but with changes in society, it has become a policy that does more harm than good. Since this is what the policy currently does, Affirmative Action should be out of use for every application it has a function for. So, this policy should be out of every law book in America to eliminate the negative impact that it is causing. Affirmative Action is outdated because it is turning into a reverse discrimination policy.
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Affirmative Action
1127 Words | 3 Pages
Affirmative Action Affirmative action can be defined as action taken to compensate for past unfairness in the education of minorities. The current system of affirmative action allows universities to admit applicants from certain ethnic and minority groups with lower credentials. The main purpose of affirmative action is to produce a diverse campus population that is comparable to today's society. The use of race as a facto by which someone is admitted to college in the long run will compromise the quality of the university. Implicating affirmative action to solve the problem of diversity on today's campuses has lead to the creation of problems.
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The Role of Social Movements in Fighting Racism
1326 Words | 3 Pages
Discrimination has always been there between blacks and whites. Since the 1800s where racial issues and differences started flourishing till today, we can still find people of different colors treated unequally. “[R]acial differences are more in the mind than in the genes. Thus we conclude superiority and inferiority associated with racial differences are often socially constructed to satisfy the socio-political agenda of the dominant group”(Heewon Chang,Timothy Dodd;2001;1).
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Is Everyone Really Equal Analysis
1334 Words | 3 Pages
This means that if you do not act a certain way a White person does, you do not fit in the societal norms. On the other hand, some people believe in reverse racism, acting racist towards the dominant group. An example of a saying is, “People of Color are just as racist as we are. In fact, now there is reverse racism and White people can’t get into college or good grades” (126). This perspective shows that the person of color is the blame for why white people can not get into college because diversity is needed. However, a person of color does not get into college or good grades because of their color, but because of their determination and persistence to do well in school. Reverse racism is not true because there is no institutional power within it. White supremacy is evident because of the way society portrays a White person in comparison to a Black person. An example is the Eric Garner case. Eric Garner, an African American man, was selling illegal cigarettes in the streets of New York when Officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a chokehold while Garner desperately screamed “I can’t breathe” eleven times. Officer Daniel Pantaleo did not face any charges from killing a human being because he is white. This shows the corrupt society we live in because of a human being’s color, they are granted a higher privilege. If a Black man killed a White man for the same
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Affirmative Action

Analysis Of White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack

Bernard Boxill's The Color-Blind Principle

Pros And Cons Of Selective Incorporation