Affirmative Action Essay

Affirmative Action

Affirmative action in the United States is loosely defined as a policy that redresses the disadvantages of certain minority groups as a result of past discrimination, such as African Americans and Latinos, by giving them preferential treatment with respect to employment and university admissions. In particular, affirmative action has generated a great deal of controversy in university admissions, which has resulted in several Supreme Court cases. Proponents of the policy claim that affirmative action is permissible because a) certain racial groups have suffered from a long past of discrimination and b) there is evidence showing the educational benefits that result from a racially diverse student body reflective of the racial makeup of the United States. Although affirmative action may be a well-intentioned policy whose supporting arguments are based upon true historic facts, the policy as a whole is morally impermissible and only serves to perpetuate the issues it claims to address. In addition, the arguments in favor of affirmative action have several key issues, which include: a) not all groups that have suffered from discrimination benefit from the policy, b) using the two wrongs make a right fallacy to justify discrimination against nonminority groups, c) vague terms such as “critical mass,” d) assuming that an applicant is disadvantaged solely on the basis of race, e) stereotyping minority groups, and f) the contested definition of race in general.

For centuries, African Americans and Native Americans have suffered from blatant discrimination, unjustified theft of land, grueling enslavement, death marches, cruel medical experiments, systematic lynchings, and genocide. Although most Hispanics never had to co...

... middle of paper ...

... believe blacks can achieve in every avenue of American life without the meddling of university administrators.” Therefore, the solution to this issue of academic performance is bettering the education system in poverty stricken areas. If all racial and economic groups had access to equal educational opportunities, then they would all have the same capability to succeed in university admissions, given they are determined to do so. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Unfortunately, Dr. King’s dream has not yet come true, since African Americans are still judged (whether it be positively or negatively is beside the point) on the basis of their skin color when it comes to college admissions.