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).
Civil Rights Leaders: n. pag. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. http://www.pschulze.com/martin_luther_king.htm. Morrow, Lance. "The Cure for Racism."
28 March 2015. http://www.now.org/nnt/08-95/affirmhs.html Tomasson, Richard F., Faye J. Crosby, and Sharon D. Herzberger. Affirmative Action: The Pros and Cons of Policy and Practice. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2001. Print. Yetman, Norman R. Race and Ethnicity.
Affirmative action is degrading the educational system. Although affirmative action was established to compensate for previous discrimination, the fact is affirmative action should not be practiced because it does not promote equal treatment for all people. Affirmative action has improved the overall life of numerous people. Many minorities, specifically African-Americans, have improved due to educational opportunities acquired via affirmative action. Enrollment of black students skyrocketed because of affirmative action.
One may ask, what is affirmative action? Webster defines affirmative actions as ”the practice of improving the educational and job opportunities of members of groups that have not been treated fairly in the past because of their race, sex, etc.” What would be the purpose of creating equal opportunity when it was promised when founding America? The reality is that, America for a long time and some will even debate present times as well, has only been the America dream for one group of people, white male. There is no secret of the unfair treatment of African-American males and Women. The results of racism have changed tremendously but what has not changed is discrimination.
Web. 27 Feb. 2014. "Affirmative Action." Affirmative Action RSS. Southeastern
Affirmative Action: Equality for All? Affirmative action in the United States has become a misused and misguided practice in modern times. In the current form of affirmative action, it is impossible to create a truly equal society. It was originally used as an equal opportunity measure to allow qualified minorities into positions they were denied because of race. However, affirmative action has become a system of racial quotas that lowers standards for minority applicants in order to give them a chance to succeed in universities, jobs, and leadership positions.
2014. http://ei-ie.org/en/websections/content_detail?3274 “Leadership for educational equity: About LEE.” Leadership for educational equity. Web. 19 Apr. 2014 http://educationalequity.org/about/ “Your right to equality in education. “Editorial Sybil liberty [New York] http://www.aclu.org.
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Affirmative action allowed minorities a fair chance to pursue education and career advancement. It originally was intended for temporary assistance and was supposed to crush existing racially biased ideas in society. What was once a noble and valiant idea in 1965 has taken the very rights away it was intended to give. As affirmative action was introduced, many industries found the need to reduce standards in order to accept minorities. In many colleges and universities, a certain number of openings were set aside specifically for minorities because of the necessity to fill the racial quota for college populations.