Affirmative Action: Staying on the Road to Equality “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence, 1776). Who would imagine that in a country under the blanket such a brilliant, ethical and proud statement of equality, there could be so much dissention about equality? Our nation has interpreted this statement differently since it was written, and still, more than two hundred years later, we are on the road to a truly equal society. This is because racism has its seeds deeply sown into the history of America. Uprooting perceptions of peoples who are dominant and peoples who are inferior has been a long process, from the Emancipation Proclamation to affirmative action. It is important that we stay on this road to equality for all, and keep affirmative action up and running.Affirmative action has its roots in racism as a remedy to it, and racism has its roots all the way back in the colonial and imperial era. Europeans began discovering other continents in the fifteenth century, and with new continents came new ways of making money. Different European countries began to scramble to acquire colonies where they could sell goods, exploit labor, and export slaves and raw materials for cheap prices. Almost all of Africa became colonialized, with different European powers claiming control over sections of Africa, and soon colonialism spread to many new places that were discovered: the Americas, the Middle East, and later Asia and the Pacific Islands. In the process of colonialism, the Europeans were taking advantage of the resour... ... middle of paper ... ...hat happens when we level the playing field? “No school that has scrapped its affirmative action program has seen minority enrollment return fully to affirmative action levels” (Kranz 26). The ultimate goal is to see minorities represent their population in education and in the work force, and at this point, to attain that goal, it is more ethical to retain the policy of affirmative action than to eliminate it. In the words of Peter Singer, “In the absence of more promising alternatives it seems worth a try” (51). Works Cited * Kranz, Rachel. “Affirmative Action.” Facts on File, Inc., 2002. * Murray, Charles. “Affirmative Racism.” The New Republic, 1984. * Rachels, James. “The Elements of Moral Philosophy,” Fourth Edition. McGraw Hill, New York, 2003. Singer, Peter. “Practical Ethics,” Second Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993.
For as long as I can remember, racial injustice has been the topic of discussion amongst the American nation. A nation commercializing itself as being free and having equality for all, however, one questions how this is true when every other day on the news we hear about the injustices and discriminations of one race over another. Eula Biss published an essay called “White Debt” which unveils her thoughts on discrimination and what she believes white Americans owe, the debt they owe, to a dark past that essentially provided what is out there today. Ta-Nehisi Coates published “Between the World and Me,” offering his perspective about “the Dream” that Americans want, the fear that he faced being black growing up and that black bodies are what
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...
The institution of public education has been one of the most controversial establishments in the United States since its inception. More specifically, equality in the conditions and the opportunities it provides has been sought as one of its major goals. There is little doubt that minority ethnic groups have struggled to achieve educational equality, just as they have struggled for equality in other aspects of life. One way that minorities have tried to achieve equality in education is through lobbying for help in college admissions for their respective groups. This social practice has been debated on many grounds, including necessity and ethical permissibility.
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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.
For many years, people have presumed that Affirmative Action has played and continues to play a vital and important role in the lives of most minorities . However, some people have raised questions about the effectiveness of Affirmative Action. Since it's conception, it has been believed that in some instances, Affirmative Action has been more harmful then helpful. One may ask the question, is Affirmative Action really worth fighting for? Some may argue, that if it had not been for Affirmative Action, the minority unemployment rate would be much higher.
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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...
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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