Affirmative Action Essay Research Paper Is Affirmative

Affirmative Action Essay, Research Paper

Is Affirmative Action Working.

Can America ever stop racial discrimination. One way that some American Institutions have, and still are, trying to end racial discrimination is through affirmative action. Affirmative action is a program that tries to correct the historical effects of discrimination in employment and education for members of certain groups. This program is very controversial because some people believe that affirmative action is helping while others believe that affirmative action is doing exactly the opposite. The intentions of affirmative action are truly noble, but the program needs modifications in order to end discrimination.

Affirmative action is designed to ensure that hiring and admissions practices represent a level playing field for everyone. In other words, affirmative action should be thought of as an invitation to all applicants to apply for employment and education opportunities. Affirmative action tries to compensate for one of the greatest disabilities of minority members: their lack of access to vital employment and education, which white males take for granted. People want and need ethnic diversity in school and in the work place. Ethnic diversity is an equal, representative, amount of individuals from different ethnicities in a certain setting, such as a school campus or a business. This type of diversity is important, as the American voters have demonstrated. Traci Mueller declares in her article .What.s the Solution,. printed in the magazine Diversity Monthly, that seventy-five percent of voters agreed that efforts for diversity have a more positive impact on college students than a negative one. This will allow students to learn hands on about other ethnic backgrounds as well as improve .communications and understanding among individuals of different races.. More diversity enhances a wider variety of courses and classroom examples that will help educate people of all races.

Not one person who is fair and in his right mind would argue that affirmative action is a horrible idea. The problem is neither the idea nor the intent; the problem is how the government tries to enforce this diversity.

In 1964, Affirmative Action Laws pushed to end all forms of racial discrimination. Affirmative action programs forced schools, employers, and contractors to end all discriminatory acts. Unfortunately, many white men had difficulties adjusting to this new idea of equality. The program enforced equality by making people take down racial signs and allowing all races apply for jobs and educations. Although, affirmative action allowed for everyone to apply, people still only accepted these applications and usually still did not hire or allow entrance to schools to eligible minorities.

Obviously, in America today the idea that all men and women, of all colors, are equal is a more accepted idea than in the past. Prior to the 1960.s, the almighty, superior group of people in America was the white male. Now, white males are not as superior to women and other races as in previous times; however, to a certain extent, white males are still more powerful, wealthy, and superior to the rest of America. For example, America has never had a President or Vice President who is not a white male. It is very essential that as a society, we need to continue our quest for racial equality. This yearning for equality is why people are in support of affirmative action. If affirmative action actually ended discrimination, the people of the world would be foolish not to be in support of affirmative action.

Unfortunately, people did not and some still do not want equality. Due to the people who were opposed to equality, affirmative action tried to enforce a quota system. In Mississippi and Alabama, highway patrols were forced into adopting a program that would equally represent its society. According to the Philosophy and Public Policy website, the article, .Civil Rights and Racial Preferences. stated that .the government required them to hire one black trooper for each white trooper hired until the patrols reached a substantial, specified level of racial integration.. The qualifications of the person were deemed secondary. The most qualified black trooper must be hired, period.

Is it fair that the most qualified minority receives a job over the most qualified person without regards to color. Obviously not, and therefore quotas are not the right answer. The example about the patrols in Mississippi and Alabama demonstrates how quotas can cause reverse discrimination against white workers due to affirmative action. When quotas became popular, UC Davis held sixteen slots open for minority students to insure diversity. Bakke, a white male had been rejected admission into Davis in 1973 and 1974. He sued Davis for discrimination against white males and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court. In Lydia Chavez.s book, The Color Blind, she quotes Justice Powell in his determining opinion concerning the Bakke case: .Davis had violated the equal protection clause of the fourteenth Amendment by setting aside sixteen slots for underrepresented minorities.. Following his opinion he concluded that race could be a factor in determining a student.s admission, but could not be the main reason for admissions. Depending on how much power a person reads into Powell.s opinion determines the directi