Affirmative Action System Essay

Affirmative action has deep roots within the American workforce as well as the schooling system. Once used as a system to prevent racism and discrimination during the civil rights era, affirmative action has remained a part of American culture. Although many Americans may not be entirely aware of its use, all of them are affected by it. The effects and uses of this system can be seen through the history, public opinion and finally, how it can be fixed or changed to better fit modern times. The official definition of affirmative action is “an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially in relation to employment or education; positive discrimination.” This system was implemented
Johnson in executive order 11246 on September 24, 1965. Although it did not seem to have a large impact until it came upon the issue of university enrollment. The argument became a large one, with this system universities began to implement racial quotas, and example of this is the Medical School of the University of California at Davis which would set aside sixteen out of one hundred seats for racial minorities. It was finally settled in the landmark supreme court case Regents of University of California v. Bakke (1978). In which Bakke, a white student, sued the school saying that the racial quotas discriminated against him
However, the solution for this problem has yet to be found but there are many options. The first option is to just completely abolish affirmative action completely, This is supported by many who oppose affirmative action, however this raises the problem of those that are truly disadvantaged, regardless of race or social class will not receive help. Some may argue this envelops the “American Values” of independence and everyone trying to be successful on their own. The second option is to make affirmative action based on social and economic class and not consider race at all. If a person truly is disadvantaged then race should not