Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is the prohibition of discrimination of minority groups. In hope of making America the land of equal opportunity, President John F. Kennedy first introduced the concept of affirmative action in 1961. Affirmative action strictly prohibits discrimination of employees based on “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” (Wilcher). Several presidents endorsed the concept after President Kennedy; thus, the policy was heavily enforced. To extend the policy to private-owned businesses, the Civil Right Acts of 1964 was introduced, making discrimination of employees in work places illegal in both private-owned and government-owned businesses. Following the Civil Rights Acts, many program were enforced to ensure the rights of
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People who support affirmative would argue that it helps create diversity, and that it is a compensation for years of oppression that the minorities had to suffer. In a sense, this is not entirely incorrect. Blacks were denied the right to education for hundreds of years, and were not given opportunities to become successful. They often faced discrimination in schools and workplaces. Affirmative action is helpful in the sense that more blacks are attending universities and that the probability of getting hired by a company has increased tremendously. However, many universities are using affirmative action as a mean to discriminate against other races. Universities often cut down or increase the rate of admission of a certain race if they think that a certain race is overrepresented or underrepresented in their student body. According to The Wall Street Journal, Harvard University is being sued “by 64 Asian-American organizations with the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights.” The Asian-American organizations claimed that the university is limiting on the number of Asian student admitted. Asian students are most likely to be screened at a higher standard than their black, Hispanic, or some white counterparts. For example, Asians are being stereotyped as only being worthy if they have a 2400 SAT score and 4.5 GPA, while their black, Hispanic, or some white counterparts are screened at a lower standard of about 1900 SAT score and 3.9 GPA. If affirmative action was introduced to protect the minorities against discrimination, then it has failed its job. Blacks and Hispanics are not the only two races that faced discrimination in the U.S. history. As a matter of fact, Asians were discriminated against as well. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882,
People who support affirmative would argue that it helps create diversity, and that it is a compensation for years of oppression that the minorities had to suffer. In a sense, this is not entirely incorrect. Blacks were denied the right to education for hundreds of years, and were not given opportunities to become successful. They often faced discrimination in schools and workplaces. Affirmative action is helpful in the sense that more blacks are attending universities and that the probability of getting hired by a company has increased tremendously. However, many universities are using affirmative action as a mean to discriminate against other races. Universities often cut down or increase the rate of admission of a certain race if they think that a certain race is overrepresented or underrepresented in their student body. According to The Wall Street Journal, Harvard University is being sued “by 64 Asian-American organizations with the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights.” The Asian-American organizations claimed that the university is limiting on the number of Asian student admitted. Asian students are most likely to be screened at a higher standard than their black, Hispanic, or some white counterparts. For example, Asians are being stereotyped as only being worthy if they have a 2400 SAT score and 4.5 GPA, while their black, Hispanic, or some white counterparts are screened at a lower standard of about 1900 SAT score and 3.9 GPA. If affirmative action was introduced to protect the minorities against discrimination, then it has failed its job. Blacks and Hispanics are not the only two races that faced discrimination in the U.S. history. As a matter of fact, Asians were discriminated against as well. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882,