Preview

Why Affirmative Action Is Unfair

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
246 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Affirmative Action Is Unfair
While Affirmative Action was developed with good intentions, this program further divides different races. Having a government program designed to elevate minorities when it comes to school and job admissions, even when they have lower credentials, is totally unacceptable. Affirmative Action is causing the citizens of the United States to believe that “separate but equal”, the ideology that the United States can divide races, as long as they are “fair”, is acceptable. This racist and unfair judgement against Asians and Caucasians is becoming an everyday occurrence in the twenty-first century. A recent survey of African American students at colleges in North Carolina, concluded that “a majority of students interviewed felt that they were treated like affirmative action cases even if they were not”(Ernest Pasour). …show more content…
Not that they were accepted on their own. Further, “the average SAT disparity between Stanford's African-American and white admittees reached 171 points in 1992”(David Sacks). Minorities are not only being given preference in a tight judgement; a difference of 171 SAT points could make an African-American student be admitted to a much higher university than if he or she was Caucasian or Asian. The Affirmative Action is an unfair government program developed to combat racism, developing more racism will not elevate the minority, because fighting racism with racism will only end in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Affirmative action is clearly favoring minority groups, and giving them an undeserved advantage. An example of this discrimination is clear, a statistic from the New York Times shows that after affirmative action was banned in California, the number of Hispanics and blacks accepted at UC Berkeley, and UC LA dropped sharply. Every time a college bases its decision on who to accept based on race or color, the racial tensions between minorities and majorities will rise in American…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This article sheds light on the last affirmative action case which was 10 years ago. The article goes into detail about the 13 page dissent that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy issued after the ruling. The article also talks about whether or not colleges should be allowed to take race into consideration so that they can have diverse classes.…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The minorities in America are still citizens of the nation, yet are largely misrepresented, even with the acquisition of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. American society is far from having that equality forum it so eagerly boasts. According to Race In America, in 1996 when California Voters enforced Proposition 209, which eliminated most affirmative action programs statewide, it resulted in the drastic decline in admittance of African Americans and Latinos into California top Universities (478). Without the regulatory implementation of policies that favor minorities, institutions default back into their regular setting and disregard the notion of diversity. Minorities again suffer and their opportunities are once again limited. The fact remains that institutional racism, although reluctant to be discussed, is still a prevalent issue. Tim Wise states in “Affirmative Action Is Not Racial Profiling,” “despite affirmative action, statistics show that whites still are advantaged in educational opportunities and employments.” To argue that such policies are taking the position of other whites, is a huge misconception given the statistics nationwide. Society has the moral obligation to dismantle the wide belief of racial…

    • 1785 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1) Thesis statement: Affirmative action is a necessary tool to address past discrimination, promote diversity, and ensure equal opportunities in education and employment, despite recent challenges. 2) Necessary Background Information: Understanding President Kennedy's Executive Order 10925 in 1961 and legal rulings such as Regents v. Bakke (1978) is crucial to comprehending what surrounds this issue. Affirmative action stemmed from President Kennedy's Executive Order 10925 in 1961 and this executive order aimed to eliminate discrimination in employment practices “without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin (Professor Stone Lecture Slides).” It marked a significant step towards addressing systemic inequalities in the workforce, particularly for marginalized groups who faced discrimination and exclusion. Then following Executive Order 10925, one landmark case that shaped affirmative action policies in education was Regents v. Bakke in 1978 and in this case, the Supreme…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    So the median black student has lower credentials than 99 percent of the Anglo and Asian students” (Affirmative action on campus does more harm than good). After the University of California put race neutral policies into effect, there was an increase rate of African American and Hispanic students that attended Berkeley, UCLA and other elite schools. It seems that minority students are drawn to the fact that they were not because of their race. The usual college gives 20 to 30 times more attention to race then class .Even in elementary schools, there have been moments that show that some teachers have racial preference. These teachers have an absence of faith in students’ academic abilities. Students then begin to lose confidents when they attend schools that have racial…

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Affirmative Action

    • 37361 Words
    • 150 Pages

    Introduction I. Racial Affirmative Action in Higher Education May Be on Its Way Out 1…

    • 37361 Words
    • 150 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Race-based affirmative action is justifiable in order to increase diversity. While many adversaries criticize the notion that there is a collective responsibility of society to make up for past wrong-doings, this argument focuses only on promoting diversity. In colleges, having a diverse, mixed student body allows students to learn from a wide range of backgrounds. It also helps disadvantaged minorities reach higher leadership positions which would then help the general populations of those minorities because they would have a role model and someone advocating for policies that would benefit them. This argument for increasing diversity sees college admissions as a way to benefit the common good of society. While this would leave some people feeling bitter that minority applicants got in with lower test scores, ultimately, affirmative…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    “President Kennedy, as a way to fight discrimination, first coined the term Affirmative Action in 1961. Later on President Johnson employed Affirmative Action as a means of “a more profound stage of the battle for civil rights . . . not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and result”” (“Background on Affirmative Action.”). Over the past few decades Affirmative Action has grown out of where it originated from and been altered to the extent where it has lost touch with its original intent. A prime example of the misuse of Affirmative Action can be seen in the college admissions process. The arguments against Affirmative Action fall into two categories. First Affirmative Action is immoral and causes individuals to act in an immoral manner, and second, rather than positive consequences Affirmative Action has a net negative consequence on individuals. The removal of Affirmative Action programs in colleges will lead to a colorblind admissions process that is fair to all races. The use of law enforcement could ensure that minorities are not discriminated against in the…

    • 2888 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Injustice is something that has always existed and unfortunately will continue to exist. Injustices deprive people of their abilities to strive for better goals and dreams. It is time that the minorities that have and continues to suffer from these injustices to be restituted. I argue that the affirmative action has not completed its intended purposes of presenting minorities with equal rights. And that it is needed now just as much as it was needed in the past.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On June 19, 1963 Affirmative action came to be. According to Merriam-Webster, Affirmative action is an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination. Affirmative action began as a simple idea to expand equality; however, it has morphed into a charged and divisive topic. Affirmative action has spread from job markets into college admissions. Harvard is now offering reduced tuition to African American students who meet academic requirements in an attempt to diversify their student body, while I believe that is an unfair practice because the quotas in college admissions deny and exclude other students the opportunity to be educated, campuses become balkanized, and unqualified or incompetent students are being placed in positions they should not be because of flawed decision making from white superiors trying to be compliant with their HR department.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a country the size of the United States, different races and different views on the equality of each race exist. Affirmative Action was a put in place by the Federal Government to help conserve the protection of rights towards minorities, whether it be determined by race or sex, during the time after the civil war when they people were still being discriminated upon based on these two aspects. Affirmative Action created a situation that allowed minorities a guaranteed spot within a workplace or a school, eliminating racism and allowing the minority to be recognized for its accomplishments. This may not have been the best solution for the problem but at the time it was put in place it was a necessary mean to try and correct an evil. Affirmative Action is still in place today even though it shouldn’t be. It creates discrimination by trying to get rid of it. Administration officers and CEO’s of companies feel the need to fill the percentage that they were given so they turn their backs on more qualified persons. With Affirmative Action, a white man may lose a chance to get a job or go to college, simply because the position must be filled with a black man, to meet the designated quota assigned. Also majorities look down on the minorities who get into colleges and get jobs over them by saying that they only got the job because someone just needed to get the spot filled so that they wouldn’t get shut down. This makes the minority feel worse about themselves because really don’t know if they got into the school or got the job based on their own merits or not. People in todays society want to make the most money possible so they will hire who they believe will do the best job whether it be an African American woman or a middle aged white man. Affirmative Action was a necessary step to correct the wrong doings of our ancestors, but is not the correct solution,…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1961 the Kennedy Administration put into effect Executive Order 10925 which ultimately became what is now known as Affirmative Action. The premise of this doctrine authorizes the hiring of minorities in an effort to ensure race and gender equality across the board. This decree is not solely applicable to the workforce; it is also in effect in the admittance of minority students in colleges and universities as well. Although its initial objective to ensure diversity and balance is admirable, it has now become quite controversial considering the need for “quotas” and diversity in lieu of qualified individuals (D’Souza, 1995).…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Affirmative action is a controversial topic topic, especially in American society. Affirmative action is an active effort to improve the employment or education opportunities of members of minority groups and women. It also means a similar effort to promote the rights of other disadvantaged persons. In America, affirmative action is for a disadvantaged group to have equal opportunities, regardless of: race, religion/creed, sex, national origin, and disability (OFCCP). Many surround the words affirmative action around race, but socioeconomic status, gender, and various other background characteristics play a role. These factors and more especially in the realm of education. Affirmative action is beneficial due to its history and who it affects.…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diversity In Colleges

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages

    While speaking about the policies and formulas used in the affirmative action process, Trow’s paper touches on this double standard. He states “but among those who fell in the B range, 69 percent of Asians, 62 percent of whites, and 94 percent of blacks and Hispanics were admitted. Looking at range C, only 19 percent of Asians and 17 percent of whites were admitted, while 77 percent of the blacks and Hispanics got in” (Trow 299). The range mentioned in Trow’s paper references a scoring system that meshes standardized test scores and high school grade point averages to produce a letter ranking of your academic qualifications. As the letter rank falls the percentage of white and Asians students accepted sharply drops, yet the number of minorities accepted only decreases by 17 percent. To accept one race over another—despite academic similarities—is mildly racist, and shows that institutions don’t expect the same level of academic excellence form minorities as they do from white and Asian students. Essentially, minorities are only valued for their skin color and the increased diversity they bring to the school, rather than their intelligence. This is also unfair to disadvantaged white and Asian students, who may be coming from challenging backgrounds. These standards vary to such an extent that Richard…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aguilar 1. "Affirmative action should be eliminated" (Sadler 70). Affirmative action does not solve discrimination problems; on the contrary, it harms those the program is meant help. The program divides society into two groups based on ethnicity; this completely defies the effort to have a color-blind America (where society does not see ethnicity or a color difference in any person). Disguised as an equal opportunity program affirmative action discriminates against non-minorities. Affirmative action has its affects in collegiate admissions and employment, however, remains more controversial in college admissions. Many groups protest the abolishment of affirmative action for sake of higher minority…

    • 4712 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Good Essays