Are You For or Against Affirmative Action?
Affirmative action programs are created in an attempt to make sure that all groups within a given society have the same opportunity to succeed. The term "affirmative action" was coined by President John F. Kennedy and expanded by President Lyndon Johnson. Although different terms are used for affirmative action in different nations, the concept is the same; affirmative action means making sure that active steps are taken so that minority groups are represented and hired in organizations, government and businesses. Employment decisions, admission to educational institutions, public health policies and other arenas have all been affected by a commitment to affirmative action.
Instituting an affirmative action policy comes from a particular assessment of a nation's past; it is seen as necessary as a compensatory measure in cultures that have a history of discrimination or of withholding economic opportunities based on race or national origin. While some countries refuse to participate in affirmative action because they have so-called "color-blind" laws mandating that all races simply be treated equally, other countries feel that favoring previously oppressed groups, often called "reverse discrimination," at least for a period of time, is the only way to restore complete equality in the long term. This belief can lead to the adoption of hiring quotas in which a certain number of hires or appointments must come from previously under-represented groups of people. In the United States, affirmative action has been widely practiced, but nearly as widely critiqued.
And yea, this was copied and pasted.
14 Comments • Newest first
affirmative action needs to be based more on class than race, that's really it.
as long as there are other anti-discriminatory laws in place, affording benefits to those who are currently less privileged (and wouldn't get them, or at least wouldn't get them without a disproportionate amount of work) is a much better idea.
The thing I always notice is that people who claim they were discriminated against because of affirmative action never have any proof. This is why we don't see many affirmative action cases.
As some of you may know, there is a Supreme Court case, Fisher v. University of Texas, about affirmative action. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_v._University_of_Texas
This case is a classic example of there isn't any proof that there is reverse-discrimination.
[i]"The summary judgment record is uncontradicted that--due to the stiff competition in 2008 and petitioner's relatively low AI score--petitioner would not have been admitted to the Fall 2008 freshman class even if she had received 'a 'perfect' PAI score of 6'... Although one African-American and four Hispanic applicants with lower combined AI/PAI scores than petitioner's were offered admission to the summer program, so were 42 Caucasian applicants with combined AI/PAI scores identical to or lower than petitioner's. In addition, 168 African-American and Hispanic applicants in this pool who had combined AI/PAI scores identical to or higher than petitioner's were denied admission to the summer program."[/i]
http://www.utexas.edu/vp/irla/Documents/Brief%20for%20Respondents.pdf
TLDR: Her grades weren't high enough, so she decided to play the race card. Isn't that ironic? The people who don't want schools to focus on their skin color keeps on drawing attention to their skin color. What would we call that, reverse-reverse-discrimination?
Affirmative action is the biggest load of bull I have ever come across.
Some minority shouldn't have more access to opportunities that I rightfully deserve because I busted my ass off to get them just because of their skin color.
Asians should get an extra point per basket scored in the NBA. I mean, look how underrepresented we are. We need to promote diversity, right?
I'm indifferent about it, but probably leaning more against it than for it.
I can however see some circumstances where it might be applicable, for instance if you have a board of directors representing an ethnic community and they're all white, then yeah you might want to use affirmative action to diversify the people making decisions so that it better reflects the demographics of society.
But for the majority of instances I don't think it's necessary.
@aznseal:
Thats true
@SoulBlade: FASFA is for financial aid, not admissions.
@aznseal:
That would be better but isn't that what FAFSA is for? Although they really don't give enough anymore.
@SoulBlade: The race thing IS an excuse. It should be based on money. I have Asian friends whose families are dirt poor and had to scrape up life savings to buy a boat ticket to the states. They deserve whatever extra boost more than the rich African Americans or Mexicans.
@aznseal:
I always figured that we already gone past the slavery disadvantage, which is why there are rich African American people. Also there was a story in Ellen (don't ask) about a homeless girl excelling in her class.
I believe the race thing is an excuse. It might be easy for me to say since I always went to decent schools, so I never dealt with any major disadvantage.
@AKSilver:
That must suck. I'll be mad if I didn't get into the school I wanted because they wanted to help someone who probably doesn't deserve it.
Makes me wonder if I got in because of AA. I highly doubt it though.
[quote=AKSilver]To hell with affirmative action. It's why Cornell rejected me.[/quote]
As much as I dislike AA, Cornell did not reject you solely because of it.
[quote=SoulBlade]I agree with but I would like for you to explain why.[/quote]
It's unnecessary since it's race based. Why should the wealthy African American have an advantage over the poor Caucasian? The way it's currently set up, only the people who don't need the help benefit. Do you really think hood rats are gonna bother to go to college? No, where as the middle class African American will go to college and doesn't need the statistical boost anymore than their white socioeconomically-equivalent counterpart.
[quote=aznseal]Against. I think it's dumb.[/quote]
I agree with but I would like for you to explain why.
Against. I think it's dumb.