Preview

Affirmative Action Case Study

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
787 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Affirmative Action Case Study
Schools who still implement the policy of giving minorities priority over the majority are being targeted as discriminatory. Schools such as the University of Michigan are “preferring African-American, Latino, and Native American applicants” and are getting away with it because minorities feel it is their turn to achieve success (“President Bush Says Affirmative Action is Divisive, Unfair and Unconstitutional”). Those who oppose affirmative action will continue to challenge the supporters and strive to put an end to the irrelevant policy. President Bush even stated he was against affirmative action being used in schools across the nation. Declaring what Michigan did as “unconstitutional” and unfair, this court case has been a significant case about affirmative action because it battles the prolonged relationships between the minorities and majorities. All in all, schools such as Stanford have been “discriminating in favor of racial minorities” have been forced to change their policies because of public debate (Sacks, Thiel). Not only does affirmative action cause outrage, it leads to reverse discrimination. The thirst for equality does not come easy and must be paid with the loss …show more content…
Affirmative action is like the “domino effect,” favoring the minority, rejecting the majority, and causing discrimination between both groups. Equality is sacrificed when white males blame underqualified minorities about their misfortunes which causes the never-ending cycle of discrimination. I can see why there are people who agree on keeping the policy while there are others who want to eliminate or change the policy for good. The pro affirmative action supporters are correct about keeping society diverse and giving everyone equal opportunities especially minorities. Common grounds shared between those who disagree and agree on affirmative action is the policy allows a diverse population and helps students starting at a disadvantage

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Affirmative action is the policy in which schools give priority to students who tend to suffer from discrimination. The policy was intended to give minorities equal rights in the admission process, however nowadays, it gives an unfair preference to one group of students, as opposed to being equal. This leads into the discussion of racial discrimination. Opponents of the law say that affirmative action gives minorities an unfair advantage over non-minorities. On the other side, proponents of the law say affirmative action is the way to reverse the negative effects caused by years of racism and discrimination before 1961. I believe that affirmative action is a good sentiment to the minority community, however, I think it’s the incorrect approach to fix the problem. You can’t solve the problem of discrimination by creating more discrimination.…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Case Study 8.3 Affirmative Action and the Urban, African-American Student Experience on Rural, Predominately White Campuses: Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease?…

    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    One concept that continues to be a hot-button issue throughout America's history, as well as in present-day is affirmative action. Affirmative action, at its root base, is defined as the favoring of a group of people based on previous discrimination and disenfranchisement throughout history. Specifically, affirmative action plays an integral role in the admission of disadvantaged minorities into a vast number of schools, organizations, and occupations. Moreover, a new conflict has arisen regarding affirmative action: whether or not the criteria should shift from race, gender, and ethnicity, to class and poverty. From a non-minority's perspective on the controversial issue of affirmative action, one could make the argument that affirmative…

    • 1268 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Affirmative action is a policy with a set of criteria’s designed to ensure equality for all groups within a society to provide everyone with an equal opportunity to obtain success. Affirmative action in American society is renowned for allowing minorities and women a chance for equal access to education and a chance to access equal employment. Affirmative action can lead to the adoption of quotas for jobs and colleges in which a certain amount of potential employees or appointments must come from formerly underrepresented groups of people.…

    • 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

    Affirmative Action Case

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Any case that reaches an upper level court all the way to Supreme Court, involves numerous political actors and parties supporting both sides of the case. First and foremost is the plaintiff, Abigail Fisher. She testified the violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment based on her Caucasian race by the defendant, University of Texas at Austin. The University denied her admission even though she surpassed all requirements and fell into their top 10% guarantee for admission category. The President of the University, Bill Powers, argues that their use of affirmative action respects the rights of all students and is vital to maintaining the diversity that creates a beneficial learning environment on campus. Edward Baum, part of the American Enterprise Institute, is a republican that worked with Fisher on combatting this Affirmative Action case as he has many before in the past. Civil rights groups and individuals such as Baum, assist in swaying the courts to eliminate this factor in…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 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

    Should a man be hired for his skills or for the color of his skin? Is racial diversity in the business world more important then the most qualified workers? Affirmative action has become an important topic in today 's society to better diversify the different races in America. Affirmative action is a set of public policies that were designed for the elimination of discrimination toward race, color, sex, etc. These policies are under attack today because of the unfairness toward the more qualified people. Increasing opportunities for a minority that has suffered past discrimination is the cause for affirmative action, and for the reverse discrimination toward the majority. Many people view discrimination toward one race today to compensate for the discrimination of another race in the past as unfair. This reverse discrimination is unfair treatment toward the majority. Affirmative actions are policies created to give preferential treatment to the discriminated, but also discriminate as well.…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The affirmative action has served its purpose, and therefore is no longer needed. A lot of people also say that because of the implementation of this law many people who are qualified for a specific position has lost that spot to someone who is…

    • 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

    Affirmative Action has occurred in several cases throughout the Americans history and the case that I will be referring to is Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. This case presents a challenge to the special admissions program of the Medical School of the University of California at Davis, which is designed to assure the admission of a specified number of students from certain minority groups (253). In 1973 and 1974, Allan Bakke, a white male, who applied twice to the Medical School of the University of California at Davis, was rejected even though his grade point average and MCAT scores were higher than most of the applicants. With the fact that applicants that were admitted with the special admissions program had lower scores, Bakke alleged that the Medical School's special admissions program operated to exclude him from the school on the basis of his race (258). This, he stated, violates his rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Equal Protection Clause states that "No State shall…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The guarantee of equal protection cannot mean one thing when…

    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Due to the enforcement of the policy, the United States Supreme Court ordered that firms were to hire minorities or women without a specific number of them being hired.…

    • 2586 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The shortcoming with Affirmative Action is the belief that justice is based on what is fair and what isn’t. Equal treatment lives in the soul of the idea that justice equals fairness, which gets looked at as all people are the same, which is incorrect. This falsehood leads to the need for fair play. With this, Affirmative Action becomes nothing more than equitable measures trying to level the playing field.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Proxy War

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages

    While this practice is meant to support individuals, it is resulting in it being solely based on race. Imagine this hypothetical scenario, a white person,applying for a job, lived in poverty his whole life, worked multiple jobs to support their mom’s drug addiction and the care of four siblings. Then here comes a latino man applying for the same job, who grew up wealthy his entire life, and has had an easy life and lands the position strictly because he is Latino. By means of affirmative action, you assume that minorities are the disadvantage ones, aren't you racially profiling them? When the black guy has…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays