Affirmative Action In America
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.
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UC Berkeley hosted an Affirmative Action Bake Sale to criticize affirmative action policies. At the sale Caucasian men were charged $2, Asians charged $1.50, Latinos charged $1, African-Americans charged 75 cents, Native Americans charged 25 cents, and women of each respective race get 25 cents off. In regards to education 64.4% of college students are Caucasian and 13.1% students are African-American ("How Many People Go To College Every Year?"), but Caucasian students recieve 75.7% of Merit based grants and African-American students recieve 9.5% (Kantrowitz). These are disproportionate figures, and a case of affirmative action working, to an extent. Eight states ban race-based affirmative action at all public universities (California, Washington, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, and Oklahoma) through voter referenda (Potter). But without race-based affirmative action in place the acceptance of African-American students dropped from 33.7% to 12.2%, latino students dropped from 26.8% to 12.9%, while the Caucasian students had a 0.5% increase and Asian students would fill nearly four out of every five places of admitted African-american and Latino students, with their acceptance rate rising from about 18% to more than 23% (Espenshade). Removing race-based affirmative action considerations would have little effect on Caucasian people, …show more content…
In 2010 there were 6 million Latinos, 5 million African-Americans, 5 million Caucasians, and 547,000 Asian-Americans that were in poverty under the age of 18. If ties between the poor and labor force were improved, low-income schooling would be better to improve the quality of workers coming from those areas (Reed) Those that have lower income would have assistance from affirmative action, which would move away from race-based affirmative action policies. States that removed race-based affirmative action, they replaced it with socioeconomic affirmative action, which takes into consideration where an individual lives, and their family’s monetary value. A study conducted at the University of Texas at Austin showed during 1996 when race was used during admission 4.1% of African-American students were accepted, and 14.5% of Latino students were accepted, but during 2004 when they used socioeconomic status and the top 10% plan (anyone who is in the top 10% of their class gets admission) African-american students admission raised to 4.5% and Latino student acceptance rose to 16.9%
UC Berkeley hosted an Affirmative Action Bake Sale to criticize affirmative action policies. At the sale Caucasian men were charged $2, Asians charged $1.50, Latinos charged $1, African-Americans charged 75 cents, Native Americans charged 25 cents, and women of each respective race get 25 cents off. In regards to education 64.4% of college students are Caucasian and 13.1% students are African-American ("How Many People Go To College Every Year?"), but Caucasian students recieve 75.7% of Merit based grants and African-American students recieve 9.5% (Kantrowitz). These are disproportionate figures, and a case of affirmative action working, to an extent. Eight states ban race-based affirmative action at all public universities (California, Washington, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, and Oklahoma) through voter referenda (Potter). But without race-based affirmative action in place the acceptance of African-American students dropped from 33.7% to 12.2%, latino students dropped from 26.8% to 12.9%, while the Caucasian students had a 0.5% increase and Asian students would fill nearly four out of every five places of admitted African-american and Latino students, with their acceptance rate rising from about 18% to more than 23% (Espenshade). Removing race-based affirmative action considerations would have little effect on Caucasian people, …show more content…
In 2010 there were 6 million Latinos, 5 million African-Americans, 5 million Caucasians, and 547,000 Asian-Americans that were in poverty under the age of 18. If ties between the poor and labor force were improved, low-income schooling would be better to improve the quality of workers coming from those areas (Reed) Those that have lower income would have assistance from affirmative action, which would move away from race-based affirmative action policies. States that removed race-based affirmative action, they replaced it with socioeconomic affirmative action, which takes into consideration where an individual lives, and their family’s monetary value. A study conducted at the University of Texas at Austin showed during 1996 when race was used during admission 4.1% of African-American students were accepted, and 14.5% of Latino students were accepted, but during 2004 when they used socioeconomic status and the top 10% plan (anyone who is in the top 10% of their class gets admission) African-american students admission raised to 4.5% and Latino student acceptance rose to 16.9%