AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROS AND CONS

Affirmative Action Pros and Cons

Affirmative Action Pros and Cons

Introduction

The 108th Congress of the United States brought up the debate of whether to allow public institutions to adopt the Affirmative Action, allowing minorities to have higher opportunities than the majority. Although no specific stand was approached, it clearly shows the growing interest of people on the act of Affirmative Action. I am pro Affirmative Action when dealing with public institutions. However, I believe a private institution should practice equality. Affirmative Action compensates for the past faults and biased treatments toward minorities, provides ample opportunities to unprivileged people who at present can't be accepted to institutions, and could rid of the biased view numerous people still have on minorities. (Brooks, 2002)

Looking back on American history, we can clearly see many prejudiced acts and viewpoints towards the minorities. The most obvious example is with African Americans. Now at present times, Affirmative Action can and will compensate to a degree the hurts and pains minorities suffered. (Brooks, 2002)Although people call America the land of opportunity, many people, consisting largely of minorities, never get a chance to succeed. Many colleges screen applicants with a biased standard, calling it tradition. Companies and institutions prevent employees from receiving full privileges, shouting company regulations. Affirmative Action can tear down those obstacles and false standards giving those underprivileged new opportunities.

When Asians fluctuated to the United States during the gold rush, many locals responded violently thinking they will take all the jobs there were. Even today, a number of people still hold biased views toward the minorities. It is evident on the existing practices of the Ku Klux Klan. Affirmative Action can change much of those biased views and allow the minorities to be accepted in the eyes of others. (Brooks, 2002)

Main Body

Affirmative action generally means giving preferential treatment to minorities in admission to universities or employment in government & businesses. The policies were originally developed to correct decades of discrimination and to give disadvantaged minorities a boost. The diversity of our current society as opposed to that of 50 years ago seem to indicate the programs have been a success. But now, many think the policies are no longer needed and that they lead to more problems than they solve. (Brooks, 2002) One notable example is a case argued a few years back in the Supreme Court concerning admissions to the University of Michigan. The school had a policy of rating potential applicants on a point system. Being a minority student earned you more than twice as many points as achieving a perfect SAT score. Three white students sued citing this as raced-based discrimination. School officials said that diversity is desirable and affirmative action is the only way to achieve true diversity. Several other cases involving affirmative action have followed similar arguments. (Brooks, 2002)Conclusion

The following sections explore the issue and show how things are much more complicated.

Affirmative action leads to reverse discrimination. Affirmative action is designed to end discrimination and unfair treatment of employees/students ...