Should affirmative action policies, which give preferential treatment based on minority status, be eliminated? In a Nutshell Affirmative action leads to reverse Diversity is desirable and won't always discrimination. occur if left to chance. Affirmative action lowers standards of Students starting at a disadvantage need accountability needed to push students a boost. or employees to perform better. Affirmative action draws people to areas Students admitted on this basis are often of study and work they may never ill-equipped to handle the schools to consider otherwise. which they've been admitted. Some stereotypes may never be broken It would help lead a truly color-blind without affirmative action. society. Affirmative action is needed to It is condescending to minorities to say compensate minorities for centuries of they need affirmative action to succeed. slavery or oppression. It demeans true minority achievement; i.e. success is labeled as result of affirmative action rather than hard work and ability. Once enacted, affirmative actions are tough to remove, even after the underlying discrimination has been eliminated. Overview/Background 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. 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
Should affirmative action policies, which give preferential treatment based on minority status, be eliminated? In a Nutshell Affirmative action leads to reverse discrimination. Affirmative action lowers standards of accountability needed to push students or employees to perform better. Students admitted on this basis are often ill-equipped to handle the schools to which they've been admitted. It would help lead a truly color-blind society. It is condescending to minorities to say they need affirmative action to succeed. It demeans true minority achievement; i.e. success is labeled as result of affirmative action rather than hard work and ability. Once enacted, affirmative actions are tough to remove, even after the underlying discrimination has been eliminated. Diversity is desirable and won't always occur if left to chance. Students starting at a disadvantage need a boost. Affirmative action draws people to areas of study and work they may never consider otherwise. Some stereotypes may never be broken without affirmative action. Affirmative action is needed to compensate minorities for centuries of slavery or oppression. Overview/Background 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. 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
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