Affirmative Action Essays

Affirmative Action Essay
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is a deliberate effort to provide full and equal opportunities in employment,
education, and other areas for women, minorities, and individuals belonging to other traditionally
disadvantaged groups. As an issue of today's society, affirmative action requires corporations,
universities and other organizations to establish programs designed to ensure that all applicants are
treated fairly. It also places a burden of proof on the providers of opportunities; to some degree, the
providers must be able to demonstrate that their granting of opportunities to white males is not
discriminatory.
The policy mentioned above was first brought before the Supreme Court in 1978 in the case of
...show more content...
Affirmative action programs may be approved only after close examination by a court and that such
programs can be challenged later by white workers who were not a part of the original agreement.
Moreover, in some instances, minority group members must prove that racial imbalances in hiring or
promotion have no substantial business purpose.
The Supreme Court made a key decision in 1995 in the case of Adarand v. Pena. The court sharply
abridged their affirmative–action authority. The case came about when Adarand Constructors filed
suit over a federal contract that was awarded to a Hispanic–owned company even though Adarand
had submitted a lower bid. In a 5 to 4 ruling the Court said that the government had to prove that a
preference program for minorities was a response to specific past acts of discrimination, not just
discrimination in a historic sense. This decision basically reversed earlier precedents that allowed the
federal government to give a preference to minority applicants. The Court said that Washington
cannot set aside contracts for minority applicants unless, through costly and definitive studies. It can
demonstrate past discrimination particular to a situation, and even then it must devise a program
Anarrowly tailored to the situation. (Adarand v. Pena, 94–310 (1995)).
The Supreme Court's
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Essay about Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is a blanket term that refers to "the set of public policies and initiatives designed
to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, color, sex or national origin,"
(Sykes). Before the Civil Rights Acts of 1965 and the 1954 Scott v. Topeka decision, there were
"unwritten laws and protection for white men" against competition from women and ethnic
minorities in prestigious professions, creating blatant inequality (Alsbrook). Affirmative action
policies designed in part to counteract such "unwritten laws" were first employed in 1965 to provide
equal opportunity among federal contractors; now however, they are used widely in many industries,
both public and private (Kahn). In the...show more content...
For example, according to a Department of Labor study, an estimated five million non–white
workers and six million women are in higher occupational classifications today than they would have
been without the affirmative action policies of the 1960's and 1970's (Americans 3).
Turning to the realm of education, some opponents of affirmative action claim that its policies
actually backfire, and that it harms the very groups it is intended to help. For example, Shelby
Steele, a researcher who specializes in racial studies at Stanford University's Hoover Institute, claims
that blacks "stand to lose more from [affirmative action] than they gain," (Steele 113). Steele argues
that affirmative action in higher education precludes the success of racial minorities to "achieve
proportionate representation on their own" because, as presently implemented, it confuses
representation with development (115). He also claims that affirmative action leads to black
self–doubt because it often calls for less prepared black students to compete directly with
well–prepped whites (116).
However, affirmative action proponent Ronald Dworkin utilizes evidence amassed from William
Bowen and Derek Bok's research on affirmative action in higher education to undermine both of
Steele's central arguments. Bowen and Bok's study concluded that blacks do in fact applaud
affirmative action because it has had positive effects on their educational experience and

Pro Affirmative Action Essay
Affirmative action is a policy or a program that seeks to redress past discrimination of minorities
through active measures in order to ensure equal opportunity, as in education and employment. In
other words, it is policy that was established to hopefully eliminate racial preference and equalize the
United States. The fight against discrimination has been a long lasting one that started with the case
of Plessy vs. Ferguson, which ended in the desegregation of all schools (Ficker). Affirmative action
was put into place in 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Executive Order that
mandated government contractors to "take affirmative action" in all aspects of hiring and employing
minorities (Brunner). Upon its arrival, the policy...show more content...
The fact that, in most cases, a minority student will get accepted over a white student with the
same or almost the same qualifications is causing controversy all over the nation. This is precisely
the definition of affirmative action. In an excerpt titled Affirmative Action and the College
Admissions Process from the book, 8 Steps to Help Black Families Pay For College, by Thomas
and Will LaVeist, it is stated that, "affirmative action is meant to level the playing field and ensure
that schools and businesses are not intentionally discriminating against minority groups." This
leveling of the playing field leads to the very broad generalization and misperception that the policy
is allowing less–qualified minorities to take the place of the more–qualified whites. Two more cases
that aroused much debate on the issue were the 2003 cases of Gratz vs. Bollinger and Grutter vs.
Bollinger, in which two more–than–qualified students applied to the University of Michigan and
were denied due to acceptance policies. The two women, Jennifer Gratz and Barbara Grutter, took
their cases to the Supreme Court with the plea that the University of Michigan is "treating people
differently based on skin color, and that is unconstitutional" (Mears). The university openly stated
that they have a point system in their acceptance process in which students receive extra point if they
are of minority status. Mary Sue Coleman, the president of the University of Michigan stated, "[W]e

According to Newman, affirmative action is a "program designed to seek out members of minority
groups for positions from which they had previously been excluded, thereby seeking to overcome
some institutional racism" (Newman, 536). Affirmative action made its debut with a piece of
legislature passed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and continues to this day. However, the
concept of affirmative action is a controversial issue that continues to be hotly debated.
Affirmative action policies are passionately debated by everyone from educators and politicians to
ordinary citizens, all who hold differing opinions on both the necessity and validity of the policies.
There is no doubt affirmative action is an emotional topic and deals with the...show more content...
Among the citizens of America affirmative action is a sensitive subject with some seeing it as a
necessity to help those who have been repressed and others seeing it as reverse racism. Many
Americans may also be conflicted about affirmative action, because it is such a complex issue.
People fervently debate affirmative action, because it is a complex issue revolving around one's
own race, experiences, and desires.
It cannot be denied that there are many benefits to affirmative action in that it helps to ensure both
fairness and diversity in organizations, such as schools. In many places across American
discrimination is still alive and well. Because of this, affirmative action is necessary to action
ensure that people of minority groups will not be denied admission to schools or employment
based on their race. After all, there are some organizations who would not be willing to change
their policies unless forced by the government to do so. Also, many minority groups are still
underrepresented in schools and occupations, which is unfortunate because it gives people a skewed
view of what the population of America truly looks like and lets them think of different races as
simply the homogenous others, instead of seeing them as people. Being around people who are
different is "necessary to dispel stereotypes about minorities" and as the Department of Education
points out, "Interacting with students who have different perspectives and life experiences can

Affirmative Action
The Webster dictionary defines affirmative action as an "active effort to improve the employment or
educational opportunities of members of minority groups..." This paper will discuss the history of
affirmative action and its effects on education and the work force in our society. I will argue why
affirmative action is necessary for minorities to gain equal opportunities educationally and
economically and how affirmative action is morally required as reparation for past discrimination. I
will also discuss why many people believe that affirmative action is a step in the wrong direction and
point out several arguments as to why we should get rid of affirmative action and try to validate their
claims. Affirmative...show more content...
The history of the United States is infested with past discrimination, oppression, and hostility toward
certain minority groups, especially African Americans, and the Government needed to formulate a
plot that would reconcile the past. Although affirmative action has its flaws, it has been the best
strategy to make reparations for the hundreds of years that colored people were deemed inferior to
white people. My belief is that had we not discriminated so inhumanely towards these groups of
people they would not be considered "inferior" by many in modern times. In much of the history of
the United States, blacks were not given the opportunity to compete for things such as job
availability, wages, and housing, and so there was not fair competition between the races. This made
it possible for a rapid advancement of the white population, while minority groups were forced to do
the best they could with the limited amount of resources that were available to them. A fair starting
point in the race of competition for opportunities was clearly lacking, and this discrepancy in
competition is what affirmative action is trying to amend in the modern world. Lyndon B. Johnson
was the first president to implement some sort of affirmative action program in 1965, where he
declared that government contracted jobs must take into consideration ethnic backgrounds when
hiring, and it also gave

Affirmative action is an attempt by the United States to amend a long history of racial and sexual
discrimination. But these days it seems to incite, not ease, the nations internal divisions. Opponents
of affirmative action say that the battle for equal rights is over, and that requiring quotas that favor
one group over another is un–American. The people that defend it say that the playing field is not
level, and that providing advantages for minorities and women is fair considering the discrimination
those groups tolerated for years. This paper will discuss the history of affirmative action, how it is
implemented in society today, and evaluate the arguments that it presents.
History of Affirmative...show more content...
Also in most southern states, blacks could not vote.
These laws also denied blacks equal education. Black children could attend the same schools as
white children. Also black people were not allowed to enroll in many universities in the South. The
separate facilities were far from equal. "At black schools and colleges, the faculty was poorly paid,
the facilities inferior... The curriculum at black colleges was often limited to agricultural and
technical programs designed to train southern blacks for low–paying jobs. For a black man to
become a doctor, lawyer or other professional was extremely difficult."(Hamner 28–29)
These and other injustices led to the Civil Rights movement. A bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama
in 1955 started the movement. Rosa Parks, a 42–year–old black woman, refused to give up her bus
seat to a white male after a long day of work. She was arrested and found guilty. The black citizens of
Montgomery rallied together under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. to boycott the cities
segregated transportation system. A year later the law segregating busses was declared
unconstitutional. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the civil rights movement began to take shape and
gain momentum. Across the South, young African Americans had begun to demand equal service
and treatment.

Affirmative action is the nation's most ambitious attempt to redress its long history of racial and
sexual discrimination, however in modern times and approximately forty years after the
establishment of this policy, society is plagued with the issues of whether affirmative action is
necessary, whether it is a benefit or detriment to society, and why it incites rather then eases the
nation's internal dilemmas after so many years of having been in effect. In the following paragraphs
the issues surrounding this debate, such as what is the definition of affirmative action, how and why
affirmative action was established to begin with, who is affected by this policy, whether affirmative
action is still necessary in today's society or if such...show more content...
Thus it is not enough just to open the gates or opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to
walk through those gates .... We seek not...just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact
and equality as a result."
And so several months later President Johnson issued Executive Order 11246, which stated that
"It is the policy of the Government of the United States to provide equal opportunity in federal
employment for all qualified persons, to prohibit discrimination in employment because of race,
creed, color or national origin, and to promote the full realization of equal employment opportunity
through a positive, continuing program in each department and agency." Two years later the
order was amended to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. While the aim of President
Johnson's order was similar to that of President Kennedy's, President Johnson's eliminated the
Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, transferred its responsibilities to the Secretary of
Labor, and authorized the Secretary to "adopt such rules and regulations and issue such orders
as he deems necessary and appropriate to achieve the purposes thereof." (QUOTE) Acting on
the basis of this mandate, the Department of Labor in December 1971, during the administration of
President Richard M. Nixon, issued Revised Order No. 4, requiring all contractors to develop
"an acceptable

Essay on Against Affirmative Action
Affirmative action was created to assist minority groups against discrimination, but affirmative
action does more harm than what it can do to help. Affirmative action was created with the
intention of leveling the playing field so that everyone can have an equal opportunity to be hired or
accepted in to a school, but it does the opposite of what it is meant to do. Affirmative action is reverse
discrimination against white males, lesser qualified people are admitted into jobs and colleges, and
not all people have an equal opportunity to advance.
Affirmative action should be abolished because the negatives from the program far outweigh the
positives. The program is doing a lot of harm to American society instead of helping.
If...show more content...
In eight University of California campuses where affirmative action is no longer implemented the
enrollment of black students only declined by 17% and the enrollment of Hispanics declined only
by 6.9%. Even without the use of it, minorities are still getting into colleges. There is no need for
discriminatory programs like affirmative action because there is not a big difference between
minority groups and whites anymore. If some person has the potential and desire to succeed they
can succeed. Everyone can do anything they want to do if they have what is takes to enter the
university or job.
Some people argue that affirmative action is a program of opportunity, and not a program of
discrimination. Although affirmative action might be a program of opportunity it only gives
opportunity to a select few. If it would give everyone the same opportunity affirmative action would
be a good program, but it does not. Minorities are given the upper hand with affirmative action.
Supporters of affirmative action also argue affirmative action helps to diversify jobs and schools.
Although the program does bring some minorities into jobs and schools, there is a price to pay for
it. Whites are not allowed into those places because they need to "diversify" the schools and
workplaces. In order for diversification to happen everyone should be able to be accepted instead of
taking in the minorities and

Essay on Affirmative Action
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.
We hold these truths to be self–evident: that all men are created equal." – Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. (6). Dr. King stated this in his famous "I have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C.
in 1963. Is affirmative action still needed in America? Affirmative action is still needed because
America does not have enough equality and diversity. Almost all of our American history dealt with
inequality between the white men and the black men. As time went on, nothing has changed and is
still seen in today's society. There are two definitions of affirmative action: 1) race–neutral,
gender–neutral assurance against actual discrimination...show more content...
Many argue that reverse discrimination takes effect. Reverse discrimination is described as
discrimination towards whites. Many of these reverse discrimination cases have been brought to
court, the result is just more confusion. This is because there is a lot of gray in the law concerning
this topic. Sometimes courts allow someone to choose the minority if they are less qualified, while
in other cases they don't allow it. For example in a Supreme Court decision, it was allowed for a
Michigan school district to layoff non–minority teachers in order to hire minority teachers with less
experience (1). However, not many cases such as these occur. The minorities have gone through
such cases everyday for decades. For the whites or majority to say that one or two cases are a
substantial amount and that justice be served, where have they been when the minorities had the
same troubles years ago and still to this day? There is bound to be some setbacks but overall,
affirmative action will lead to a better society where everyone can be treated and looked at fairly.
Affirmative action is still necessary because of lack of equality. White males typically earn
significantly more than women and minorities. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity,
women, overall, make 71 cents as compared to a man's dollar(4). While minority men make more
than non–minority and minority women,

Essay on Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action
Since its implementation in the United States in 1965, affirmative action has been a heated topic of
debate. Designed to address the issue of inequality in American society, affirmative action is a
number of programs and policies designed to give women and racial minorities more opportunities in
education and the job market. As a result, affirmative action has received opposition, mainly from
blue collar white males who feel that it compromises their best interests. In this paper, we will
attempt to evaluate the impact of affirmative action on all Americans and its effectiveness in
addressing the issue of inequality.
History:
Affirmative action was first mentioned in executive order 10925 on March 6, 1961....show more
content...
As historian Roger Wilkins said, "blacks have a 375 year history on this continent: 245 involving
slavery, 100 involving legalized discrimination, and only 30 involving anything else." In response to
taking opportunity away from whites, liberals pointed out that whites were still far superior in terms
of salary and high–level job positions (Brunner).
The first landmark ruling of affirmative action occurred on June 28, 1978 in the Supreme Court
case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. The case involved the UC Davis medical
school that had two admissions pools. One was for standard applications and the other was
specifically for minorities and economically disadvantaged students. Alan Bakke was a white
applicant that was rejected twice despite having significantly better test scores than several
minorities who were accepted into the program. He claimed that judging him by his race was a
violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment. The court ruled that race was a
legitimate factor for admissions but inflexible quotas were not. The court split five–four and
although it made a very important ruling it still had not addressed many of the issues that had
surfaced as a result of the case (Brunner).
The next important case was on July 2, 1980 in the Supreme Court case Fullilove v. Klutznick. The
court ruled that some modest quotas were perfectly constitutional. February 25, 1987 marked

The purpose of affirmative action is to ensure equal opportunity for minorities. But it has strayed
from its original intent and has become largely a program to achieve not equal opportunity but equal
results. It is a system of quotas forced upon American businesses and working class by the federal
government. A law which forces people to look at race before looking at the individual cannot
promote equal opportunity. Affirmative action continues the judgement ofminorities by race; it
causes reverse discrimination, and contradicts its purpose.
Affirmative action is not creating a colorblind society. In fact it continues the judgement of minorities
according to race. Affirmative action forces employers and...show more content...
When a minority is turned down because of the color of their skin, it is unconstitutional. But when
a white person is turned down because they are white, it is called equal opportunity. There is no
excuse for anyone to be judged by something as trivial as race. There should not be a double
standard.
The third major reason why affirmative action should not exist is that it completely contradicts its
purpose. Its purpose is to create a colorblind society. But in reality, it forces people to look at race
by mandating quotas. The thinking behind affirmative action is to eliminate racism, we must first
take race into account. Yet this causes a judgmental atmosphere in which many people feel cheated
because the focus has been taken off the individual and placed everyone into groups based on race
and gender.
It is illegal for the government to require quotas as well. Therefore affirmative action is
unconstitutional and should be illegal.
Affirmative action is also taking the focus off the individual. That is why Florida governor, Jeb
Bush, has banned race and gender preference with his "One Florida" plan which will end affirmative
action. The plan also guarantees that every student within the top 20% is guaranteed admission into
college.
Seldom has a democratic government's policy so completely contradicted the core values of its
citizenry

Affirmative Action
Analyzing Affirmative Action in America doesn't just mean looking at how to make equality, it
also means understanding how inequality has been made. Race and gender are not inherently
disadvantageous; one cannot get "more or less race" or "more or less gender." How do we define
this inequality of race and gender? These socially constructed equalities are linked very strongly to
real, tangible inequalities such as education, jobs, income, class, and social mobility. Another
concern, therefore, is what inequalities are acceptable? These material inequalities of income,
education, housing, etc. are necessary to a multi–class capitalist society, but the unacceptable
cultural inequalities of race, gender,...show more content...
As a result, most legislation promoting equality and Affirmative Action comes after the Civil
Rights movement. The first instance the term was used in any form was the Kennedy Executive
Order 10925, which prohibited the use of discrimination against people based on their race, creed,
color, or national origin by government contractors (Holzer 485). This Executive Order created the
Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, which was designed to make sure that the order
was being followed by federal contractors (Bishop 230). Kennedy's Executive Order was modified
and reinforced by Johnson Executive Order 11246 and 11375, the latter of which eliminated gender
discrimination by federal contractors (Hudson 270).
Perhaps the two most important pieces of legislation passed dealing with equality were the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, specifically Title VII (clinton2.nara.gov), and Title IX, passed in 1972. Title VII
prohibited discrimination by race, creed, color, or national origin by all federally funded programs
but also large private corporations (clinton2.nara.gov), while Title IX made gender discrimination
illegal. President Nixon and then Labor Secretary George Shultz drafted the "Philadelphia Plan,"
which set timetables for the implementation of Affirmative Action (clinton2.nara.gov). These laws
were subsequently challenged in the Supreme Court.
The first major case dealing with affirmative action came with Regents of the

Essay about Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action has been an issue of contention since its inception during the Civil Rights
struggles of mid 20th century America. Discrimination could no longer be tolerated and the Unites
States government had an obligation to encourage equality at all levels of the social infrastructure.
The main type of discrimination being addressed by Affirmative Action programs was racial
discrimination. The Merriam Webster dictionary definesracism as: 'a belief that race is the primary
determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent
superiority of a particular race.' The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination of any
kind, laid the foundation for the introduction of Affirmative Action...show more content...
However, Affirmative Action was initially created to tackle the discrimination of blacks. Over the
years, random testing has been conducted to analyze America's social structure and the level of
racial divide. The Fair Employment Council of Greater Washington Inc. did some testing between
1992 and 1994. The studies discovered that blacks were treated worse than whites 24 percent of the
time when interviewing for jobs. In fact, when a car dealership conducted interviews, the black
candidate was offered a car washing position while the white candidate, with identical qualifications,
was offered a sales position. White males maintain 97 percent of the senior management positions in
Fortune 1000 companies. The unemployment rate of whites is less than half that of blacks. The
poverty rate in the black community hovers around 26 percent. The poverty rate for whites is 9
percent. The inequality between white and black America is alarming and Affirmative Action is
desperately needed to establish some sense of equality. The fight for equal opportunity begins with
the government, and all government agencies have made a concerted effort to establish Affirmative
Action programs. The United States Department of Labor offers this statement on its website:
"For federal contractors and subcontractors, affirmative action must be taken by covered employers
to recruit and advance qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans.

Ethics of Affirmative Action Essay example
Affirmative Action: Staying on the Road to Equality "We hold these truths to be self–evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" (Declaration of Independence, 1776).
Who would imagine that in a country under the blanket such a brilliant, ethical and proud statement
of equality, there could be so much dissention about equality? Our nation has interpreted this
statement differently since it was written, and still, more than two hundred years later, we are on
the road to a truly equal society. This is because racism has its seeds deeply sown into the history of
America. Uprooting perceptions...show more content...
The United States began as thirteen English settler colonies. Britain had control over American
government and trade. The thirteen colonies were also used to the advantage of Britain, and they
did not like it, so they fought for independence and won the Revolutionary War. They were no
longer colonies. People from many different European countries began to immigrate to America.
The United States were becoming very ethnically diverse. Though colonialism was ended in the
United States, exploitation of labor was not. Slaves were brought from Africa in large numbers,
most often to work on plantations in the south. Slavery was a key element of United States society
and economy. People of African descent were viewed as not even fully human. For example, in the
Dred Scott case of 1857, the Supreme court ruled that black Americans were not constitutionally
citizens of the United states, calling them "subordinate and inferior beings." (Kranz 6). Only six
years later, after the Civil War ended, President Lincoln declared all slaves free by the Emancipation
Proclamation, which was followed by the Thirteenth Amendment, which permanently abolished
slavery. In the eyes of the government, blacks were free citizens of the United States, but in the
eyes of many Americans they were still inferior. The ideology that had been cultivated for centuries
was not as easy to change as the law. This was

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