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
of freedom and diversity.
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
and “the policies behind affirmative action encourage all deprived students to enter an advanced educational system” (Lipper-Rasmussen). Louis Pojman points out four main reasons to why there are objections to the policy; one, “it is simply a form of reverse discrimination”; two, is “unfair to more qualified white males who are passed over because of their sex and race”; three, “these programs disadvantage males and whites who are not themselves responsible for the harm historically done to women and blacks”; four, “these programs encourage mediocrity among minorities and women.” Those who want to keep affirmative action agree on “affirmative action draw[ing] people to areas of study and work [they] may never consider otherwise” (Sacks). Those who support affirmative action want a diverse society where different colors work together. Keeping the policy helps schools from becoming overwhelmingly white dominated. While those who believe, affirmative action should be eliminated agree on how the policy “lowers standards of accountability needed to push students or employees to perform better” and “demeans true minority achievements” (O’Neil). Overall, there are those who feel the policy should be eliminated and updated. The basic idea for having these policies was for institutions and organizations to provide equal opportunities for the people or minority groups or been historically excluded. In some cases, some groups are not acknowledged enough, and they are not offered representation at any level. Affirmative action is a long going battle with social and political conflicts focused mostly in education. Affirmative action has been brought into the spotlight in recent years due to the implications between the majority and minority groups. Today, affirmative action simply shifts in justice because now it puts everyone against the white males. These articles support those who would want to eliminate the policy and change it because it shows how students are responding to the problem and they believe there should be a change to the outdated policy. The Universities of Texas, Michigan and Washington were challenged in recent years due to their controversial court cases all from affirmative action. With the court taking the side of acknowledging diversity in education as a priority, the decision made by the court will continue on with many controversial debates on diversity and whether the policy should be eliminated indefinitely. Even though this will not put an end to the policy soon, the long road to equality will be a bumpy ride with prolong positive and negative effects. I hope affirmative action would be changed or eliminated soon because it causes problems within our current society. We should ask ourselves why we still need this policy when we all have been given the same opportunities as others. Affirmative action has cause reverse discrimination and with the policy gone, a colorless society would take place because there would not be any racial prejudice amongst ethnic groups. Therefore, affirmative action should be eliminated and reviewed because of the countless numbers of problems the policy has brought to today’s society.