The Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

Referring to both a general concept and United States legislature, affirmative action is defined as, "A set of procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants, remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future," ("Affirmative Action", LII). The idea behind affirmative action is that minorities deserve not only equal treatment to their prior oppressors, but also compensation for the discrimination that they and/or their ancestors have previously experienced. This idea spread rapidly in the beginning of twentieth century America, and part of it was eventually put into an executive order by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, requiring government contractors to take, "affirmative
Despite this executive order only dealing with employers' hiring and treatment of minority employees, once this milestone of legal progress was reached for the affirmative action movement, supporters began pushing for more. From the initiation of affirmative action to present day, this concept has adversely affected many aspects of society. Although it benefits some, affirmative action should not be legal because it causes reverse discrimination, it is unfair to people on both sides, and its educational policies soften standards, ruining students' motivation. Whereas advocates of affirmative action say that these policies correct the misdeeds previously done to minority groups, the actual effect of affirmative action is the creation of reverse discrimination, which maintains, even heightens, divisions within society based on
Though many testimonies by those "benefiting" from affirmative action policies are good, with people finding themselves better off than they would have otherwise been, many other testimonies of minorities affected are negative. One opinion commonly held by affirmative action recipients, that the concept is, "condescending to the underrepresented groups since it is implied that the groups need affirmative action in order to succeed in higher education," is a perspective that has divided society further ("Affirmative Action Overview"). Since some recipients are advocating for increased aid, and other recipients are actively opposing any amount of aid, even the group intended to be helped by affirmative action cannot face the issue