Affirmative action = discrim.
Affirmative Action Endorses DiscriminationMost people agree that the discrimination is a bad thing. The word carries a negative connotation. Therefore, the government should not put any laws or quotas in place that discriminate against its citizens. Yet affirmative action does just that. How can the government rationalize a policy to officially discriminate against people by race for special treatment (Graglia 47)? When politicians first conceived the idea of affirmative action, the intention was to promote equality and ensure that race was not a concern when hiring an employee. In JoAnn Bren Guernsey's words, "Affirmative action is a term used to describe techniques to remedy the effects of existing and past discrimination and to end such discrimination" (8). In theory, affirmative action is an outstanding policy, but in reality, it inversely shows prejudice towards deserving and qualified white males. Affirmative action hinders equality in the workplace.Affirmative action officially started gaining popularity in the early 1960s. Discrimination against blacks was still rampant in the South, and the rest of the nation wanted to change that. Guernsey states, "The term affirmative action was probably first used and lin
Sowell questions "Is it not more important to have these students go where they are more likely to graduate, rather than have them serve as temporary tokens on the Berkeley campus, allowing university administrators to gush about 'diversity'?" and he brings up an excellent point (52). Most everyone agrees that racism is a large problem in the United States. Kennedy created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which said the construction industry should hire employees "without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin" (31). The problems of affirmative action are significant, and this paper points these problems out. The University of California at San Diego earns the respectable reputation it carries, and its graduates have great opportunities to get good jobs out of college. In the 1980's, the University of California at Berkeley greatly increased the number of African Americans accepted (Sowell 51). Orlando Patterson brings up a good point. The policy steals job openings from deserving applicants and gives them to unqualified candidates, solely based on their minority status. Sadly, race is slowly taking precedence over qualifications when hiring an individual. Kennedy shortly after he took office in 1961" (30). Sure, affirmative action may be contributing to less discrimination towards blacks, but does that make up for the reverse discrimination it is creating towards whites that are getting jobs and college acceptance letters taken away from them from lesser-qualified minorities? I do not think affirmative action is the solution. So instead of thriving at a lesser, yet still reputable, school, they struggle or fail at UC Berkeley (51). Affirmative action should be reformed to better facilitate the program's original goal of fully integrating blacks into American society" (54). He was incorrect; not all potential employees are on a level playing field.
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Acceptance Essays
