Affirmative Action
Since the introduction of Affirmative Action, by Lyndon B. Johnson, it has been a very debatable issue in the American culture. Recently, the differing sides have focused on its use in college acceptance. Many believe that it is the best means we have, at this time, to guarantee that people of all backgrounds receive the same chance, but an equally numbered side believes quite differently. As innocently as it may have begun, Affirmative Actions drawbacks began to show up soon enough. On June 28th, 1978 the Supreme Courts decision in the case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the first Affirmative Action lawsuit of this kind, was handed down. The Supreme Court Justices' decision put forth limitations on Affirmative Action policies to ensure that providing greater opportunities for minorities did not come at the expense of the rights of the majority. However, their words carried little weight because it is impossible to hand someone of the minority an opportunity without first taking that opportunity from someone of the majority. This was the argument of Allan Bakke, a white applicant to the University of California-Medical School, who's application had been twice rejected by the Board of Regents even though
It is thought that a class should have 75% Caucasian students, and 25% of varied other races. his scores were considerably higher than most of the minority applicants accepted. These gains have helped to provide the great diversity, and equal opportunity that we should all hope to obtain, but Affirmative Action can not receive full credit for this. While we must strive for an equal plain for all to compete upon, equality will never be reached if slanting the opportunities in the opposite direction continues to be seen as an appropriate solution to discrimination. However, Caucasian enrollment has seen a 15% increase, and male enrollment has had nearly the same growth. As of April 1st, 2003 there are two cases against the University of Michigan for the extreme use of Affirmative Action policies when considering college enrollment acceptance being heard by the Supreme Court. That is because, at the time, the University reserved 16 of their 100 enrollments for minority students regardless of how they compared to those of the majority. The high point so far in the movement towards an even middle was when on February 22nd, 2000, the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush's education component of the "One Florida" proposal was passed banning race as a factor in state funded college admissions. It has contributed to a 44% growth of minority enrollment, making Hispanic and African-American enrollment 20% of the nations universities. The Court ruled, in a 5-4 split decision, that while race was a legitimate factor in school admissions, the use of such inflexible quotas, as the medical school had set aside, was not. For all its flaws, Affirmative Action is not completely foolish. According to our most recent Census, the Caucasian race makes up 75.
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Acceptance Essays
