affirmative action
Affirmative action, as defined by Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, is "an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups and women." This sounds like a very positive thing, however in its course of action, it causes reverse discrimination against groups, which are not protected under the provision. Since affirmative action creates opportunities for those who are characterized as "less fortunate", it therefore hinders the opportunities for others qualified individuals. When the issue of affirmative action and its role in college admissions is brought up, I think that it should be used sparingly, if at all. This is to reduce the threat of causing reverse discrimination. Some may argue that affirmative action helps to create diversity on college campuses. I agree with this belief, since it is the objective of the program in general. However, for every minority student admitted simply because of their race, we may be losing out on a student that would add just as much, if not more to the campus, simply because of their ethnicity. In order to more clearly understand why colleges and universities in their decision process have used affirmative action, we must first understand . . .
Avoiding the use of race as a determinant of acceptance certainly, in my opinion, helps to level off the playing field and reduces reverse discrimination when deciding which students to enroll. One such alternative is the process of "blind admissions", where race or ethnic background is not used for any reason to determine whether an applicant is accepted or not. There is no possible way to make up for the past, so we should use it only as a learning tool to help us improve in the future. Rather than using any physical factors to determine eligibility, they would select a certain percentage of graduates from each high school and grant them automatic acceptance to certain state institutions. Rather than using ethnic factors, admissions counselors would rely solely on such information as SAT scores, essays, high school activities and involvement, and the student's GPA. " My argument against this information is that Stanford is a private university, and does not need to adhere to Proposition 209 at all. For example, a benefit of affirmative action is the creation of diversity. However, my arguments is that diversity is being created in the wrong manner. If those admitted under the program were not prepared to face the challenge at the starting point, they should not have been accepted, and redirected to another institution to better hone their skills. For example, in every Florida high school, the top 20 percent of graduates would be guaranteed a seat at one of the public universities. I support this method of admissions because it is not race-biased and helps to level the playing field between minority and non-minority applicants. However, what happens to those students not admitted, yet were more deserving in the first place? We must all make opportunities for ourselves, which should not include "handouts" such as those created by affirmative action. , the higher their grades will be, and will therefore create a segue into the college of choice for that person.
Common topics in this essay:
Collegiate Dictionary, Shape River, Stanford Daily, Board Regents, Ray Orbach, Florida Texas, Jeb Bush, affirmative action, proposition 209, California University, , reverse discrimination, minority students, students admitted, ethnic background, action create, Bowen Bok's, 20 percent, affirmative action create, remedy past discrimination, helps level, level playing, level playing field, race ethnic background, helps level playing, |