From Affirmative Action to Diversity - Term Paper Example

? Case against Affirmative Action Case against Affirmative Action Affirmative action refers to the equal and preferable treatment given to the minorities at the time of admission in any university or working place not just in public environment but in private firms too (Kennedy, 1990, p.705). The affirmative action rules and regulation were formulated to eliminate the sense of discrimination among different communities of the society that was present for centuries and to provide platform to the minorities that lacked benefits. The flourishing of the policies based on the minorities right is also sue to the fact that societies are getting much diverse on the cultural and religious basis as what is different from the past days. However, according to many critics, such rules are not needed in today’s society and due to the rules certain issues are mandatory to be created. One such instance regarding the particular minority rules was seen in the Supreme Court some years ago. It involved the issue of admission in the University of Michigan. The regulations of that university were following the point system in which the possible applicants got rated. For a minority group, the points score got doubled to become a perfect SAT score (Fryer, 2005, p.147). As a result, three white students submitted a lawsuit on the basis of race discrimination. According to the regulators of university, we desired diversity and by applying affirmative action we can avail the real diversity. Affirmative action makes the discrimination opposite (Herring, 2012, p.630). The main reason for devising the rules under affirmative action is to prevent discrimination and biased action of the co workers, employees and students on the basis of color but on the contrary to this, the rules produce the opposite results. White people who are in majority and work really hard to achieve the position have to follow strict regulations because they are majority. Opposite to many set stereotyping, most of the minorities lies under the middle or upper level of the society and white people having poor life style. Undoubtedly, as the set standards for the minorities has made the down trodden white majority students who believe in discipline and constant efforts will not preferred over the wealthy minority students, who lack the traits of hard work and efforts. The standard for accountability diminishes due to affirmative action, which is essential for the students and workers to give best performance. In case if a student belongs to a minority group gets admission in Harvard at 3.2 GPA then the aim of getting 4.0 GPA will not be there. Though, there are people that can motivate themselves to achieve better results however, there are few that require a constant push from others to do so. If the standards of admission and employment will become lower, the level of accountability also gets lowered. It is important to consider harwork, achievement and discipline as the rewardful acts and a student lacking all these basic aspects should not be getting equal or preferential treatment over other students. Certain students that are preferred on such basis are most commonly ill-equipped to manage the conditions and regulations of university or school of admission. Consider the situation when a minor baseball player preferred to be the captain of a major team and when a science project participant is opted for a rocket science task in NASA. The possibility to get success in both cases is very minimum however; in both situations the individual will feel ill-educated for the needed effort. Similarly, in Harvard and Yale universities, the standard of GPA and SAT is much higher and cannot be achieved by everyone. But it is due to the affirmative action, minority individuals with less GPA and SAT score get the chance to become the part of it. The affirmative action will cause a color blind society. when an individual apply for a job for an admission in school, there is no reason to ask the skin color, height or eye color as the only parameter to judge the potential of the individual is through the degrees and hard work the person can put in and not the color of the eyes or height that can lead success unless it’s a modeling job. Similarly, the rules of affirmative action for minorities will cause a color blind society. Affirmative action can lead to stooping in minorities group. In case of admission and employment preference to the minorities, it can be an indirect condescending to them as they are considered less appropriate or incapable to get such positions at their own basis. For some, this action might cause feeling of guilt and insult among the minorities as being treated as lower than majorities and therefore they are getting such addition policies to overcome the issue. It inversely affects the true achievement of the minorities in term of true success and capability. All the renowned black minority people that have achieved success like Barak Obama, colim pawell, Oprah winfrey and others are not the beneficiaries of the affirmative active but they worked hard to achieve success and got the fame. However, due to the implementation of affirmative action that gives preferential treatment to black minorities, they are looked upon by the majorities as the incapable beings and dependent upon the rules that is devised for them. In reaction, they will work double hard to prove that they are not less than them and it is not just because of the action that they got the position. Affirmative actions are difficult to eliminate once they become the part of law. No matter the underlying discrimination is removed, the problem will continue in other forms. With changing in time, societies are getting more diverse and acceptable towards the role of minorities. The racism and discrimination can be eradicated with time and in some parts of the country, these acts are a part of history now. The biggest example is the president of America who is black citizen and got the position on his own capabilities. Positive aspects of affirmative action In certain areas, affirmative action is needed. In schools it is vital to achieve the diversity and open the minds of the students to accept the minorities and understand the cultural differences (Backes, 2012, p.440). It is in the favor of the students as they may lead a separate life in the past but after attaining the college, the feeling of being similar and those minorities are too humans make them a good citizen. Disadvantage students require a push up in the areas where they were not preferred before the affirmative actions. The high schools were considered of majority and there were fewer chances for the minority students to get the admission or being treated equally. With affirmative action, a boost is given to such students to prove themselves. The breaking of stereotype system is possible only because of affirmative action. For many years, black color minorities were labeled as incapable as or lower than that of white people. With the affirmative action, an opportunity is provided to the blacks to prove their worth and capabilities in the field of studies and job employment. Thus, the stereotype misconceptions will get changed overtime with the practice and implementation of affirmative action. The want of affirmative action is to remunerate minority groups for the oppression and slavery. The history has revealed that the white majority was considered themselves as superior and made black as their slaves, and servants. The high oppression and worst behavior to them lead to unpaid job, land holding, harsh punishments and denial of basic rights to them as given in the constitution. Thus, by enforcing the affirmative action, a compensation of all such brutalities has been made by the government. References Kennedy, Duncan. (1990). A Cultural Pluralist Case for Affirmative Action in Legal Academia. (Duke Law Journal.) Duke University School of Law. Fryer, R. G., & Loury, G. C. (January 01, 2005). Affirmative Action and Its Mythology. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19, 3, 147-162. Backes, B. (March 01, 2012). Do affirmative action bans lower minority college enrollment and attainment? Evidence from statewide bans. Journal of Human Resources, 47, 2, 435-455. Herring, C., & Henderson, L. (September 01, 2012). From Affirmative Action to Diversity: Toward a Critical Diversity Perspective. Critical Sociology, 38, 5, 629-643. Read More