Affirmative Action Essay Example for Free

Affirmative Action Essay Affirmative action is policies to give special attention or compensatory treatment to members of previously disadvantages group. There is a lot of history and events behind this policy. First, in 1978 the Supreme Court addressed the issue for the first time with the case of Alan Bakke. He was a 31 year old who had been wait-listed for admission by the University of California at Davis. His scores and grades where higher than all the other African Americans so his rejection was declared illegal because they determined his admission by his race. Also, in 1979, the court ruled that a factory and a union could voluntarily adopt a quota system in selecting black workers over more senior white workers for a training program. As a result in 1980, Ronald Reagan, an ardent foe of for affirmative action was finally supported. Following this event, in 1989 the supreme court handed down five civil rights decisions limiting affirmative action programs and making it harder to prove employment discrimination. Lastly, in 1990 Congress passed legislation designed to overrule the Court’s rulings, but President George Bush vetoed it. Then in 1991 Congress made a weaker version of the Civil Rights Act the overruled the Supreme Court rulings which prohibited the use of quotas or affirmative action. The arguments for affirmative action is that there should be a certain number of a race admitted to a college or job. There should be quotas that have to be met with different minority groups. Only the â€Å"superior Caucasian race† should fill the schools or job positions. Everyone else is labeled â€Å"not good enough for the position. † The argument against affirmative action is that it is racist and violates all the civil rights laws we fought for. Everyone should have an equal opportunity to fill the position no matter his or her race, gender, ethnicity, etc. In my opinion, I don’t think affirmative action is needed today. I think it is 100% wrong and racist. Why should my race matter if I get the job or get accepted to a college? It shouldn’t matter, especially if I can work or study just as hard as a Caucasian student. We fought to hard for civil rights in order for this to be acceptable. Reverse discrimination is when a minority is the majority. This mainly happens with groups geared towards that minority. That minority would treat other with affirmative action just like they have probably been treated in the past. For example, college that is historically black will probably accept more African American students compared to any other race. Yes, I believe that reverse discrimination still occurs today. Those minority groups want majority groups to feel what they felt and experience affirmative action. With each candidate I considered his or her grade, scores, and extra curricular activities. I considered their GPA and activities over their SAT/ACT scores because I believe that not everyone is a good test taker. I believe that those tests shouldn’t determine whether you get accepted to a college or not. I don’t think that those scores can tell whether a student is going to succeed in college or not. I think that their GPA and high school grades should determine that. I also think that, that test shouldn’t determine anything because it isn’t fair; it is geared toward Caucasian students. I believe that race should not play any role in whether a student gets accepted, denied, or put on the waitlist. Just because I’m African American and the next student is Caucasian doesn’t mean we are different. At the end of the day both students are applying and attending college to get an education and fulfill their goals and ambitions. Admissions officers should consider how unique a student is and how much they genuinely appreciate education. All colleges should interview their possible applicants because anyone can write anything on a piece of paper. The process is probably really difficult because there are a lot of excellent applicants. Race should not be stated when selecting students for college. I believe that will eliminate affirmative action and other issues. For a college to â€Å"set aside† a certain place for minority groups or to give special treatment to certain groups could mean one of two things in my opinion. First it could mean that they are being racist and believe one group is superior over another. It could also mean that the college is trying to make that student comfortable by giving them people they can relate to. Most minority groups flock together anyway. I do believe that it is wrong for those groups to have special treatment over others because we are all equal. I don’t think colleges engage in this activity today, but they probably have in the past. This probably happened in the past when race played a big factor in everyone’s life. I believe that colleges should make each applicant anonymous when applying so that everyone has an equal and fair chance. Admissions officers should only know the students abilities and accomplishments which will admit them to the school or not. I think that it is very unfair how colleges resort to picking students to attend their schools. I wish this process could change for the better in the future. If a student worked hard in high school and has excellent criteria to attend the school, then why should they be denied over someone whose race is more unique? I believe that we are all equal and we should all get the same treatment no matter our race.