Affirmative Action Reinforced

The United States has a history of unfair treatment towards particular minority-based citizens. The reasons behind the unfair treatment are incomprehensible, however the government and President John F. Kennedy took action in the early 1960’s by implementing “affirmative action to insure that hiring and employment practices were free of racial bias” (Race). In the textbook, chapter 16 reflects on Supreme Court decisions that have dealt with affirmative action in higher education. The book talks of the Fisher vs. Texas case where the courts simply ruled for the universities to have very intricate acceptance standards, in order to create the diversity necessary. The only way the schools would be able to use race, as a determining factor, is if all other methods were exhausted.

I believe that the “affirmative action” that has taken place, so far, has been good for the equality of citizens. This idea, however, has caused much controversy when considering if the action is taken too far. It can be seen as creating advantages and disadvantages for the employer, as well as the employee. One side of the opposing argument that is brought up is that white males are being discriminated against because of this idea of “affirmative action.” President Trump had recently started an attempt to sue certain higher education universities for this exact reason: discrimination against white males (Eversley). Even President Trump’s decision for this can be looked at from a view of racism because one could say he is only suing because this group helps Latinos and blacks. This is not his intention, I am sure, but the nation that we live in today can create thoughts of that.

The “affirmative action” was meant to create an equal and fair nation when it comes to race and gender. As I stated earlier, the action has done well to this point, but I still think we have a long way to go in closing the gender and race gaps in this country. People are becoming so caught up with the racial aspects of life today that they are starting to fall back into a split society. In order to continue with an equal society, someone in the current government should reinforce the idea of equality in the nation because I believe the selfish characteristics of our human body has led us away from the idea that “all men are created equal.” Affirmative Action could be better laid out with guidelines for the higher education programs to follow. The emphasis can be focused on the same thing as it was when this was first implemented, but the nation needs to be reminded of the success with diversity and equality.

“The Beginning and the End of Affirmative Action.” RACE – History – The Beginning and the End of Affirmative Action, American Anthropological Association, 2007, www.understandingrace.org/history/gov/begin_end_affirm.html.

Eversley, Melanie. “Report: Trump Seeks to Sue Schools over Affirmative Action Seen to Hurt Whites.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 2 Aug. 2017, www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/02/report-trump-seeks-sue-schools-over-affirmative-action-seen-hurt-whites/531551001/.

6 Responses to "Affirmative Action Reinforced"

Lotte Elfering says:

December 2, 2017 at 6:26 pm

A good blogpost, and you raise a very interesting issue relating to a very contemporary debate, especially because in class we learned that it does not work that well in emancipating previously discriminated against peoples. However, getting rid of affirmative action as a policy will not help prevent discrimination, only making it even worse. Thus there is the need to find a policy that allows for positive discrimination that actually works. However, my concern is that with these new actions by president Trump to get rid of affirmative action as a policy, there is not political will to create another policy. Thus we will have to suffice with affirmative action, even if it does not work that well, because at least it does more than if we would not have it. The idea that it discriminates against white males can be based on true data, but the programs that implement affirmative action do not vow not to take any white males, only to attempt to take in more “minorities”, and thus white males still have a good chance of being accepted into the programs, colleges, and jobs.
Zachary Harrell says:

December 3, 2017 at 3:04 pm

A very good blog post, you do a very good job of linking what we learned in class to what we read in the textbook. I also agree with your stance that affirmative action does serves its purpose to the citizens until it is taken too far. Affirmative action, by definition utilizes something called “positive discrimination”, which is a quite paradoxical term in of itself. The word discrimination is defined as “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.”. In what way could that ever possibly be used positively? By affirmative action utilizing this “positive discrimination”, it truly makes for a more racialized society, which is counter productive to our society. History has shown us time and time again that living in a society that is heavily racialized causes more and more problems. I do understand that affirmative actions intent is to make up for the United States history of discrimination toward certain minority-based citizens, which makes sense. But, I feel the use of positive discrimination is unnecessary and falsifies the American ideal that “all men are created equal”. Appearance should not base any United States citizen’s future, and affirmative action hinders that.
Jackson Krase says:

December 3, 2017 at 3:35 pm

I think you make a very compelling point that while affirmative action does work towards closing the racial inequality gap for minority populations, it comes with unique complexities due to the fact that race is a socially constructed product and is currently being instrumentalized by various groups for social mobility. While you mention affirmative action policies in the United States being based on racial classification, it is also important to highlight these programs intersect with economic and merit-based markers. Yet, with “colorblind” paradigms for educational admissions gaining momentum in Washington, this poses a grave danger to the notion of civil rights and educational opportunity for minority students. In order to create the desired “equal” and “fair” nation that affirmative action works towards reaching, lawmakers need to rethink pathways in which students accepted through affirmative action are placed in environments conducive to learning and succeeding. While selective institutions are bastions of knowledge and discovery, some applicants in these schools would have thrived and been more well-suited for less competitive, but still highly-esteemed universities. The term ‘mismatch’ refers to this situation in which minority students are placed in harmful learning environments. As Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor Jr. write in a piece for the Atlantic, “Suppose you had suddenly been transferred into an advanced class in that subject with a friend who was about at your level and 18 other students who excelled in the subject and had already taken the intermediate course you just skipped. You would, in all likelihood, soon be struggling to keep up.”

A growing body of evidence has been shown that despite the effects these programs sometimes have on students, no major changes have been made by government officials. In 2012, for example, around half of black college students ranked in the bottom twenty-percent of their classes and bottom ten percent in law school. It is important to remember, however, that studies show that test scores such as the SAT and ACT are poor harbingers for a student’s success in college. While test scores are useful for other determinants, in terms of college success, 80 percent of the variation in college success is derivable from factors other than exam scores. Thus, the matter of affirmative action needs to also consider the fact that inequality exists systemically. Education in urban neighborhoods across the country continues to underperform and struggles to educate the next generation. Recalling the words of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision, “The Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today,” it is difficult not question what road affirmative action is going down. However, one thing is certain; it would be a grave mistake to get rid of the racially based criteria for minority students.
Grace Miller says:

December 3, 2017 at 4:52 pm

This was a really thought provoking blog post, and definitely inspired me to do more research on affirmative action, because I still don’t feel as if my opinion is entirely based on fact. My main issue with affirmative action is it is attempting to fix the problem of minorities receiving less educational opportunity way too late. The intent of affirmative action seems to be getting more minorities into elite universities so more doors are opened for them later on in life. However, it’s interesting to think about the fact that maybe the idea that a more selective school may not be an advantage to someone who spent their whole adolescence in failing schools with very different motivators for doing well in school than someone who went to an A rated boarding school. For example, affirmative action is used in law schools, allowing black students the opportunity to go to a well ranked law school. Yet, 51.6% of of black law students are in the bottom ten percent of their law school classes, according to Richard Sander’s research. At this point it should be considered whether or not performing consistently less well than your white classmates, who tend to be from prevailing school districts their entire lives, is actually beneficial to the minority student.
Another study done by Chang on retention rates of STEM majors in universities shows data that may lead one to believe that your success in school is not always related to how smart you are, and how selective the university you attend is, but instead how smart you feel relatively to those around you (David and Goliath by Gladwell goes much further into this phenomenon).
That being said, I don’t think affirmative action is entirely negative, I just believe the attention being given to allowing minorities the opportunities they deserve at a higher education level, need to be focused in secondary school. With huge differences in standardized scores such as the SAT between races, and monumental differences in funding favoring majority white public schools- America’s education system is designed to harm the minority. Affirmative action may be better than nothing, but long term I don’t believe it comes close to fixing the root issue at hand.
Kevin Todd says:

December 4, 2017 at 5:31 pm

The points you made regarding affirmative action were very interesting. I agree with you that when affirmative action is taken too far it does create controversy. It is good that affirmative action creates an equal playing field by allowing and helping disadvantaged people who come from areas of the country where there are not many opportunities be able to advance where they otherwise could not. I think it is a good thing for our nation’s growth economically as it allows for a wide array of ethnicity in the workplace. However, this does not mean that there is more diversity of opinions in the workplace. People with the same skin color do not necessarily share the same views or ideas towards things. I think in a way it destroys the idea of meritocracy and a problem with affirmative action is that it can create stereotypes at times if an employee of a different dissent is not working to the potential he has been expected to work at. Another problem is that those stereotypes lead to thinking that those of another skin color or ethnicity are from the lower class and will always need help in completing the tasks they are presented. I agree that affirmative action could be better if there were guidelines to follow.
Declan Horrigan says:

December 8, 2017 at 6:50 pm

You make a lot of good points in your post, I would like to focus on the relationship between affirmative action and the discrimination reparations debate. As we discussed, the debate over whether or not African Americans should be paid reparations for the results and effects of slavery and the Jim Crow era has heightened recently. Donald Trump’s presence in office and the things that he has said also increase the presence of the topic, especially because he has said things along the lines of the idea that white males are being discriminated against. I think this is incredibly ignorant and unfair. Affirmative action has been, without a doubt, a great step in the right direction that America took towards equality and Trump has now disrespected this progress that we have made by implying that it has large negative implications towards white males. I believe that Affirmative Action is a start toward reparations and is essential and necessary.

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