Free Custom «Affirmative Action Paper» Essay Paper

Part 1

Introduction

The affirmative action public policy gives preference to women and racial minorities with regard to college admissions and hiring. It was implemented due to the need to ensure that racial minorities and women are into professions that had been under the dominance of white males (Mosley & Capaldi, 1996). Affirmative action was adopted following the civil rights movements in an attempt to ensure that racial minorities and women had social and economic equity. Since its inception, affirmative action has been a controversial issue drawing arguments from all sides. In this regard, I believe that affirmative action is good for the United States.

Position: Affirmative action is good for the United States

Supporting Facts

Affirmative action in the US facilitates fair evaluation of students by taking into account the existing social inequalities. It is evident that the main aim of affirmative action was to increase the number of admissions for minorities in US colleges (Tomasson, Faye, & Sharon, 2001). Most of the minorities are under-represented in the US colleges due to a number of factors including children from families having few people who progressed to higher education are less likely to excel academically; students who English is not a first language have difficulties in writing and reading; and that students who come from districts having relatively less funding are more likely to perform poorly. In this regard, affirmative action addresses some of the challenges that minorities and women in the United States face.

 

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Secondly, affirmative action results in a diverse student body providing a better environment for learning. Students can learn significantly one another; however, this is only possible in cases where there are diverse student backgrounds. Colleges and other learning institutions as well as work environments in the US often strive to ensure diversity in their locale in order to ensure that people from different backgrounds bring something different. In this regard, affirmative action presents an ideal opportunity through which learning institutions and organizations can enhance their diversity (Mosley & Capaldi, 1996).

Thirdly, affirmative action guarantees that all ethnic groups are present as lessening the standards for minority groups that are underrepresented increases the quality of the respective school body. In addition, affirmative action tends to lower the admission standards and requirements for particular racial minorities in order to offset the academic disadvantages that these minority groups face. Therefore, affirmative action results in a student community characterized by a huge academic potential (Tomasson, Faye, & Sharon, 2001).

Underlying Assumptions

1. My first underlying assumption is that embracing diversity and equality is good.
2. My second underlying assumption is that it is a moral and ethical responsibility of the US to address the problems faced by racial minorities and women.

Position: Affirmative Action for Women and Racial Minorities is not Good for American

Supporting Facts

Opponents of affirmative action argue that it is relatively unfair to rate college applicants basing on their race and gender instead of their merits. Colleges should consider several factors when assessing applicants such as extracurricular activities, test scores, and grades. In this regard, the race and gender of an applicant are not legitimate variables to take into account when reviewing an applicant since they are not within the control of an individual. These attributes are not relevant when assessing an individual for college admission or employment (Tomasson, Faye, & Sharon, 2001).

Second, affirmative action does not actually result in true diversity. Mosley & Capaldi, (1996) argues that opinion diversity rather than racial diversity, is significant in academic and work environments. In this regard, affirmative action only merits some individuals due to their racial background, which is irrelevant in academic and work environments.

Thirdly, affirmative action is not helpful to any disadvantages communities. In most cases, affirmative action has failed to attain its objective of aiding disadvantaged racial minority groups and women. It actually accelerates socioeconomic inequalities by allowing minorities who come from privileged backgrounds to gain admission to prestigious colleges while failing to aid minorities from lower socioeconomic classes.

Underlying Assumptions

1. My first underlying assumption is that affirmative action has been a failed initiative and should be disregarded altogether.
2. My second underlying assumption is that opinion and knowledge diversity is not necessarily related to racial diversity.
3. My third assumption is that employment and college admission should base on relevant factors such as academic achievement, and not irrelevant variables such as gender or racial orientation.

Part 2

The respondents were of the view that affirmative action is good for America. In addition, the respondents first outlined their personal beliefs and provided supporting facts to back their belief that affirmative action is good for the nation.