Affirmative Action in Today\'s Society,

Affirmative Action

In today's society, diversity is not only encouraged, but required. Affirmative action was originally conceived to redress discrimination and to foster harmony and integration through active efforts to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups and women

Rather than achieving its goals, this practice has promoted racism and divided employees. Affirmative action, while not doubt well intentioned, is morally heinous because it implicitly advocates reverse discrimination, a practice of allocating favors based on belonging to a particular race or gender. Affirmative action has proven ineffective in businesses for more than three decades due to its discriminatory affects on hiring practices, its compromise of minority achievement and its perpetuation of racism.

Giving special preference to people of a particular race or gender is unconstitutional and discriminatory. Yet, affirmative action takes into account these very factors, posing risks for businesses who engage in these practices even though they are legal within certain vague boundaries. To avoid possible constitutional violations, businesses must both prove that there is an important need to use a discriminatory factor such as race or sex in the job selection or promotion process and they must also show that there is no other way than the use of racial or gender preferences to achieve the same objective. Of course, whether or not a business has actually fulfilled these obligations is often answered through subjective interpretation. To ensure that conduct stays within the law, employers should avoid all discrimination as well as reverse discrimination. Simply put, they should always hire and promote the most qualified candidate.

Affirmative action applied to hiring practices has created the most insidious injustice of all, compromising the significant achievements of minorities. Unfortunately, the well deserving achievements of minorities are often not given their fair share of recognition. This is due in part to the stigma that the job position or a promotion was attained on a much lower playing field. It is often not possible to tell if an employee genuinely deserved the advancement or if the employee is there because he or she fits into some sort of diversity matrix. Thus, well deserving minorities and women who have advanced through their own ability don't get the credit they should.

If eliminating discrimination was really the goal, preferences would be given solely on the basis of merit, not on the basis of race or gender. Instead, affirmative action perpetuates racism by providing unfair advantages to certain groups. Imagine being an employee who is passed over for a job offer or a promotion for someone who is less qualified or who hasn't worked as hard because of an affirmative action policy. Under this condition, it's easy to see how the employee would resent the minority group that has been given an unfair advantage and how this situation could create racial tensions in the workplace. The best way to promote diversity and racial harmony is to treat everyone the same.

Those who support affirmative action generally advocate it either as a means to address past discrimination or to enhance racial, ethnic, gender, or other diversity. They argue that the end result -- greater diversification -- justifies the means and that this want happen if simply left to chance. However, preferential hiring as compensation for past discrimination is ridiculous "since it benefits individuals (blacks and women possessing good educational credentials) least likely harmed by past wrongs while it burdens individuals (younger white male applicants) least likely to be responsible for past wrongs." Affirmative action does nothing to identify those who are truly in need such as those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. There's no reason why an affluent black person should be given special consideration over a poor white candidate who has most likely confronted far more roadblocks in pursuing an education and a good career. The notion that businesses can't obtain diversity without affirmative action is equally absurd. Minorites and women can achieve their goals through their own hard work and ability and it's insulting to suggest that they need special assistance to do so. Laws are already in place to protect discrimination against them.