Affirmative action is the general term used to describe the de facto and de jure social policies that attempt to eliminate or alleviate the challenges that racial minorities have faced in the United States over nearly the entire history of the nation. Acts of discrimination became a particularly extreme social problem after the U.S. Civil war and during the early years of the reformation, when the nation and its people were attempting to reconcile old hatreds and beliefs of inequality with laws that did not reflect their unfortunately harsh discriminatory opinions.
Affirmative action as it is seen today is the results of such struggles, as the civil rights movement. It is in practice the recognition of race as a determining factor for the ability of some to be accepted to colleges and universities, which have previously been attended mostly by the racial majority, and/or receiving preferential treatment in hiring, especially where government contractors are concerned.
The debate over the effectiveness and continued usefulness and even the constitutionality of affirmative action laws and policies has ensued over the last twenty or so years with those in favor of continues use of such policies claiming that they have not had enough time to truly change the system to more equally...
Affirmative Action is an extremely important concept since it is vital to the operation of America as a democracy. It reinforces the affirmation of the Constitution that all people are born equal and should, therefore, be given an equal chance to prove themselves. Employment opportunity (and other factors) should be based on merit rather than on extraneous factors such as skin color, race, gender, physiology, and so forth. The Federal Register
Perhaps it's time that politics follows suit. Without denying that we are indeed diverse, it is necessary to recognize that we are all human beings. Diversity makes us human, but discrimination violates the potential bonds of friendship within the societies in the United States. Politicians and federal officials might do well to revisit the meaning of the constitution and of the very name of the country: we are United, diverse,
Criticism of Affirmative Action Over the years, specific criticisms of Affirmative Action have developed as a result of the endless debate and legal wrangling over the issue, as well as the division in American society about the topic. The first criticism of Affirmative Action to consider is the assertion that the burden of compensating victims of discrimination usually becomes the responsibility of those who are not individually responsible for the discrimination
367) According to Sander, none of these questions have been asked effectively and therefore we as a nation continue to believe that affirmative action is a necessary social development for the creation of a more representative society, where disenfranchisement must be answered by active plans, policies and laws. Few of us would enthusiastically support preferential admission policies if we did not believe they played a powerful, irreplaceable role in giving nonwhites
Affirmative Action Case Fisher v. Texas Summarize the case's key arguments Fisher v. Texas is about two white students who were denied admission to the University of Texas in 2008. They felt discriminated against based upon the fact that the school overly relied on race to determine who will be admitted. Both students sued the university. They allege that race is giving unqualified candidates an advantage over applicants (based upon ethnicity). As they
Affirmative Action and Elitist Theory The last half of the 1900's saw a major change in society where people became more interconnected than ever before. Women entered the workforce and began to take on similar roles to men. This has continued up to the present time where the change is still continuing. People of different cultures also became more interconnected than ever before. Cultural barriers broke down and all cultures began
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