Affirmative Action: Pros and Cons

Affirmative Action: Doing More Harm Than Good Today There was a time in America's not-too-distant past when affirmative action programs were necessary to address the inequalities in access to education and employment that were institutionalized throughout the country. Today, though, the civil rights movement is over and the Fourteenth Amendment ensures that all U.S. citizens enjoy the full range of protections under the law, including the Bill of Rights.

Indeed, some affirmative action programs today are denying access to otherwise-qualified candidates for the very same reason these social reform programs were implemented in the first place: the color of their white skin. According to Black's Law Dictionary (1990), affirmative action programs are "required by federal statutes and regulations designed to remedy discriminatory practices; i.e., positive steps designed to eliminate existing and continuing discrimination, to remedy lingering effects of past discrimination and to create systems and procedures to prevent future discrimination" (p. 59).

By denying access to education and employment to white people, affirmative action programs are therefore continuing the very same discriminatory practices they are designed to eliminate. Moreover, a growing number of Americans are recognizing the fundamental unfairness of affirmative action programs given that the vestiges of racism and discriminatory practices have been largely erased from the American landscape. For instance, Wickelgren (2008) emphasizes that, "Perhaps more than at any time since its inception, affirmative action has been under attack-in the judiciary, in state governments, and through voter initiatives" (p. 166).

These observations are based on some significant legal cases that have been decided in recent years that have overturned affirmative action policies in the nation's colleges and universities. In this regard, federal courts have declared affirmative action policies for undergraduates unconstitutional at the University of Georgia and the University of Texas, and the University of California Board of Regents mandated that university admissions could not take race into consideration (Wickelgren, 2008). Likewise, Initiative 200(7) in Washington State and Proposition 209(6) in California outlawed race-based preferential treatment in public education and employment (Wickelgren, 2008).

These trends are indicative of American public opinion concerning the continuing need for affirmative action, with a growing number of citizens of every race agreeing that the time has come to eliminate these anachronistic programs once and for all. In this regard, Wickelgren reports that, "A large majority of Americans as a whole, including over a third of African-Americans and over seventy percent of Hispanic-Americans, oppose affirmative action" (2008, 167).

Furthermore, employers and educators run the very real risk of being sued for even the perception of discriminatory practices and it is reasonable to suggest that the overwhelming majority of people in the U.S. enjoy comparable levels of opportunities for employment and education. In the final analysis, it is reasonable to conclude that there was.