Essay on Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action Term Papers

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (affirmative action)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

Affirmative Action

The topic of affirmative action is a very sensitive and volatile subject. “Affirmative action is a time bomb primed to detonate in the middle of the American political marketplace”, wrote Steven Roberts. (page 1 art.47) The increasingly hostile and divisive debate about the role of gender and race is becoming serious part of modern America. It appears that the issue of affirmative action can no longer be over looked. The author, Roberts, puts worth a reason for the growing assault on affirmative action. “The assault on affirmative action is gathering strength from a slow-growth economy, stagnant middle-class incomes and cooperate downsizing, all of which make the question of who gets hired – or fired – more volatile.”(page 1 art. 47) Of course with the growing assault comes the increasing defense. Women’s groups, civil rights organizations and other defenders of affirmative action must setup a defense. The most common argument put forth for affirmative action is that women and minorities still need preferential treatment, due to the fact that racism and discrimination still exist.

The other negative aspect that the issue of affirmative action creates is a conflict between two cherished American principles. The two principles are the belief that all Americans deserve equal opportunities and the idea that hard work and merit, not race or religion or gender or birthright, should determine who prospers and who does not. The author points out that back in 1965 Lyndon Johnson defended affirmative because he believed that minorities were at a disadvantage due generations of bias treatment. The fact is that thirty years ago that made sense to many Americans, but today times and opinions have changed.

Another draw back for the proponents of affirmative action was that some minority and women’s leaders spoke against it. They argued that affirmative action had a destructive affect on their communities. One example put forth was that affirmative action caused co-workers to view minorities suspiciously. “White skepticism leads to African –American defensiveness” says Sharon Brooks Hodge, a black writer and broadcaster.(page 1 art 47) Others against affirmative action go further to say that affirmative action only leads to re-segregation. William Bennett, a former GOP strategist says, “ toxic race relations, aggravated by affirmative action, have led to a damaging form of re-segregation. Affirmative action has not brought us what we want – a colorblind society. It has brought us an extremely color-conscious society. In our universities we have separate dorms, separate social centers. What is next – water fountains?”(page 2 art 47). In response to statements like this supporters of affirmative action point out that we tried colorblind 30 years ago and found that further steps were needed.

According to the author of this article, Roberts, the fight over affirmative action is being played out in four arenas. The first arena is California. The proposition to ban the use of any form of preferential treatment in California universities. The initiative created by Tom Wood and Glynn Custred, attacks what they call widespread reverse discrimination. The second arena is in the courts. The Supreme Court who has generally supported race and gender preferences, has began to limit the doctrine. The author points out that this could be because the increased conservatives on the bench. There have been more and more rulings against the use of preferential treatment. The third arena is within Congress. Republican victories have setup a power struggle between the Republicans and the Democrat that is president. The fourth and final arena is the campaign trail. With affirmative action becoming a major issue, the whole political scene will be affected. Almost all candidates will have to decide were they stand on affirmative action.

In a different article another author puts forth his opinion on how affirmative action is affecting our nation. Nathan Glazer states that affirmative action today is a contest between principle and reality. Glazer states, “ The principle is that ability, qualifications, and merit, independent of race, national origin, or sex should prevail when one applies for a job or promotion, or for entry into selective institutions for higher education, or when one bids for contracts. The reality is that strict adherence to this principle would result in few African Americans getting jobs, admissions, and contracts.”(page 1 art 50) Glazer places a lot of emphasis on role of affirmative action in the admission of students to selective institutions of higher education. The first argument of affirmative action that he goes after is the criticism of the SAT. Glazer argues the test is continually remade. The teat makers do take into consideration who is taken the test, but they still must make a test the challenge the individuals...

You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 12 Feb, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/70136/affirmative-action>

More College Papers

Affirmative Action Speech
Intro: To start off, I would like to present a quote from Historian, Roger Wilkins. “Blacks have a 375-year history on this continent: 245 involving slavery, 100 involving legalized discrimination, and only 30 involving anything else.” This quote makes you think, That’s a rough history to go throu

Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action Affirmative Action Affirmative action is one of the more recent and popular civil rights policies that affect today's society. Affirmative action can be described as nothing more than a lower educational standard for minorities. It has become quite clear that affirmative action

Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is the term used to describe a variety of steps taken in employment, contracting and education to increase diversity or rectify discrimination. Affirmative Action in Employment: Affirmative action programs in employment can consist of posting and publicizing job notices in locati