If you order your papers from our custom writing service you will receive a perfectly written assignment on The Debate Over Affirmative Action. What we need from you is to provide us with your detailed paper instructions for our experienced writers to follow all of your specific writing requirements. Specify your order details, state the exact number of pages required and our custom writing professionals will deliver the best quality The Debate Over Affirmative Action paper right on time.
Our staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in The Debate Over Affirmative Action, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your The Debate Over Affirmative Action paper at affordable prices!
Affirmative action is one of the hottest debates concerning equality in today's American society. The proponents of affirmative action insist that it is an effective and important tool in creating equality.However, those who oppose it think that affirmative action is totally counterproductive.According to some of the arguments in the book Searching For Great Ideas, the two opposite views of affirmative action are analyzed in this essay.
In ¡°The White House Review of Affirmative Action,¡± the advocates of affirmative action show their reasons to support it.First of all, affirmative action offers equal opportunity to all the American citizens, especially those who belong to minority groups.In this argument, it is assumed that inequality of opportunity does exist in today's society because of race and gender.Since ¡°offering every American a fair chance to achieve success is a central tenet of our constitutional and political system¡is a bedrock value in our culture¡and is the fundamental goal of the civil rights statute,¡± affirmative action, whose main function is to create equal opportunity, is very important for not only the success of the individuals, but also the ideal quality of our nation and culture.To support this premise, two reasons are listed to prove the importance of affirmative in creating equal opportunity.The first reason is that it reduces the problem of discrimination.At this point, discrimination is assumed as unfair consideration and treatment that mostly happens to minorities when they are facing job or education opportunities.Except in the case for reducing discrimination to create equal opportunity, affirmative action also expands opportunity by promoting inclusion of underrepresented minorities.
Another premise to support affirmative action is that it is consistent with merit.One of the basic principles of affirmative action is that the basic decision must be made upon the ability of the person, not his or her gender or race.Therefore, it is fair to those who belong to majority.Since Affirmative action creates more equal opportunities for minorities by remediation of discrimination and promoting inclusion, and it does not unfairly burden majorities, conclusively, it is a very effective and important tool in creating equality in our society.
In contrast, the opponents of affirmative action think that it is counterproductive.In his argument ¡°Affirmative Action A Counter-Productive Policy,¡± Ernest Pasour shows his view as an opponent of affirmative action.He shows five premises to support this conclusion.First of all, affirmative action promotes the hiring of less qualified workers.This reason is based on his assumption that usually the people in majority are more skilled than those in minority.Second, affirmative action lowers the standard of college education.An example is that ¡°only 40 percent of the [students] entering class in 188 were selected solely on the basis of academic merit¡± because of affirmative action.The third reason points out that affirmative action causes reverse discrimination.Pasour assumes that today most blacks born after the Civil Rights Act of 164 have suffered little or no prejudice.Therefore, racial discrimination rarely exists in today's society.The special consideration to those who are not under prejudice causes the discrimination against majorities.At this point, his assumption for discrimination is that, today, discrimination is not mainly racism, but that qualified majorities are treated unfairly because their opportunities are given to unqualified minorities.The fourth reason is that those minorities who receive their positions because of their ability are unfairly considered the beneficiaries of affirmative action.The last reason says that affirmative action increases the racial tensions between majority race and minority race.In his argument, Pasour's assumption for the definition of fairness is to give each person the absolutely equal opportunity based on his or her ability, regardless of race or gender.Since affirmative action cannot give each person the equal opportunity absolutely based on his or her ability, it is not fair.Since the original purpose of affirmative action is to create fairness, it is counterproductive.
There are three points of conflict between these two views.First of all, their assumptions for the current situation of racial discrimination are totally different.
The proponents of affirmative action point out that a lot of racial discrimination evidently exists in today's American society.Therefore, affirmative action is necessary as a tool to reduce this discrimination.However, its opponents think that affirmative action is ¡°a way of making up for past discrimination¡± because today racial prejudice rarely exists.Therefore, affirmative action is not necessary.Another point of conflict is that they have different definitions of discrimination.In the ideas of the proponents of affirmative action, the discrimination is basically racial discrimination, while the opponents of affirmative action define discrimination as unfairness against qualified majorities because of preferential treatment to unqualified minorities.To affirmative action itself, the two sides also have a point of conflict.Proponents of affirmative action show that affirmative action is based on the principle that ¡°no unqualified person can be preferred over another qualified person.¡± However, the basic assumption of the opponents of affirmative action is that it makes the decision on the basis of race and gender instead of the qualification of the person.Since the standard of decision-making is the basis of their argument, it is also their main source of disagreement.
Affirmative action, when it is done right, is a positive policy that will effectively create more equal opportunities for the groups under a situation of being prejudiced.However, if it is used to give the unqualified person a chance to take over the qualified person, its original principle of creating equality is totally distorted.Therefore, affirmative action should be a program to detect fairness in the employment and education system and at the same time give some benefits to the groups being prejudiced.For example, when the employers are hiring the employees, affirmative action should force the employers to list their requirements clearly and openly for all the employees.The qualified people should have absolute priority over the unqualified people.If both a person belonging to majority and a person belonging to minority are qualified for this job, the employer should give more consideration to the one in minority.The college admission system should be conducted the same way.Therefore, based on qualification, the qualified person is not taken over by the unqualified person, and at the same time discrimination against minorities is prevented.
Please note that this sample paper on The Debate Over Affirmative Action is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on The Debate Over Affirmative Action, we are here to assist you.Your college papers on The Debate Over Affirmative Action will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.
Order your authentic assignment and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!
