Sociology

From the years beginning 1960, around the time of the Civil Rights Movement, the subject of affirmative action has been debated upon in the United States of America. Employers, colleges as well as economic and political organizations have been compelled to abide to the provision specified by the policies of the affirmative action. Those who have been in favor of the affirmative action have based their reason for supporting it on the issues occurring in the history of the United States (Messerli). However, some opposed to the affirmative action have argued that the society in which people live is color blind. They go to an extent of saying that race is not an issue in the current systems of the world. This essay seeks to present the arguments which are in favor of the affirmative action.

Establishment of the Affirmative Action
Affirmative action came into existence with the aim of bringing the smaller minority groups into organizations, colleges and professions that had from the beginning been dominated by the white males. It was first introduced after the civil rights movements period in the 1960s. It was an effort to accompany the emerging liberty and freedom that had been attained for these minority groups with the economic and social equality. The African Americans succeeded in reducing the direct racial discrimination shown against them (Elinfonet).

This success was to create and at the same time establish equal opportunities in education and jobs. The civil rights act forbids any discrimination of any kind as far as religion, race, color, nation of origin and sex are concerned. In the year 1961, John Kennedy created a committee which was obligated with ensuring equality in the process of employment. Later in 1964, the committee was determined to halt the discrimination that was going on in places of employment and instead promote programs to ensure equal opportunities. President Johnson who was at that time visiting the University of Howard was among the first people to speak about affirmative action.

He claimed that one does not wipe out the scars that were gotten in the past by just saying that the minorities were free to move anywhere, do as they desire or choose the leaders they want. According to him, it was unheard of to liberate a man who has been hobbled by chains for many years and bring him to a starting line in a race, giving him a go ahead to compete with the rest. This was not considered as being a fair practice. He stated that there was another stage which was more profound in the fight for civil rights. Americans were not only seeking liberty but also an opportunity (Infoplease).

Case Study
The affirmative action does not only seek to ensure just equality as a theory and a right, but also as the subject of equality as a fact and showing results. In 1972, Allan Bakke made an application for the admission to the school of medicine in the University of California. He was a 33 year old white engineer. He was however not given a chance in the application. The places which were vacant were a hundred while those who applied were 2,664. Despite applying for a second time and having better grades than most of other people who were admitted, his application was rejected. The program had made provision for 16 of the places in the admission to be for minority groups such as Chicanos, blacks, American Indians and Asians. Later, Bakke complained by writing indicating that the program was not exactly what it claimed to be.

Bakke regarded the program as a racial and cultural-ethnic quota (Infoplease). He later sought an injunction by filing a suit in the Californias Supreme Court to permit him for the admission into the school of medicine. He claimed that the institution had discriminated him on racial basis and had infringed his rights under the clause of equal protection as seen in the fourteenth amendment. Bakke won the case which saw the University appeal to the supreme court of the United States. The decision was divided with four justices strongly against the use of racial discrimination in the admission process and four justices being for.
In this case, Justice Powell was against the School of Medicine quota system of admission but later came to realize that such institutions should have been allowed to use race as one of the considerations in admission.

Following this case, basing race as a factor of admission as seen in public colleges was later declared unconstitutional. From this time on, the institutions of higher learning wishing to increase diversity have been using other kinds of the affirmative action. Private universities however have had much more freedom in the decisions made before admission.

Views on Affirmative Action
Private universities have found that other policies of affirmative action are better in attaining diversity other than quotas since they allow greater flexibility and a system that is fair to all. Affirmative action in the admission procedures of colleges has essentially been an ethical instead of a legal matter (Messerli). As long as the process of making decision did not follow the strict standards of race, the colleges could opt to accept the person they would prefer. This has been changing. The Proposition 209 of California which was passed in 1996 with a majority of 54 votes prevents the usage of racial discrimination in the hiring made by government and also in the public institutions of learning (Messerli).

Twelve states in America have made a consideration about the legislation. The bone of contention is on whether affirmative action in the process of admission has been found to increase justice and fairness or not. The affirmative action process has raised questions on the role of diversity in students body and the entire institution of learning. Some have come to believe that affirmative action is a program of chance and not a program of eliminating discrimination (Infoplease).

Affirmative action opens up equal chances and opportunity and guarantees equity in opportunity as well as equal results. It is basically a legal instrument of promoting the minority groups who have historically been discriminated against. Evidence has shown that minorities have been moved into the mainstream and embraced. The process of affirmative action is required to compensate the minority groups for the years they were subjected to slavery, oppression among other social injustices. In the first centuries of the existence of the United States, the whites enslaved and to a great extent oppressed the African Americans, the natives and several other minority groups.

The minority groups had for a long period had their land taken from them and also experienced unpaid labor, cruel treatment and punishment. They were also denied many of the major rights as given by the present constitution of America. Affirmative action basically provides a means of compensating their descendants for the unfair things that were done to their ancestors (Elinfonet). The affirmative action has now given the African Americans and other minority groups the opportunity to show that they are in a position to excel in a similar way as their white counterparts.

The results of the affirmative action have been evident and changes have been experienced. The more the stereotypes are eradicated, the less minority groups will need the affirmative action. The students forming the minority groups have often been disadvantaged while enrolling for admission to colleges or applying for jobs. However, the affirmative action has been aimed at taking care of such groups so that they can have equal life opportunities with the advantaged.

Arguments against affirmative action

Although affirmative action is designed to bring to an end the issues of discrimination and injustice treatment of studentsemployees based on matters of sex, religion, color among other factors, the whites who have been working hard andor have much qualifications than the minority groups can be left out sternly due to the fact that they are white. The way in which things are set up presently is regrettable a less fortunate person who puts more effort to be the best can be overcome by an individual from a rich minority group who has not put much effort.

Therefore, affirmative action has been found to lower the standards of the students and their capacity to attain more than required. For instance, if an individual as a student would require a 60 mark to find admission in an institution, why then should the student work to get 65 mark By using such low grades as the standards for enrolling in institutions and places of work in the name of affirmative action, the level of accountability of the minor group being favored is lowered. The point of argument here is that rewards should be granted based on the achievement made by each and every individual (Messerli 1).

Lowering the standards to accommodate a particular group has never been the best option and the right way to go (Elinfonet). Hard work and discipline should form the basis of rewarding procedures and not necessarily rewarding based on race. In applying for an admission to a certain college, the factors of body appearance should not as such be considered. These factors do not count at all. It is the ability of the student or person to deliver. Regardless of the race, the absorption into systems of employment or learning should take place.

From the above argument, the issues of race do not count. Affirmative action has sought to include all races in all systems of a particular country (Infoplease). The basis of formation of affirmative action seems to have been driven by one factor, ending discrimination of people from mainly the considerations of sex, religion and color. It is therefore very imperative to know that it is not a guarantee that all groups of people in the society must fit in all the systems. It could be possible that some certain things are only achievable by a certain group. This should not be seen as discrimination. For example, many of the short distant runners in the United States are African Americans.

If a certain race is found to outperform the other in a certain field or environment, then it should be left alone to continue operation in that field. Absorption into these systems should purely be based on performance and not an issue of race or any other factor. If a particular group can perform better than the other, then it should be left to excel in the area. At the same time, affirmative action would be seen as just reversing the roles of the racial discrimination and exchanging the application on the two different groups (Infoplease).

The point of exercising affirmative action on the other hand has been found to oppress the whites. Therefore, this is just reversing the oppression that was in the past done to the minority groups to the side of the whites. It has been found to exclude the whites in its initial implementation (Messerli 1).

The people that oppose affirmative action have the belief that the nation of America is color blind and there is not a single person who looks at the color of the other person when making choices. However, the considerations being made at present are based on the performance of the people. Affirmative action is therefore now phased out in todays application. The issues explained in the policies of affirmative action are now not applicable because the society is merging and becoming one race. There is therefore no need to be considerate of the welfare of some particular group as this may infringe the rights of some groups which may also invoke the idea of coming up with another action to combat the same.

Affirmative action was introduced in the 1960s with the aim of ending discrimination against individuals on the grounds of race, religion and even sex. This mainly affected the minor groups such as the African Americans, Asians among others. Some have however argued that affirmative action discriminates against the white race. However, this is not the case it is something bigger than that. Affirmative action was not intended to expose the advantaged groups, precisely the whites, into unfairness. This is an opportunity for everyone to excel in the academics or career. Such an affirmative action has gone a long way in supporting the rights of many people in the entire world.

In the absence of affirmative action, the minority groups in the USA would remain disadvantaged. They would utterly lack self worth, good life or even money. On the other hand, affirmative action gives all this to people. It does not offer jobs since the student will have to work hard as usually it only aims at making sure that the chance is always there for the hardworking students regardless of the social grouping.  It is a fact that without education a person may not excel in life. The work of affirmative action is therefore to give a chance to all people to experience a positive difference in their lives.

There are still many people who are convinced of the idea that affirmative action is stealing the rights of the advantaged and giving them to the minority groups. However, the so- called stealing from the privileged does not exist. It is only as a result of historical happenings that the minorities have found themselves being oppressed. Affirmative action is therefore needed to ensure that these minority groups do not suffer from unfair practices in the society. People are required to refrain from greed and give a rational opportunity to everyone so that all can prosper. The weight of affirmative action must be felt so that the lives of many can excel, otherwise they would continue suffering at the expense of the advantaged.