'the Only Effective Remedy for Racial Inequality Is Affirmative Action. Discuss. (40 Marks)

1582 Words7 Pages
The only effective remedy for racial inequality is affirmative action. Discuss. (40 marks) Affirmative action generally means giving preferential treatment to minorities in admission to universities or employment in government & businesses. The policies were originally developed to correct decades of discrimination and to give disadvantaged minorities a boost. The diversity of our current society as opposed to that of 50 years ago seem to indicate the programs have been a success. But now, many think the policies are no longer needed and that they lead to more problems than they solve. One notable example is a case argued a few years back in the Supreme Court concerning admissions to the University of Michigan. The school had a policy of rating potential applicants on a point system. Being a minority student earned you more than twice as many points as achieving a perfect SAT score. Three white students sued citing this as raced-based discrimination. School officials said that diversity is desirable and affirmative action is the only way to achieve true diversity. Another notable case in 2009 involved firefighters whose captain's exams were thrown out after it was determined not enough minorities passed. Several other cases involving affirmative action have followed similar arguments. The following sections explore the issue and show how things are much more complicated. |FOR |AGAINST | |Diversity is desirable and won't always occur if left to chance. Part of the |Affirmative action leads to reverse discrimination. Affirmative action is | |education process is learning to interact with other races and nationalities. |designed to end discrimination and unfair treatment of employees/students based|
Open Document