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Affirmative Action Pros And Cons

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The issue of affirmative action, here in the United States, is arguably one of the most controversial subjects in today’s society. This issue has also been known to be one of the least understood concepts as well, causing much debate and a divided nation. There are different opinions out there on whether affirmative action is really helping America put the past behind them when it comes to discrimination or is it simply violating American core values. What is affirmative action? Affirmative action is ‘an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially in relation to employment or education; positive discrimination’ It ensures companies, universities and other high cooperation’s to establish programs that …show more content…

A lawsuit was filed and eventually made it to the US Supreme Court in which they found the admission policy violated the Equal Protection Clause Fourteenth Amendment of Gratz and Hamacher. Prior to this case, most colleges and universities stated diversity is an integral component to a successful institution. They weren 't really sure how far they could push this issue during the admission process as it was considered a gray area. The US Supreme Courts decision in the University of Michigan 's case clarified this gray area on affirmative action policies. The university of Michigan ended up "banning" Affirmative Action for minorities. A lawsuit then resulted, and it was held in Supreme Court. A 6-2 vote from the court system "backed" the University of Michigan for their ban of affirmative action. This was a very controversial lawsuit, and was followed by many. Minorities attending the University of Michigan have dwindled heavily over the years since …show more content…

I am hopeful that affirmative action will be a way of the past soon enough. Diversity is important and does have its place. I do see the need to include different races/ ethnicities/ sexes in one 's team of employment. I do believe that the applicants should never be hired based on only these factors. They should meet the standards that everyone else must meet. Any hiring procedure other than this creates animosity among the employees. My friend who is a Cambridge Police officer told me about an incident were he observed ‘equal opportunity’ in play. He said during the swim test portion of the physical testing, all applicants were instructed to jump into a pool and swim two laps back and forth. Applicants were told that they would be timed and the scores would be a part of the application. Basically anyone at this point that could not swim back and forth would be disqualified. He observed a minority that was holding onto the side of the pool because he could not swim. One of the instructors told him, ‘I don 't care what you do but you need to get from one side of the pool to the other’. I was surprised when he told me this because officers pretty much perform the same job responsibilities, so if a potential cop cannot swim like any other cops, why would he/she get the job since they cannot perform

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