Affirmative Action
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"Affirmative action" refers to efforts to redress imbalances in the workplace, university, or other institution by actively seeking out candidates who have traditionally been excluded, such as members of racial minorities and women. In the past, certain Americans have been excluded from full participation in the American economy, and racial discrimination and sexual discrimination have been cited as the two primary reasons for this. Affirmative action is a way of seeking out candidates from previously excluded groups and may include preferential treatment in order to elevate minority candidates above other candidates in order to achieve some form of racial or gender balance. The goal is admirable, but the means can lead to conflict and to a system in which excellence is not the primary criterion for advancement. Critics charge that this is precisely what has happened. They also charge that affirmative action has in fact been damaging to the very minorities it has been intended to help, but this conclusion is incorrect. In fact, affirmative action has been good for minorities and has provided them with opportunities they otherwise would not have had.Critics suggest that these policies have not helped blacks at all and have indeed impeded the development of coalitions for social programs and have inhibited black Americans through a deep sense of inferiority. This is the position of Shelby Steele, who says that affirmative action only seems to have the moral symmetry t
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Zuckerman does not oppose affirmative action as a redress for past sins, but he is not clear as to how he would change the program to return to that ideal ("Remember the Real Victims" 68).
Other critics of these programs accept that they were once necessary but find that they no longer are. They believe that while affirmative action may have been a good idea and a necessary action to redress past grievances, it has accomplished its goal and should be abandoned because now it is becoming counter-productive. This idea is expressed in Congress, as when Jesse Helms asked on the Senate floor in March 1995, "Isn't thirty years enough?" ("Affirmative on Affirmative Action" 11). The belief is that thirty years of busing and other affirmative action efforts have either been successful and have eliminated the need for further redress or have been terrible failures that have done nothing to reduce discrimination and so should be abandoned in favor of a different approach. Generally, those offering this view believe that affirmative action has been unfair and that any argument holding that it is a redress for past grievances can be countered with the view that we have given this approach 30 years and that that is all the redress that is
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Approximate Word count = 1648
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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