ProÆs and ConÆs of Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action purports to be a method for achieving equal employment opportunity for minorities normally discriminated against in hiring based on race, ethnicity, gender, or other exclusionary criteria (Outtz 1). As a way of redressing past inequalities, Affirmative Action sometimes uses preferential selection to ensure that members of the affected minorities are guaranteed partiality over non-minority applicants. This attempt at fairness has not been met with unequivocal acceptance, however. Opponents of Affirmative Action frame it as reverse discrimination that impedes the rights of qualified non-minority candidates attempting to be hired (Wood 1). As the announcement for the ôAffirmative Action Under Fireö Brookings briefing pointedly asks, ôIs affirmative action a deeply problematic, divisive, discriminatory and possibly ineffective detour along the road to real equality in America?ö The announcement goes on to say, ôAs the nation continues to debate its racial past and future, the phrase æaffirmative actionÆ endures as a magnet for rancor and confusionö (1998). This paper will discuss the proÆs and conÆs of Affirmative Action to evaluate both sides of this controversy.
Affirmative Action represents an attempt to restore justice where race, gender, and other factors have prevented minorities from enjoying an equal opportunity to get a job, enroll in law school, or be accepted in any number of other venues. In a country that claims to offer equal opportunities to all, the Affirmative Action initiative is based on a highly desirable effort to make wrongs right and remove unfair barriers and boundaries that have kept minorities in an inferior position. The benefits of providing equal opportunities extend not just to the disadvantaged minorities but to the communities in which they live. What community would not rather have Harvard-educated blacks and Hispanics th...