Affirmative Action – You Cannot End Discrimination with Discrimination

By Julia Sieben / http://www.lady-patriots.com/affirmative-action-you-cannot-end-discrimination-with-discrimination/

President Kennedy proposed the idea of preferential treatment in 1961 when the nation was in the midst of radical changes regarding civil liberties. It was a time when the injustices imposed upon minorities were beginning to be recognized, and people wanted to make up for the years of oppression that served as a barrier for the advancement of minorities in America. At the time, the idea was morally justified and socially appropriate. While it is still a morally commendable effort today, the system has become an attempt to atone for the sins of our country’s past, and a double standard that threatens every citizen’s liberties.

The first problem with affirmative action is that it is an attempt to end discrimination with discrimination. When a company or university discriminates against a white male for the sake of bettering the outcome of another racial group, an injustice occurs. Affirmative action is the governmental legislation of the active discrimination of one person over another, an unacceptable double standard.

Secondly, affirmative action seeks to reconcile the injustices of the past. The atrocities of the past of slavery and the refusal to grant women and minorities the right to vote, cast an ugly shadow on the history of our nation. But affirmative action cannot erase what our ancestors did years ago. Instead of trying to reconcile the oppression of the past, we should try to lend a hand to young minorities that want to learn and be successful, but lack the resources they need to accomplish their goals.

Another issue concerning affirmative action is the stigma attached to the minorities themselves. Minorities are capable of getting the best jobs, obtaining admittance to the most prestigious schools, and being as successful as any white male has ever been. The problem occurs when people view them as inferior because of affirmative action the attitude of “You couldn’t do it on your own.” These implications have a lasting, damaging effect on the mental well-being of minority students. How can anybody feel truly accomplished when a lingering doubt about the legitimacy of his achievements exists?

People from a variety of different cultures and racial backgrounds have a lot to teach one another, but affirmative action is not the best way of going about this, there are other ways of promoting diversity. Parents of all races need to encourage children at home from a young age to pursue their goals and obtain a good education. Understanding and accepting diversity is not the issue in question; the issue is the best way of going about creating a society where minorities and non-minorities alike can be judged based on merit and character, and not on the color of their skin.

The Supreme Court case that has put affirmative action back in the news, a reverse discrimination lawsuit against the University of Texas, focuses mainly on the same debate about fairness to various racial groups that has gone on for more than 40 years.  Unfortunately the court punted the case back to the lower court instead of reversing this outdated form of reverse discrimination.

The supreme court and a ruling on the affirmative action case by a 7-1 vote the high court sent the case back to a lower federal appeals court effectively raising the bar for the use of affirmative action in admissions.  Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said a federal appeals court needs to subject the University of Texas admission plan to the highest level of judicial scrutiny. The opinion said the court must be satisfied “that no workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity.”

The admissions program has been changed so that now only the top academic 8 percent of Texas high school graduates gain automatic admission, regardless of their race. The remaining approximate 20 percent admission slots are based on applicant factors combined of grades, ACT scores, legacy, and race preferences through Affirmative Action.  More than 8 out of every 10 African-American and Latino students who enrolled at the flagship campus in Austin in 2011 were automatically admitted, according to university statistics.  In all, black students with 5.6 percent and Hispanic students with 23.1 percent made up more than a quarter of the incoming freshmen class. White students constituted less than half the entering class at 45.8 percent, while students with Asian backgrounds and other backgrounds were over twenty five percent at 25.5 percent .

 

United States Demographics               University of Texas Demographics

Non-Hispanic White	63.7%	Non-Hispanic White	45.8 %
African American	12.2%	African American	5.6 %
Hispanic	16.4%	Hispanic	23.1%
Asian	4.7 %	Asian	19.5 %
Other	3.0 %	Other	6.0 %

 

The United States demographic of non-Hispanic whites is 63.7 percent, yet the acceptance rate with the University of Texas for Caucasian students is 45.8 percent.  With over 54.2 percent of all enrolled freshman being of minority races one must wonder if the diversification of the campus implementing Affirmative Action has taken a Negative role towards top white academic applicants or are these numbers a reflection of the failing of the United States in Educational Rankings?