Are you pro or anti affirmative action?

Question

I am interested in the average person's opinion about this very relavent subject.

The subject interests me as a woman of color (Black), and how it affects average Americans economically, socially, and politically.

For anybody who is interested on my opinions on affirmative action programs, you can read on my blog http://360.yahoo.com/lavenderspirit2005

Answer 1

I am for affirmative action, because I believe the public education system in our country is so poor that minorities, who still tend to live in lower income areas, are more likely to receive a substandard education. They are frequently at a disadvantage when competing for college placement, and therefore are at a disadvantage when applying for jobs. Also, many employers continue to hire friends and families of current employees, who are typically white males. If the government does not require companies to hire minorities, many would choose not do so, in my opinion.

Answer 2

I agree with mzadamz. I am pro, but I believe the concept has been completely lost and skewed into a talking point. Everyone against has said that a person should be hired based on merit, not on minority or gender status. And I completely agree with that.

However, the original purpose of Affirmative Action was to provide an equal playing field. That *because of* equal competence or qualifications, a minority should get the position based on the fact that traditionally, they have been denied positions *despite* the equal qualifications, simply because the employer did not wish to hire a minority.

I do not think there should necessarily be quotas, because honestly, if an engineering firm finds they have very few female engineers that is because very few women choose engineering as a profession.

Therein lies the problem, that fundamentally women and minorities are discouraged from many professions based on stereotypes and various forms of prejudice. Minorities tend to be in lower social-economical brackets, why? I don't believe it to be inherent in their culture, rather societal and historical predispositions present from the beginning of a minority's existence make it harder for a minority to succeed than, for instance, a white male.

Same goes for a poor person (as an example) who, against all odds, manages to get a decent education and go to college, much like a wealthier counterpart. However, after college, even if those counterparts get the same job, on equal playing field, the poorer person is at a disadvantage, because, chances are, they have more debt starting out their life than the wealthier one.

The cycle is inevitable and unfortunate.

Answer 3

In the beginning I was for affirmative action because the
African American people were not getting a fair shake.
Times have changed, more and more blacks are able to
get into school because they are better students, better
students get better jobs.

In todays world an African American should be selected on
his qualifications not his color but I also say there are still
those that are racist and would hire a white person with
a High School diploma over a black with a PHD simply
because of the color of their skin. There needs to be
a way to overcome this one obstacle

I wish that it was not that way, God made all of us, and
hatred will destroy our world faster than anything else. The
hatred I am talking about is not just color but in religious
beliefs as well.

I am a white 59 yr old male and have seen enough of my
black brothers killed in Vietnam and those that survived
were treated like they never existed,

Answer 4

In my opinion affirmative action is only good up to a point.
It is all fine when you want to set things right which was previously wrong and unfair but how long must people suffer to make up for their ansestors faults?

In our country their use to be apartheid so they try to fix it with affirmative action - that's fine because people didn't have oppertunities before and they couldn't study and get the knowledge and experiance and therefor they couldn't get the jobs. Now they can, but instead of studying, getting the knowledge and getting the experiance to get the post - it is just given to them - leaving all the people still not qualified and our country with incompatant people in high positions.

Futher more the people that actualy paid the price, went and studied and worked very hard to get a job, now are in the situation where they can't get the jobs because of affirmative action. They get punished for something that happend years ago which they were not part of. Most of the young people in our country looking for work were still small children or not even born yet when appartheid was going on. Now they are being punished for something they had no part in.

So I am anti affirmative action. I was pro affirmative action for the last 10 years - I think it's now time to get over the let's blame it on previously disatvantage appartheid storey - it's really getting old now.

Answer 5

I think affirmative action had its time and place but it is a bit outdated. It was set in place to assure minorities who were qualified were not overlooked because of their race...meaning if applicant A (caucasion)sterling qualifications and applicant B (minority) had same said qualifications, then applicant B should get the position because he was considered to be at a disadvantage in the interview based upon the fact that he was a she or black vs. white etc. The program has been bastardized and utilized to the point that it is now commonly thought that one should be able to secure a position based soley upon their sex (woman) or minority status. So, I think it started out great, but has been twisted. Also, I do know that statistically white women are the largest group of affirmative action receipiants.

Answer 6

I am against affirmative action. What it basically does is to say that a minority has no qualifications for certain jobs other than the ones handed to them by affirmative action. That is wrong. In this country, education is publicly funded and everyone has access to the same opportunity. Those who don't take advantage of that regardless of race, gender or religion can expect that their employability will be lower than those who do.

Answer 7

Affirmative action is a program whereby it's entirely possible that a hiring decision can come down to someone's race. I've seen it happen firsthand.

Since affirmative action is racial discrimination, it should become part of America's ugly past.

Answer 8

All things considered, I'm against affirmative action.
If two people are equally qualified, then, I see no problem with giving the "thing" (job, seat in classroom, etc) to a minority. However, for creating two separate standards, just to allow minorities entrance, I'm against that. One for the average person, and less for the minority or extra points just for being a minority, NO.
I also don't think that Anything should just be "handed" to a person. There should always have strings attached. For example. Giving a minority student an entrance to a college, based solely on the fact that they are a minority, then they should be obligated to either military service or community service in that field that the school is teaching them for on an equal or greater basis. You become an architect for a 4 year college degree, it should cost you 6 years of "free" labor as a professional.

Answer 9

I'm anti. I have no problem with any race of people. I just feel that you should get a job based on who is most qualified. Plain and simple. Unfortunately I understand the need for something like it. There is still major racism in our society and mostly African Americans get the short end of the stick for a lack of a better term. But to get a job over someone else cause of your race, that's not fair at all. And makes no sense. Lest change it to "Best Qualified Action" no matter what you are!

Answer 10

anti...because a person should get a job based on performance, ability, and experience. if a white guy has got more than a black woman, the white guy should get it. If the black woman is way more qualified she should get it. It shoud have nothing to do with race. I think we as a society should be past this by now.