What Is Affirmative Action?

What is the affirmative action? Well, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary, affirmative action is an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups and women. It is to promote the rights or progress of other disadvantaged persons. 

From this definition, affirmative action seems like a great thing for every society! But then why is there a huge debate and controversy over such a helpful system? To understand further, here are two total opposite nicknames for affirmative action: positive discrimination and reverse discrimination. What do they mean?

Positive Discrimination: to choose someone on the grounds of race, sex or colour rather than merit. 

Reverse Discrimination: discrimination against a dominant or majority group. 

So what does affirmative action fall under? Positive or reverse? 

Well, I think it is a little of both. 

In support of positive discrimination, affirmative action programs are providing many opportunities to minorities, opportunities that most minorities might not even have thought possible to be given to them. Following are some statistics to that show the difference of opportunities provided to minorities compared to majorities: 

• According to 1998 U.S. Department of Labor statistics, blacks are almost twice as likely as whites to be unemployed. Affirmative action programs can help increase the number of black employmentThe unemployment rate is higher for Latinos than for whites. Blacks and Latinos generally earn far less than whites. In 2000, the average weekly earning for blacks was $459 and for Latinos, it was $395. During this time, average income for whites was $590.  Stats like these show that whites generally are provided with more opportunities than minorities. 
• In 2000, black women earned a median weekly income of $458 compared to $523 for white women and $717 for white men. Latina women’s median weekly income was even lower, at $373.
• In 1998, women earned only 73% of the wages earned by men, according to the Census Bureau. This pay gap exists even within the same occupation.
• In 1993, black and Latino men were half as likely as whites to be employed as managers or professionals and much more likely to be employed as machine operators and laborers.
• The National Urban Institute conducted a study in which they sent equally qualified pairs of job applicants on a series of interviews for entry-level jobs. The young men were coached to display similar levels of enthusiasm and articulateness. The young white men received 45% more job offers than their African American co-testers; whites were offered the job 52% more often than Latino “applicants.”

Regarding reverse discrimination, why should qualified white people be rejected when applying for a job or to a university just because the quota of minorities needs to be completed? Lets say you are a white student who has just graduated high school with a high GPA, a high ACT/SAT score, and a couple of extracurriculars and community service hours up your sleeve. You apply to an university along with thousands of other students who are also white, and along with thousands of other students who are Latino, Black, Asian, Native American, etc. You get rejected even though many would consider you a valuable and potential candidate, and a Latino  student with a significantly lower GPA, a non-impressive ACT/SAT score, and no extracurriculars what so ever gets accepted. The Latino student gets accepted just because he is a minority, and he should be given an equal opportunity but you shouldn't. How is that fair? 

One real life example of such an incident is when a couple years back, the University of Michigan was sued by a white student who did not get accepted into their law school, but minorities with lower admission scores did. The University of Michigan had a point system for admissions. Just for being Black, Hispanic, or Native American gave you 20 points, which basically gave you the upper hand as a candidate. 

It's definitely a lot to take in and consider, and people have their own opinions and arguments for both sides. But personally, I think in the end, no matter what people say, do, or think, everyone will not always be given equal opportunities and that the final decision should be one that benefits more than harms, and one that does not create more problems for society.