Affirmative Action
This paper was written to show how Affirmative
Action took place. It deals with
the idea that diversity management does not
decrease ethnic and gender tensions
while increasing profits, productivity
and creativity, but it has served a
general purpose to aware people of
different cultures, and establish a
justification to make everybody equal in
opportunity not based in race, sex, nor
culture. It also includes a history
of the Affirmative Action. The different
paths it has taken along the
development it has undergone as time has gone by,
from its beginning as a
Civil Rights Act to the Affirmative Action it is today.
Statement of
Purpose The three members of the group are members of minorities
and the
purpose is to acquaint other minorities with what could be encountered
in
finding a job. Scope This paper contains arguments that stand for and
against
Affirmative Action programs with cases to substantiate the
claims. It also
contains a history of the Affirmative Action and its original
purpose. Sources
and Methods The material needed for this paper was gathered
from several on-line
resources and a book. Such sources were gathered by
searching the Internet and
the School's Library. Report Organization The
paper starts by giving the reader
the original purpose of the affirmative
Action and its history. Then, it states
several pros and several cons
supporting each with a case. At the end of the
paper a summary of the same is
given together with the conclusions formed by the
writers of the paper. WHAT
IS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION? Affirmative Action is the name
given to programs that
try to correct past and ongoing discriminations against
women, racial
minorities, and others in the work force and in education. The
principal goal
of Affirmative Action is to create more diversity and equal
opportunities in
jobs or schools that used to be all or mostly male, white, or
both.
Affirmative Action programs have been in place only a little over
thirty
years throughout Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. There are
three
aspects of Affirmative Action. One, Affirmative Action in employment.
It can
consist of posting and publicizing job notices in locations that are
likely to
be seen by a wide rang e of people so that not only white people,
but also
minorities can see that there are job opportunities that they can
apply to (Casul,
1). Two, Affirmative Action in contracting. This
consists of highly regulated
government agencies that help minorities to get
jobs without haven to go through
discrimination because of their background
(Casul, 1). Three, Affirmative Action
in education. This consists of various
programs that schools have to be able to
provide minorities with the equal
opportunity of an education (Casul, 1). THE
HISTORY OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Affirmative Action was started in 1965 with the
Executive order of
President Lyndon B. Johnson. He stated that something else
had to be done to
move beyond the non-discrimination laws that were already
enacted. At the
same time something had to be done to enable women and
minorities to move up
in their jobs. After President Johnson, President Nixon
implemented that same
Executive order. With this done President Ford, a few
years later the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans
Readjustment Act
of 1974. This acts assured that federal contractors had
Affirmative
Action regulations in hiring or firing employees. Again, some years
later
President Carter created a centralized office to handle all
Affirmative
Action cases named the Office of Federal Contract Compliance
Programs (OFCCP).
Now, during his presidency, President Clinton has
articulated four standards for
all Affirmative Action programs: no quotas in
theory or practice, no illegal
discrimination of any kind, no preferences for
people not qualified, and as soon
as the program has succeeded it must be
retired. THE CASE FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Since the day that thanks to the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 African-American
civilians were able to attend
school with everybody else; since the day that
there was no difference
between a "white water fountain" and a
"black water fountain", the
achievements reached with the help of an
Affirmative Action are evident.
Affirmative Action has caused a debate and some
tension to rise in the
American society (Lewis, 1). The paragraphs that follow
will be intended to
show to the reader that an Affirmative Action can indeed
help the business
environment in getting the most qualified people the job they
deserve,
without their race, culture or sex prevent them from getting
it.
Arguments For Affirmative Action Since the day that Affirmative
Action programs
started to take place, minorities have been able to be
treated fairly and have
been able to get job opportunities also. The next few
paragraphs state several
arguments that point to the conclusion that an
Affirmative Action is needed to
provide fairness in every aspect to
minorities. The programs are needed because
there are still cases in which
minorities and women earn less money than white
people and men regardless of
the place they studied and got their degrees from.
They still earn less
money regardless of the qualifications and past experience
they might have,
to prove this look at any community. How many members of a
minority are in
leadership positions? How many members of a minority are elected
into office?
Affirmative Action programs are created to provide minorities with
the
opportunity to be chosen in better jobs. Affirmative Action programs
are
needed as a tool that the Federal government has to provide minorities
with the
opportunity to be treated equally (LCCP, 4). These programs are
needed because
some institutions in society are not ready to hire minorities
just because they
are minorities unless they are forced to do so by law. As
long as this is so
Affirmative Action programs should be preserved and
improved (Rothstein, 1). THE
CASE AGAINST AFFIRMATIVE ACTION As time has
gone by, and as discrimination has
been legally reduced to the point that it
is easier tolerate with the help of
several Affirmative Action programs, the
idea that such programs are not needed
anymore is rising. Together with the
question of Affirmative Action being needed
or not debate has been rising
too. Just as there are arguments that protect
Affirmative Action, there
are arguments that reject it. The following paragraphs
will show the reader
that an Affirmative Action is not needed anymore because of
the way society
is handling such problem. Arguments Against Affirmative Action
After all
the years that Affirmative Action programs have been taking place in
several
institutions to provide and end to discrimination; there are some
arguments
that point to the fact that such programs are not needed to
provide
minorities with fairness. The next few paragraphs state what those
arguments
are. The first argument is that people should be able to think what
they want,
to establish their own values about everything. This holds true as
long as they
do not deny anybody else's rights. The opponents of Affirmative
Action programs
believe that "to be free is to be wrong" therefore racists
should be
able to believe what they want and be against what they want too.
They believe
that to be forced to do something they do not want to do could
be harmful
instead of helpful to minorities. In other words racists are only
fair when
forced to do so legally (Jemal, 1). The second argument is that the
opponents of
such programs believe that to be forced to work with minorities
against their
wills is not the solution to stop racism and discrimination.
This only makes
discrimination stronger and immune to reason. Opposition
believes that
Affirmative Action programs were created to free "White
America" of
the feeling of guilt after the atrocities committed against
minorities years
back and that they are no longer effective. Opposition
believes that those times
have passed and therefore the programs are not
needed. The third argument this
paper states is that Affirmative Action
programs are nothing but quotas,
therefore the economic aspect of it becomes
clear. This programs stigmatizes and
calls into question the credentials of
the qualified minorities (Lewis, 2). They
force qualified people to surrender
their jobs to less qualified people just
because they are not a minority.
This understates that the economy of the
country is in risk of going down due
to that fact. Just as Affirmative Action
helps minorities it harms the other
people, because it takes away the jobs they
have worked so hard to get. HOW
DOES THIS AFFECT BUSINESSES The way that
businesses are affected by the
debate that takes place because of Affirmative
Action programs should be
considered. The Business Industry can be affected in
two ways. One,
businesses are helped by such programs because they can get
workers from
other cultures to work with them and even be able to help the
company with
ideas to expand, to create better products, etc. After all,
Americans do
not only populate United States but it is a mixture of several
cultures that
have to learn to live together. Businesses can also be negatively
affected if
because of Affirmative Actions companies are forced to indeed hire
minority
members that are not highly qualified for the job. The fact that
these
programs are created to help minorities can result in harm for the
people who
are not members of the minorities in question, and therefore would
not be
elected to get the job because of their origin. This could definitely
cause a
decrease in the industry's revenue and could cause a fall in the
American
economy. Therefore in order to keep Affirmative Action programs in
an equal
scale so that they do not affect industries they have to be
carefully revised
and planned taking in consideration the men and women that
are not members of
the minorities in question. SUMMARY The paragraphs above
are an explanation of
the facts that are behind Affirmative Action, both for
and against. Affirmative
Action like everything else that involves public
opinion has created debate in
society, a debate that has to sides. One, the
one that believes that these
programs have helped tremendously because they
have given the opportunity to
many members of minorities to get better
positions in the job they have and to
be treated equally like it should have
always been. This side of the coin
believes that in order to stop every kind
of discrimination Affirmative Action
programs should be kept and improved
because without them this society would go
back to the times in which Negroes
were slaves and not able to vote. On the
other hand the other side, which
believes that Affirmative Action programs are
useless, has also strong
arguments to believe so. This side believes that when
people are forced to
hire people against their will it will only increase the
tension and in some
cases the grudge held against minorities. This feelings can
grow to such
point that are considered dangerous causing fatalities like the
cases that
have been seen on television lately in which minority members are
killed just
because of who they are. CONCLUSIONS After the research done for
the
completion of this paper, the members of the group have gotten to the
conclusion
that the world that would be faced by hem because of the fact that
they are
minorities is not a very gentle one. They will be faced by all kinds
of people.
People who are not against Affirmative Action programs and by
some that are.
People should be aware of the fact that to achieve one's
goals they have to do
all that they can to become the best in the things they
do whether it is
education or job. The facts shown in this paper are a proof
that society as well
as the law are still harsh on minorities even if law
protects such people the
risk of being treated in a inadequate manner is
there and very much alive.
RECOMMENDATIONS The opinion that the authors
of the paper took is that
Affirmative Action does nothing wrong, but to
help minorities in achieving that
liberty that has been wanted for many years
back. Affirmative Action is the
reason why Mexican students are allowed to
come to United sates looking for a
better place to become somebody in life by
achieving a good education.
Affirmative Action should be kept an improved
by government always to help
everybody everywhere in United
States.
Bibliography
Casul, Algeo. What Is Affirmative Action?
http://www.wco.com/~acasul/algeo/aa.htm
23-Mar-1999. Pages 1-2 Jemal,
Alison. What's Wrong with Affirmative Action and
Why It Must Go.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/1320/affirmative_action
1997.
Pages 1-4. Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. The Case For
Affirmative
Action. http://www.civilrights.org Last modified 21-Nov-1997.
Pages 1-6 Lewis,
Brian. An Ethical and Practical Defense of Affirmative
Action. http://www.princeton.edu/~blewis/action.htm
Pages 1-5 Rothstein,
Richard. Can The Case Against Affirmative Action Stand Up
Against The
Evidence? http://www.epn.org Last modified 15-Oct