Affirmative Action

What can be done about the majority of higher paying jobs going to the white males, and the issue of racial/sexual discrimination in both the workplace and in education? To this, the government already has its so-called solution… affirmative action. Affirmative action forces businesses and colleges to hire a certain number of minorities including women, so as to fill a government assessed quota. The solution is not to get even with the white males by disregarding either their hard work through high school to achieve the grade to get into their desired college or their superiority over a competitor for a job position just because the competitor happens to belong to a minority group.

Affirmative Action was created to make up for past prejudices in an effort to create more equality between majorities and minorities. It requires businesses to hire a certain number of blacks, Asian, Latin-American, and women so that it will create more opportunities for people of minorities. Colleges also require a less severe requirement for those of a minority party because the number of the people that did fit the requirement would not fit the quota. Thus, many more deserving majority Americans were denied jobs and acceptance to college because the quota had to be met.

Firstly, Affirmative Action promotes the hiring of less skilled workers, thus creating reverse discrimination. It upsets employers, forcing them to choose the best employee from a limited pool of minorities, not just simply the best employee. This creates a hostile environment where the employer is not satisfied with his choice, and where the peers of the employee look down upon him. All of these affect the moral of the workers and new employee, sewing new seeds of racism, when racism is what Affirmative Action was designed to extinguish. On the other hand, what if the new employee is everything that the employer could want and he just happens to be in a minority group. The other employees do not know this and the cycle repeats itself.

Are three decades of Affirmative Action enough to satisfy the underprivileged who benefit from lowered college requirements and heavily desired jobs that are only looking for minorities to fill slots? It is past time to nullify Affirmative Action. It should be left in the hands of the student to get better grades and earn his right to attend college, not have