The Debate on Affirmative Action: Is it Beneficial or Detrimental to Society?

Throughout our great nation's history we have been burdened with an age old problem that we still are dealing with today; racism and discrimination are being harbored in our society and even within our very own government. But much has changed since the Civil Rights Movement, and great leaps of progress have been made; one such attempt at achieving a better and more equal society was the creation of affirmative action. Affirmative action first began as "a corrective measure for governmental and social injustices against demographic groups that have been subjected to prejudice" (Wikipedia par. 2). Affirmative action in the United States of America is the employer or university favoring certain groups of people that are considered to be at a disadvantage to the white male majority. However, regardless of its intentions, is affirmative action a benefit, or is it in fact a harmful epidemic spreading racism throughout our society?

There have been many questions concerning whether or not affirmative action actually creates more problems than it solves, and it has been said many times by large majorities that affirmative action actually creates racism. "Affirmative action has been the subject of numerous court cases, and has been contested on constitutional grounds" (Wikipedia par. 10). The Supreme Court decision in 2003 concerning affirmative action in universities allowed "educational institutions to consider race as a factor in admitting students as long as it was not used in a mechanical, formulaic manner" (Wikipedia Par. 13). Is this form of reverse discrimination the answer to our nation's struggle for equality or is it just continuing racism in our society?
The Case For Affirmative Action written by Charles J. Ogletree Jr. argues the importance of affirmative action in our nation to help repay the debt our country owes to the many African American citizens that he claims to be still in the recovery of their many years being discriminated against. In agreement with Ogletree, Paul Kivel believes that affirmative action is a step in the right direction, and he talks of how it should be continued in his article Affirmative Action Works. However the author Steven Cahn recognizes that there is a problem, but takes a more neutral stance on affirmative action by writing about how we need to dedicate more time and passion to this issue in order to find a better solution in his work History of Affirmative Action. An experienced illustrator and online journalist that goes only by the name of "Tori" takes a firm stand against affirmative action and expresses her opinion in her work Is Affirmative Action Effective in Combating Discrimination Against Minorities. David Sacks, '94, a law student at the University of Chicago. Peter Thiel, '89, JD '92, runs an investment firm. They are co-authors of The Diversity Myth: "Multi-culturalism" and the Politics of Intolerance at Stanford. David Sacks and Peter Thiel also wrote a short article The Case Against Affirmative Action that takes a bold stand and expresses their feelings on how they believe affirmative action is similar to an overgrown disease in our society.

Charles J. Ogletree Jr. the previously mentioned author of The Case For Affirmative Action argues that he would have never been given the chance at higher education had it not been for the implementation of affirmative action at Stanford University. Ogletree states that many African Americans across the country are given the opportunities they deserve because of the policies that "seek to realign the balance of power and opportunity by doing what is, at heart, quite simple: affirmatively including the formerly excluded" (par. 2).

Ogletree insists that the playing field in America is no where near being leveled and looks to statistics to help further his point. Last year 1,455 African Americans received PhD's while over 24,500 "whites" were able to successfully achieve theirs. Ogletree claims that thousands of African Americans are at a constant disadvantage because they have not had "access to good public education or to funds that pay for preparatory courses for those tests" (par. 5). However, Ogletree states at the end of his article that regardless of the playing field, white Americans owe African Americans the policy of affirmative action for all the crimes committed against them in the past.

Arguing alongside Ogletree is Paul Kivel, author of Affirmative Action Works. Kivel argues that racism in our country is not in any way self-healing, rather, it is self-perpetuating. In order for our nation to solve this problem of racism, we cannot just level the playing field and hope it fixes itself, he argues that we must give minorities a boost or advantage to help positively eliminate racism by making it easier for them to get into college or a career. Kivel argues that most jobs and similar opportunities are gained through informal networks of friends and relatives, leaving many minorities out of the loop; "federal law now requires widespread and public advertisement of such opportunities so that not only people of color, but white women and men who are outside the circles of information, have an equal opportunity to apply for these positions" (par. 8).
Kivel informs us in his work that he believes that affirmative action is the symbol of white male's acknowledgement of the injustices and racial discriminations in our country against the minorities and it is their attempt to remedy it, and any opponent of this movement without a counter-solution forces them to stand against equality and justice.

Differing from the previous authors, Steven Cahn, author on The History of Affirmative Action does not take a very powerful stand against affirmative action, however, he does imply throughout his writings that a better solution must be found in order to better spread justice and equality throughout our society.

Cahn recognizes that many injustices have occurred to minorities throughout our history and that "their victims deserve compensation, and that strenuous efforts should be made to try to prevent any further wrongdoing while striving to achieve a more enlightened society" (par. 10). However Cahn does not say one way or another how this problem should be solved. He recognizes that there is indeed a problem in our society, but his answer is that we come together and discover that "what is most needed now is an increased passion and greater attention to recognizing and analyzing the subject's complexities" (par. 11). With that Steven Cahn believes that we can come to a similar conclusion and decide what is best for our countries citizens.

Taking a much stronger stand against affirmative action, the online journalist "Tori" author of Is Affirmative Action Effective in Combating Discrimination Against Minorities, writes on how she feels that affirmative action could be causing more trouble than it is solving. However, she does mention that she believes the programs to have been a success when looking at the diversity of our country now compared to fifty years ago. She also states that just because it worked with our past society, that maybe now we need to find a better solution to further our nations racial equality.

Tori points out that in today's society of strict competition, affirmative action is now becoming extremely unfair. The University of Michigan, like many other universities, has an admittance department that is based purely upon a point system. Being a minority student at such university earns you more points than receiving a perfect score on the SAT. Tori shows us that thanks to affirmative action, a white male student who works extremely hard and is obviously enormously talented and receives a perfect SAT score in reward for his hard work, will have a lower chance of getting into a school than an average scoring African American student. Tori states that as long as affirmative action is policy, then one group of citizens will be discriminated against so long as we reward citizens "based on color and not on achievement" (par. 3).

Similar to "Tori", David Sacks and Peter Thiel argue strongly against the institution of affirmative action in our society. Sacks and Thiel agree that if affirmative action were to remedy disadvantage, then preferences "would be given on the basis of disadvantage, not on the basis of race" (par. 3). Not only is affirmative action detrimental to competing white male Americans in getting admitted into universities, but is also damaging to the very group of people it is trying to benefit. There is no way of telling "whether a given student genuinely deserved admission" when preference to admission is skewed by the color of a particular individual's skin color and not ability (par. 11). Many universities are beginning to use the excuse of trying to promote diversity on campus by admitting a variety of "disadvantaged" minorities. "But if "diversity" were really the goal, then preferences would be given on the basis of unusual characteristics, not on the basis of race" (par. 6). Sacks and Thiel conclude that racism will always remain a problem as long as people continue to be treated differently according to the color of their skin and not the quality of their character.

It seems to appear that the argument for affirmative action has a lot of strong feelings behind it because of past racist actions taken against certain groups of minorities in our nation's history. Ogletree mentions earlier that black citizens deserve this particular treatment to pay back what was taken from them years ago. However, Sacks and Thiel show great conviction in their argument, as they believe that by eliminating affirmative action they are one step closer to eliminating racism while promoting equality. However regardless of the position you take on affirmative action, Cahn makes a fine point that all previous mentioned authors would most likely agree, that regardless of what position you take on affirmative action, more passion needs to be devoted to the issue to help further develop our society and make our nation a better place to live in. However, both sides of the argument were well debated as strong points were made for both ends of the spectrum. All authors imply the importance of finding a solution to the problem of racism in our country whether it be through the development and implementation of affirmative action, or the elimination of it entirely, is extremely important to the continual development of a better society.

Works Cited

"affirmative action." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 03 Nov. 2006.

Cahn, Steven. "The History of Affirmative Action." 1995 24 Oct 2006

David Sacks, Peter Thiel. "The Case Against Affirmative Action"

Kivel, Paul. "Affirmative Action Works!" 17 Nov 2003

Ogletree, Charles. "The Case For Affirmative Action." 23 Nov 2002

Tori. "Is Affirmative Action Effective In Combating Discrimination Against Minorities"