Ramos Jose I.
Prof. Tantalo
English 101
11/6/13
Essay 3
You’re only as Strong as Your Weakest Link Recently in Michigan there has been a reopening of a dispute traced back to the 1950’s. This argument is whether the use of affirmative action should be used when determining whether to accept or reject the request of an applicant. Affirmative Action refers to policies taken into consideration that may boost someone’s application and thus help them be accepted. These extra policies can used in jobs, universities and other similar competitive based applicable positions, normally they include race, religion or sex. These policies limit the field of applicants and thus make applying for an opening unfair to all that are not helped by it. It also helps create a wider gap in what we would want to have, equality. Instead of focusing on the helping it hides the origins of the original problem which is insufficient help to specific areas of cities, states and counties. During the year of 1978, the court case, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke was a major debate towards that of Affirmative action. Bakke was a 33 year old that had applied to UC Davis Medical School. Even though he had outstanding perquisites he was denied because of the school’s affirmative action helping minorities gain entrance even though they had lower scores. Upon learning of this Bakke decided to take the UC system to court upon which he won and was allowed attendance to the university. Traditionally, we have believed that the highest positions in society should be awarded to those who are best qualified. Rewarding excellence both seems just to the individuals in the competition and makes for efficiency. Although this may lead to lack of diversity when it comes down to the major positions such as manager, judges and other positions similar to these. However would we not want the best person for an important position such as these? The answer is quite obvious, yes! This country was founded upon the idea of trying to be the best any one person could possibly be. This naturally means that competition is key when job applications as well as applications to universities. This is to ensure the success of the individual as well as the success of the group. There is a saying, “you’re only as strong as your weakest link”. This is one of the biggest universal truths that can lead to the downfall of group. In an article by Ronald Dworkin he states that "Bakke had no case" because society did not owe Bakke anything. Dworkin says “society may owe Bakke a place at the University of California Davis, for it seems a reasonable rule-utilitarian principle that achievement should be rewarded in society”. We generally want the best to have the best positions, the best qualified candidate to win the political office, the most brilliant and competent scientist to be chosen for the most challenging research project, the best qualified pilots to become commercial pilots, only the best soldiers to become generals. Only when little is at stake do we weaken the standards and content ourselves with sufficiency, there are plenty of jobs where “sufficiency” rather than excellence is required. Perhaps we have even come to feel that medicine or law or university professorships are so routine that they can be performed by minimally qualified people – in which case AA has a place. Yes, not every person in this world has the same educational opportunities. The best example of this can be a struggling school district vs. a well-funded one but why not invest money in schools instead of deny an applicant that is qualified? Jesse Jackson once joined protesters at Harvard Law School in demanding that the Law School faculty hire African American women. Jackson dismissed Dean of the Law School, Robert C. Clark’s standard of choosing the best qualified person for the job. Clark stated, “We cannot just define who is qualified in the narrowest vertical academic terms, most people in the world are yellow, brown, black, poor, non-Christian and don’t speak English, and they can’t wait for some white males with archaic rules to appraise them”. It might be noted that if Jackson is correct about the then situation at Harvard, African Americans might be well advised to form and support their own law schools and leave places like Harvard to their archaism. At several universities, the administration has forced departments to hire members of minorities even when far superior candidates were available. This is the biggest mistake any company can make because it determines how well the company functions. This does not mean that minorities will never have a chance to be hired. What it means is, instead of giving them the job based on certain factors, they must compete for it. No standard or criteria that works to include women or minorities as a class can be utilized, unless the institution can demonstrate the necessity of such standard to the performance of the job in question. This is the reason why Affirmative Action is being used today by various work, and higher education institutions. There are times when Affirmative Action is a good option in order to balance the competition. A prime example of this are legacy admissions. Allen Grove the author of “What are Legacy Admissions” describes it “as practice of giving preferential treatment to a college applicant because someone in his or her family attended the college”. Now if Affirmative Action would be used in order to balance the amount of legacy admissions then its use would be fair. This example clearly demonstrates the lack of opportunities that an individual has based on monetary income.Whenever an investigation of suitable alternative selection procedures and suitable alternative methods is conducted the investigator must choose a procedure that has the minimalist adverse impact as possible when selecting candidates. They should also select the alternative selection procedure with evidence of less adverse impact and substantial evidence of validity for the same job in similar circumstances. When Affirmative Action is not used for such noble purposes, then Americans are wondering why standards in our country are falling and the Japanese and Koreans are getting ahead. Affirmative Action with its twin idols, Sufficiency and Diversity, is the enemy of excellence. The goal of Affirmative Action and of moral people everywhere has been justice for all, including equal opportunity. The question is: how best to get there. Affirmative Action aims at the higher levels of society – universities and skilled jobs, but if we want to improve our society, the best way to do it is to concentrate on families, children, early education, and similar variables that can be manipulated, so all are prepared to benefit themselves of opportunity. One of the negatives that Affirmative Action contributes is the greater separation of ethnicities. Another major fault is how deep of an impact should be given to Affirmative Action, on the one hand, is too much, too soon and on the other hand, too little, too late. Affirmative Action, rather than unite people of good will in the common cause of justice, tends to balkanize us into segregation-thinking.

Works Cited Dworkin, Ronald. "Why Bakke Has No Case." By Ronald Dworkin. N.p., 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1977/nov/10/why-bakke-has-no-case/?pagination=false>. Grove, Allen. "What Are Legacy Admissions?" About.com College Admissions. N.p., 2013. Web. 06 Nov. 2013. <http://collegeapps.about.com/od/theartofgettingaccepted/f/legacy-admissions.htm>. ©2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Pearson Prentice Hall. "Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)." Infoplease. Infoplease, 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.infoplease.com/us/supreme-court/cases/ar32.html>. Times, Fox Butterfield, Special To The New York. "At Rally, Jackson Assails Harvard Law School." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 May 1990. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/10/us/at-rally-jackson-assails-harvard-law-school.html>.