...------------------------------------------------- Research: Affirmative Action. Do you feel that affirmative action has a place in today's society? Do you support or oppose its role in today's politics and our lives? Why? Affirmative action is a term most Americans are familiar with, but a term that is not always well understood. To clarify, as defined in Politics in America by Thomas Dye, affirmative action is any government or private program designed to help offset the effects of “past unequal treatment of minorities and/or women by giving members of these groups preferential treatment in admissions, hiring, promotions, or other aspects of life” (Dye, 2009, p. 551). Over time, affirmative action has resulted in an array of policies or programs specifically designed with the intention to enhance employment and business opportunities, or educational programs for groups, such as ethnic or racial minorities, as well as women, who all, as a group, have suffered discrimination. However, the approach in which these policies or programs are employed, the forms of action they entail, and the far-reaching repercussions they convey for our society may deviate from one specific program to another. Since its founding, the belief in human equality has guided the American republic. Of the truths held to be self-evident in the Declaration of Independence, the very first and foremost is that “all men are created equal.” This certainty is deep-seated as we recognize intuitively the equality of individuals validates universal involvement...
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...GENDER-BASED AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND REVERSE GENDER BIAS: BEYOND GRATZ, PARENTS INVOLVED, AND RICCI ROSALIE BERGER LEVINSON* I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II. History Behind the Affirmative Action Race/Gender Anomaly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III. The Circuit Split on the Race/Gender Conundrum . . . . . . . . . IV. Analogy to Race-Based Affirmative Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Remedial Purpose as a Justification for Affirmative Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B. The Diversity Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C. The Arguments Against Affirmative Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . V. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I. INTRODUCTION The blockbuster race discrimination cases in recent years have all involved affirmative action and reverse discrimination. The Supreme Court has made it clear that race classifications, whether benign or invidious, will trigger rigid strict scrutiny analysis, which requires that the government prove its program is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest. In 2003, the Court, in Gratz v. Bollinger,1 ruled that while student diversity in educational institutions may be a compelling interest, an affirmative action program...
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...“To what extent are Affirmative Action programs no longer needed in the United States?” Affirmative Action is a policy in the United States that “aims to enhance educational and career opportunities for minorities and women by granting them preferences in college and graduate school admissions, promotions, and contract awards.” (Boxill) Such programs are designed to ensure that qualified individuals in America have equal access to opportunity in areas such as education and employment, and receive a fair chance to contribute all their abilities. As T.H. Andersen points out: “Supporters declare themselves the champions of racial justice, protectors of Martin Lurher King’s Dream, while the opponents see themselves as the defenders of merit, of colorblind equal protection enshrined by the U.S. Constitution.” (Anderson Preface X) Therefore, although at first these programs were considered a huge success, many argue that Affirmative Action has been out dated and is not working anymore. Affirmative Action has served its purpose, and is no longer needed and should be abolished or reformed, as it will no longer be useful in helping eliminate the racial gaps in the United States. Affirmative Action has achieved a great deal since it was first introduced in the 1960s. Politicians have characterized Affirmative Action as a policy “designed to right the wrongs of the past, as a quota system, or a set of remedial programs aimed to compensate for the inadequacies of people of color”(Crosby...
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...“Persisting Racial Inequality In The United States of America” When Thomas Jefferson and America’s founding fathers drafted the constitution, they envisioned a life of freedom and equality for themselves and every other citizen of the United States. Their vision had a huge caveat: only white men were created equally and held inherent rights. Our founding fathers immediately ingrained discrimination into the bones of this country and set the stage for years of struggle to achieve equal opportunity. After 185 years of denying equal social and economic opportunities to minorities and women, America’s leaders chose to act. The actions of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson brought forward a plan called affirmative action: to address the under-representation of qualified minorities and women in higher education and the workplace. With a foundation that contains discrimination in its core, affirmative action did not come without controversy. It has been the central topic of notable Supreme Court cases such as University of California Regents v. Bakke, Grutter v. Bollinger, and Fisher v. University of Texas. Many who oppose affirmative action argue that race-conscious programs lead to reverse discrimination and group preferences over individual merit. Through arguments, data and research, it will be shown that affirmative action is indeed an effective remedy for addressing racial inequality in higher education and other institutions. Without it in this current time, large negative...
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...and live in crime ridden neighborhoods. They also claim that they are targets of daily racism, hindering their chances for advancement. Proponents point to small numbers of these minorities in certain desirable jobs (i.e. CEOs of corporations and high elected office) as evidence of underrepresentation of minorities and a need for diversity both in the workplace and in higher education. There are a number of different levels of affirmative action, including quotas, preferences, and outreach, in lessening order of severity. Quotas, also called “set asides”, deal with having a definite amount of jobs or college spots reserved for a particular group. For example, if a university admits 1000 students every year and sets aside 150 seats that are open to blacks only, this is considered a quota. A perfect illustration of a quota would be the 1977 Supreme Court case Bakke v Regents of the University of California, in which the court ruled that these quotas could not be used by the system but that race could be considered a plus in admissions to the medical school. This brings us to preferences. Preferences are when persons from certain groups (usually groups that have been underrepresented or disadvantaged) are given a ‘boost' in admissions. An example of...
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...World knowledge in Teaching & Learning Learner Support Skills and Knowledge for Work in the Multicultural World Differentiation of Teaching and Learning Citizenship Legal Compliance Ofsted Inspection EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE VOCATIONAL CURRICULUM ©Gordon Ffrench Associates Depending on the nature of the subject and the learners, it includes some or all of the following ingredients: Inclusive teaching which takes account of the diverse learning needs, styles and preferences of learners. Responsive teaching which aims to manage the learning experience in a way which empowers and validates the diverse perspectives of learners. ©Gordon Ffrench Associates 3 Anti-discriminatory teaching which teaches learners about their rights and responsibilities to each other in the classroom, the workplace and the wider society. Attitudinal teaching which fosters understanding of how stereotyped attitudes and prejudiced thinking damage relationships, hinder communication and are therefore bad for education and bad for business. Diversity teaching which acknowledges and celebrates the contributions of men and women of all backgrounds, ages, cultures, religions to human progress in all fields. ©Gordon Ffrench Associates 4 1. Planning and Managing the Equal Opportunities Curriculum (including timetabling, marketing, guidance, identifying additional support resources, and choosing appropriate qualification aims 2. Managing the Equal Opportunities Learning Environment (including...
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...actions and disputes. In 2003 Michigan law school had to defend its affirmative action practices before the Supreme Court in the case of Grutter versus Bollinger (Garces, 2012). The court decided that colleges and universities have an obligation to consider race in a society where race matters. Another case is currently before the Supreme Court titled Fisher versus the University of Texas (Garces, 2012). A decision in this case is imminent and can have sweeping effects on the future of affirmative action laws. Many Americans do not understand affirmative action laws. Most people see it as a personal injury of giving priority to someone that has not earned it. They fail to look at the reasons the program exists, the requirements for the program and the need for it to continue. Affirmative action is when a company takes steps to ensure that it's practices function without depriving any gender or ethnic group. It is a way to promote equality for women and ethnic minorities (Bowen, 2011). Many people use the Civil Rights Act of...
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...Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Introduction * Discrimination for years and years has been seen and experience in our society. In all conscience, one could see discrimination even in animal kingdom. Animals have likes and dislikes based on factors like age, body confirmation, etc. Now, we as humans develop discrimination which appears to be granted by nature to us. Inequality rather than equality seems to be the act of nature for humans. Therefore, this discrimination can come in many colors and sizes; one good example could be one would choose the better and attractive breed of a canine other than that not so appealing. And just like this, there are many other ways for us as individuals to act on discrimination. Now when this discernment is taken further as in racial and ethnic differences the insight of this action shouldn’t be tolerable. Topics like philosophical and social implications of race, multiple racial, ethnic and cultural identities, racism, affirmative action, class conscious rather than color conscious, and the color blind principle are pointed out following. When we look at physical characteristics such as skin color from a social perspective, there is not a clear connotation; however, these physiognomies do have what we referred to as social meaning. Ethical Issues * Racial constructions and taxonomy are topics that somewhat have been rooted in the cognizance of our society by previous societies. I have come to believe that the biological sense of...
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...equalize the education and economic gap between minorities and whites. Although it is not a perfect method to achieving equality in this country, it is essential to accept it for why it’s been put into place and that it is all part of a process. Of course affirmative action is far from perfect and has a fair deal of problems, like promoting reverse discrimination while backing up negative stereotypes. I researched all of these aspects while pondering the question “is affirmative action still needed in today’s society?” In this paper I will be explaining what affirmative action is.The history behind affirmative action like how it all unfolded, who made it, and the history as to why it is in effect now. I will also list some pros and cons of affirmative action, how the United States could better affirmative action for the future and finally a conclusion, which is my opinion on the topic. But what exactly is affirmative action? Born of the civil rights movement three decades ago, affirmative action calls for minorities and women to be given special consideration in employment and education acceptance decisions. Universities with affirmative action policies generally set goals to increase diversity. Affirmative action decisions are generally not supposed to be based on quotas, nor are they supposed to give any preference to unqualified candidates. And by no means is affirmative action supposed to harm anyone through "reverse discrimination." The purpose was to create equal opportunity...
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...Equality and Discrimination Hundreds of millions of people suffer from discrimination in the world of work. This not only violates a basic human right, but has wider social and economic consequences which perpetuate poverty and inequality while worsening social tensions. Lessening discrimination could help the world dramatically decrease poverty and promote decent work for all. Unions can play a crucial role in fighting discrimination nationally and internationally through political action and collective bargaining. But, their leaders and members are themselves subject to discrimination as workers are penalized for joining unions or participating in union activities. However, by better understanding discrimination in its many forms and devising strategies to combat it, unions could help eliminate discrimination and, at the same time, strengthen their organizations. What is discrimination? Discrimination in employment and occupation takes many forms, and occurs in all kinds of work settings. It entails treating people differently because of certain characteristics, such as race, colour or sex, which results in the impairment of equality of opportunity and treatment. In other words, discrimination results in, and reinforces, inequalities. With discrimination the freedom of human beings to develop their capabilities and to choose and pursue their professional and personal aspirations is restricted without regard for ability. Because of discrimination, skills and competencies...
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...prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for employment, on the basis of "color, religion, sex, or national origin".[1][2] Examples of affirmative action offered by the United States Department of Labor include outreach campaigns, targeted recruitment, employee and management development, and employee support programs.[2] The impetus towards affirmative action is to redress the disadvantages[3][4][5][6][7] associated with overt historical discrimination.[8] Further impetus is a desire to ensure public institutions, such as universities, hospitals and police forces, are more representative of the populations they serve.[9] Affirmative action is a subject of controversy. Some policies adopted as affirmative action, such as racial quotas or gender quotas for collegiate admission, have been criticized as a form of reverse discrimination, and such implementation of affirmative action has been ruled unconstitutional by the majority opinion of Gratz v. Bollinger. Affirmative action as a practice was upheld by the court's decision in Grutter v. Bollinger.[10] Affirmative action in the United States began as a tool to address the persisting inequalities for African Americans in the 1960s. This specific term was first used to describe US government policy in 1961. Directed to all government contracting agencies, President John F. Kennedy's Executive Order 10925 mandated "affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment...
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...in today’s world? This paper will tell what affirmative action is, the history, the legal history of it, the people for it, the people against it, the benefits of affirmative action, the cons of affirmative action, and finally how I feel about affirmative action What is Affirmative Action? Affirmative action is only applied to those who have 15 or more employees, or a government contract of fifty or more employees or a contract over $50,000. The following summary describes affirmative action: Born of the civil rights movement three decades ago, affirmative action calls for minorities and women to be given special consideration in employment, education and contracting decisions. Institutions with affirmative action policies generally set goals and timetables for increased diversity – and use recruitment, set-asides and preference as ways of achieving those goals. In its modern form, affirmative action can call for an...
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...positive aspects of implementing diversity and sensitivity training. B. The negative aspects of not implementing diversity training. IV. Diversity during the recession A. How the recession has impacted diversity programs. B. How the recession has impacted minorities. In the years following the Civil Rights movement human resources personnel has had to alter from the old ways of recruitment and selection. This paper will show how government legislation and the evolving mindset in America have opened the doors to racial and ethnic diversity in the workplace and what impact it has had on the success of employees and companies and the strategies companies can use to promote and increase diversity. Before the Civil Rights movement, the majority of employed people in the United States were Caucasian and minority groups had a very difficult time obtaining lucrative employment because of racial...
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...Jermaine R. McCrossin Intro to Criminal Justice Professor Odem Final Should Affirmative Action be used to eliminate injustice? I believe that Affirmative Action can be used to eliminate injustices; it all depends on how it’s used. First to speak about Affirmative Action I’d like to explain what it is, how it came about, what it’s like in other parts of the world, and how “Affirmative Action” is viewed today in society. Lastly, I’d like to explain my point of view and how I came to it. Affirmative Action refers to policies that take factors including race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group in areas of employment, education, and business usually justified as countering the effects of a history of discrimination. Affirmative action is intended to promote equal opportunity. It is often instituted in government and educational settings to ensure that minority groups within a society are included in all programs. The justification for affirmative action is that it helps to compensate for past discrimination, persecution or exploitation by the ruling class of a culture, and to address existing discrimination. The term "affirmative action" was first used in the United States. It first appeared in Executive Order 10925, which was signed by President John F. Kennedy on March 6, 1961, and it required government contractors to "not discriminate against any employee or applicant for...
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...Equality- being equal, especially in rights, status or opportunities. All individuals should be treated equally and there are laws in place to ensure that this happens. In accordance with the law, organisations have quality policies to ensure that everyone is treated equally. Diversity- The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual. Individual Rights- The freedoms to act, work, and behave without retribution bestowed upon members of an organization through legal, regulatory and societal standards. References: Health and social care, level 3, book 1 http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~asuomca/diversityinit/definition.html http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/individual-rights.html Benefits of diversity: The arts- they provide a valuable of bringing diversity to a wider audience. Films that have been made in other countries can demonstrate culture from around the world, that can be easy to understand and can...
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