Introduction
Over the decades, the minority groups in America society such as the blacks, American Indians, and Asians as well as women have been discriminated. Mainly, the discrimination of these groups has been manifested significantly in education, career opportunities, and in employment. To curb this racial and gender prejudices, the American Federal government and Supreme Court have enacted numerous legislation to support for equality of these underrepresented groups in the society. One of the most apparent and profoundly supported legislation is the affirmative action.
In this paper, we analyze the actual meaning of the term Affirmative Action. Next, the paper explains the initial intent of Affirmative-Action legislation. Also, it summarizes the conclusion of the landmark Bakke v. Regents case and the results of legislation on Affirmative Action. The papers winds up by evaluating the students view on Affirmative Action legislation.
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is an anti-discriminatory legislation enacted as an executive order in 1961. Essentially, it is an essential tool that strives to ensure that all the Americans are treated equally and fairly without considering their race, culture or ethnicity as a way to redress the historical discrimination injustices against people of different color and women (Lovell, 1974).
The initial intent of Affirmative-Action legislation
Principally, the initial intent of Affirmative action legislation was to provide all American citizens with equal access to education and employment opportunities. In essence, the policy was intended to eradicate the effects of discrimination of the minority and women, particularly in the workplace to ensure diversity of the American Society (Stephanopoulos & Edley, 1995).
According to the U.S Supreme Court, affirmative action is based on the idea that for the nation to captivate leaders with legitimacy to their citizenry, the path to leadership mainly in workplace should be open to only the talented and qualified people in the society irrespective of their race and ethnicity (Robinson et al., 2007).
The Conclusion of the Landmark Bakke V. Regents Case
The case on Regents of University of California v. Bakke concluded that applying racial quotas in the process of admission in the University was entirely unlawful while the use of Affirmative action in admitting a higher number of the minority applicants was to some extent, constitutional (Brooke & Edward, 2011). Also, the case in accordance with the court concluded that no single applicant was to be denied a position purely on account of their race, especially to favor other people who were less qualified, as assessed by the stipulated qualification standards without any racial regard. Thus, though it is constitutionally right to consider the racial aspect as a way to ensure diversity in education, it should not be the only factor to be considered.
Basis for the Conclusion of Landmark Bakke V. Regents Case
The conclusion was based on a case where Bakke, a white applicant at the University of California sued the University’s administration in a state court after been denied an admission to the medical school twice, despite having considerably higher qualifications compared to other minority applicants admitted earlier. The admission process in the University had set aside 16 out of its 100 positions for the minority students, which was composed of the Blacks, Asians, and American Indians (Corporation, 2007).
Bakke alleged that this admission policy was against the Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as well as the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause (Corporation, 2007). The Supreme Court agreed to his allegations affirming that the university discriminated racially against the whites since it denied them from the 16 out of 100 admissions. The court ruled that the though the quota system promoted inclusion of other races in the university, it, however, overtly discriminated against race.
Positive and Negative Results of Affirmative Action Legislation
Legislations have been passed by the Supreme Court and the federal government to affirm the principle of equality of all races. Examples include The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause. The enactment of these laws has had positive and negative impacts in organizations, education, society, and the minority.
Positive Results of Affirmative Action Legislation
Primarily, the implementation of these laws has enabled the minority groups and women to access equal opportunities in education and employment. In employment, affirmative action promotes efforts that give the minority fair and equal chances in job recruitment, retention, and promotion.
Also, incorporating different gender, races, cultures, and ethnicities result to the creation of diverse skills and knowledge in the workforce, which leads to improved productivity and efficiency in organizations.
In the education system, affirmative action policies promote equal opportunities that allow the minority and women to pursue that same careers and attend similar institutions as the whites.
Enactment of affirmative action creates serene and harmonious interaction of people of all races free from racial prejudice or violence.
Negative Results of Affirmative Action Legislation
Research has shown that affirmative action leads to the employment and admissions to universities, of less qualified minority groups as an attempt to promote racial equality rather than competence (Thernstrom & Thernstrom, 1997).
Affirmative action ruins the real meaning of meritocracy as it regards race as the dominant factor to consider in admissions and employment.
Often, students and employees placed in positions through affirmative action do not perform according to the tasks assigned. This may lower their self-esteem and also impact negatively on the productivity of the organization and schools.
Affirmative action creates winners and losers in the society. This effect breeds resentment between the whites and other races. For instance, an individual denied a job or an education opportunity on the account of affirmative action may resent the groups perceived to benefit from this policy (Grubb et al., 2011).
Public legislation and policies get evaluated mainly on their intent and results. The intent of the legislation on affirmative action was sound and essential: to promote equality for the minority and women in the society in education and employment opportunities. However, the outcome of this legislation has created mixed reactions that have distorted the initial intent.
Ideally, it is apparent that affirmative action has enhanced equal treatment and access for the minority and women to education and employment opportunities. In fact, African – Americans showed a highly significant rise in the degrees awarded from 1990 to 2000 (National center for education statistics, 2003). Besides, basing on the highlights from the IBMs affirmative action programs, there has been a significant rise in the workplace diversity. Fundamentally, such institutions showed broadening career opportunities and enhanced productivity.
On the other hand, affirmative action, to some extent, presupposes that the minority and women are weak beings who always need help. Thus, it perpetuates a negative stigma regarding the abilities of the women and minority. In my view, though affirmative action enhances equality of all American citizens, it is grossly unfair not only to the whites but also to the same groups it intends to help.
References
Brooke, P. & Edward, S. (2011). Crisis in affirmative action: Bakke v. The regents of the university of California. Journal of Non-White Concerns in Personnel and Guidance, 6(3), 119–124.
Corporation, E. B. (2007). The supreme court . Expanding civil rights . Landmark cases . Regents of university of California v. Bakke (1978). Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_regents.html
Grubb, L. W., Carolina, E., McMillan-Capehart, A., & McDowell, W. C. (2011). Why Didnt I get the job? White Nonbeneficiaries reactions to affirmative action and diversity programs. Journal of Diversity Management (JDM), 4(2), 25–34.
Lovell, C. (1974). Three key issues in affirmative action. Public Administration Review, 34(3), 235-237.
National center for education statistics, (2003). Percentage of doctoral degrees awarded to blacks has reached the highest level ever recorded. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 42(8).
Robinson, R. K., Franklin, G. M., & Epermanis, K. (2007). The supreme court rulings in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger: The brave new world of affirmative action in the 21st century. Public Personnel Management, 36(1), 33–49.
Stephanopoulos, G. & Edley, C. (1995). “Review of Federal Affirmative Action Programs.” Unpublished White House Document.
Thernstrom, S., & Thernstrom, A. M. (1997). America in black and white: One nation, indivisible. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group.
