Affirmative Action

I feel that affirmative action for the most part is immoral because it focuses on a persons gender or race and not their qualifications and intelligence. Schools and businesses should accept or hire people that are the best candidates. Affirmative action was definitely necessary in the past where racism and gender discrimination was much stronger. Even though discrimination will always exist, it is a lot less prevalent in todays society then back in the days of civil war. The only type of affirmative action I slightly agree with is the tiebreaker. This occurs when two candidates are equally qualified but the minority receives the job. If a company had much more white candidates then minorities then I would be ok with this happening. However, in a perfect world affirmative action would not be necessary. I definitely disagree with giving preferences to historically oppressed applicants if they are less qualified with other top candidates or if they only have minimal qualifications. 

I also disagree with the two arguments in support of affirmative action. Backward Looking Justifications provides compensation for past injustices. This is unfair because the people receiving these preferences were not alive when the injustices occurred. I think it is best to learn from the mistakes of our countries past and learn from them, rather then try to make up for it by giving certain people preferential treatment. Forward Looking Justifications provides necessary means for achieving important social goals. I don't think this is necessary because in most cases people of all genders and races have equal opportunity. I know the world is not a perfect place, but I believe having an African-American President is the perfect example of equal opportunity and that people of all races have a chance to succeed.