Affirmative Action

I believe that affirmative action is one of the most controversial subject's in American politics. In my opinion affirmative action is moral and I believe that it has its place in our society but affirmative action does do some unintentional harm. A black man and a white man could be applying to a college or for a job and have the same qualifications, who does the employer choose? If it was me I would choose who I felt fit the place better. Things begin to get dicey when people who are affected on the opposite end of affirmative action. When someone is trying to get a job and is passed over for someone who is less qualified because of affirmative action, I can understand their anger, but people have to realize where people who benefit from affirmative action have come from. For years African Americans and other minorities where getting nowhere in the work place because people wouldn't give them the opportunity to prove themselves. This also applied to these groups trying to get into colleges. Back in the day affirmative action defiantly had its place, and even though it should still be around I think that we must tinker with it a little. There will always be racists out there so we need affirmative action out there to help protect those who need protection from it.

I think affirmative action is not longer needed. Times now are a lot more different, and people are a lot more tolerant of social matters than they were 50 years ago. However, not everyone thinks like I do. Today there still exists racism, and unfortunately it is bad enough to completely overlook an individuals merits. I view affirmative action as an added bonus for being born with a tan. The individuals of these minority groups, which the policies that our government has passed benefit the most, should not solely depend on those pieces of legislature to ensure our employment. I think that we as individuals or members a minority group have a duty to prove the law wrong. That minorities should not need the law to invisibly boost someones abilities. As a veteran, there is preference or tax breaks for people that hire veterans. In some cases this helps veterans out, but again it doesn't hide the fact if a person can do a job or not. There was also lazy people in the military that completely sucked at their job. The military taught me how to lead Marines. Some of the best leadership and discipline qualities can be found in some of our service members. Those qualities, if retained by the individual, are the traits that are held in high favor among companies. In other words, the persons individual abilities should be what gets them the job or not. Not the color of their skin, or gender, sexual orientation, etc. Just as long as the individual can perform the job with the highest quality and up to the standards of the company that is hiring the individual. With more time though people will start to realize that they can indeed overlook someones race, color, gender, etc. Rate people on the simple principle of their individual abilities. I think that the time is ahead of us, for we can actually see the changes going on in the media right now. Right now things are chaotic, and there has been a lot social movements that have occurred within the last 50+ years. Minorities should like I previously stated, do all that is possible, to prove the law wrong, and show people that our abilities are just as good.

Affirmative Action

I believe Affirmative Action was good when it first was put to use, but it is immoral to use it now. I also believe everybody should have a fair chance at life. Who is to say one person is better than the others just because of race or ethnicity? We do not choose to be born a certain way, it is just how life happens. It is a form of discrimination to tell somebody they cannot be hired because of their color or being a female. It is unlawful because they are being discriminated before they are even tested for the job.  The way I see it, it is immoral to hire a person just based on looks. They have to be given a chance to prove they are worthy material.

It is crucial that certain things are put into the spotlight. For example, picture two guys (one white and one black) applying for the same job. The white guy has little to no experience in the field and did not attend college. Not only did the black guy attend and graduate college, but he has a lot of experience in the field. They hire the white guy because they believe he has the potential to bring their company further success while the other guy is told the spot is filled. The way the future should be is anybody and everybody should have a fair chance at any job or educational opportunity. It is unfair to an individual that grew up in poverty to be denied an educational opportunity because there is no financial aid. Meanwhile, the rich and wealthy people are given grants and financial aid to go to school. In my eyes, that’s immoral and everybody should be treated fairly. We all share the world together, so why not work together to make life easy for everybody.

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. 

Affirmative Action

      In my eyes I believe that Affirmative Action was a great idea and was a helpful way to up lift our society. When it was first put into play programs were set to overcome the effects of past social discrimination by setting up jobs and resources to members of specific groups. To me Affirmative Action is immoral because I believe everyone on this earth should have a fair chance at life and receiving jobs and getting accepted to college not by race nor their finical stability. Who is to say a group of people are better than another or anyone else just because of race or ethnicity. I would say Affirmative Action is important to help people that really need it the most and help them, but it should never necessarily apply to specific group of people like it did in the pass because that’s just immoral and unfair. Everyone struggles and has a time in their life where they need help and may need an opportunity to prove to themselves that their capable of helping themselves. So therefore, Affirmative Action should no longer exist. It was great for that point in time when it was needed, but times have changed and so have people to some extent. There is no need for a group of specific people get a job or accepted into a public or private university based on the color of their skin. We do not choose the way we are born it’s just  a certain way god wanted us to be and that’s just how life falls into place just accepting who and what you are black, hispanic, or white. The people who go and apply for the job should be qualified based on their abilities and not what race or gender they are. Allowing the less qualified people to get the position is really not efficient our society because by doing that were just hurting ourselves and it’s immoral. It would make most sense to give the job to to the most qualified applicant based on ability and what they have to bring to the table not race or gender. Even though Affirmative Action helped people in the past it can also hurt people through reverse discrimination, which is discrimination against whites or males as in employment or education (Webster). It’s immoral and a form of discrimination to tell somebody they can’t be hired based off the color or being a female, their being discriminated before they are even interviewed let alone tested for the job. It’s just immoral to hire a person just based on looks and not brains or qualifications. Everyone has to be given a chance to prove their worthy in this world. It is immoral giving a job to a person less qualified for example, two guys are applying for the same job position (one white and the other black). The white guy has no experience in the field what so ever, he dropped out of high school and never got his GED. The black guy graduated from high school and college he has experience in the field and he’s qualified, but instead they hire the white guy because it’s said that they believe he has the potential to further the company’s success while the well qualified guy is told he is over qualified and the spot is filled. The way it should be is anybody and everybody should have a fair chance at any job or educational. It’s unjust for anyone who struggled when they grow to be denied any opportunity that comes their way. The times have changed and in this present day Affirmative Action is not helping society thrive it’s hurting it. Even though there’s still discrimination among people the Affirmative Action Act is not helping the cause one bit.

Affirmative Action.

The criticisms against affirmative action certainly exceed the arguments for it. Which really makes this social issue very controversial for the public. It is unjust for both ends. Sometimes what's right is not necessarily what's best, and vice versa.
It is arguable that most if not all cultures empathize for victims of oppression and invest both financially and morally to help the oppressed move upward in what sociologists define as social mobility.
Historically, we've also witnessed reconciliation to victims. Only a couple of years ago Germany finally paid off its debt in reparations to mostly France, a debt from a conflict that started almost a century ago. The US government has granted preservation of land to native american communities as well as taxation free policies.
And this brings a very debatable topic. Are reparations and reconciliations based on morality or is it a responsibility?
Personally, I don't agree with the idea of coercive or mandatory compensation. Compensation should come out of the oppressor's wish for redemption. Thus, I believe affirmative action is immoral. It should not be ongoing since it could be outdated, it is quite hypocritical and unjust. Going back to the topic of minorities in the work place, it is unjust to deny or grant a position in a company simply because of someone's heritage, ethnicity or gender.
Whatever happened to a merit based society? Isn't that what we are taught from childhood? Affirmative action is not motivational if an individual could achieve greater or start with an advantage simply because he or she was born into a specific ethnic group.

Affirmative Action

Affirmative action is so controversial because many individuals feel affirmative action is discrimination in reverse, affording employment, sports, and education to less qualified candidates merely because of race or gender.

“Affirmative action” means positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded. When those steps involve preferential selection—selection on the basis of race, gender, or ethnicity—affirmative action generates intense controversy.

While it sounds good in theory, the idea of what helping the undeserved and underrepresented, it is not fixing the problem. The damage has been done, and more is needed then preferential treatment. Real justice will be served when the underprivileged and undeserved are helped from the very beginning.  

Many in this country don't succeed not because they don't want to; more so, they don't succeed because they aren't prepared intellectually and lack the resources, synonymous with "making it," with living the American dream. At one point blacks were not allowed to read or write. So when knowing they didn’t have a chance to be educated is truly unfair. Without access to be educated the journey to success is nothing more than a ‘hoop dream.’ Hoop dreams apply to all kids whose main person is following a dream to be a professional athlete. More parents are supporting that dream, especially if they weren’t educated in the first place.

In conclusion, I think it’s important for minorities to know about these things because as a minority myself I don’t want to be held back from my dream because of my race. All in all, I think anyone with a dream should go after it and it shouldn’t matter the race. Everyone deserves an education and fair chance at whatever they are trying to pursue for a better future.

Affirmative action

I think affirmative action is immoral and that it shouldn’t to any extent be taken into consideration when it comes to hiring in the job market or accepting people to a school. Affirmative action may have been necessary ten, twenty, or fifty years ago, and some people may argue that it’s necessary today too but I don’t think it is. There’s still discrimination in the world today, but not as much as it was back then. I don’t agree with the backward looking justifications argument that minorities and women should get compensation for past injustices. Why should todays people “pay the cost” of our ancestors’ actions? Affirmative action may have helped a lot of minority people to get jobs and to have good lives, but I don’t think it’s fair that a person gets a job just based on the fact that he or she is black, Asian, woman, Jewish, etc. I think that the person who is best qualified for the job and makes the best impression in the job interview should get hired, regardless of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. If that person is a black woman she should get the job, and if that person is a white man he should get the job. Imagine that you’re the manager of a company; you would try to get the best employees that you can get. If you then are looking for a new employee and you have to hire a person based on affirmative action, and not based on the qualifications for the job, it might mean that you can’t hire the best employee possible, which won’t benefit the company. And seen from the qualified person who doesn’t get the job’s view: he/she has been working hard in school for years to get a good education, and now he/she can’t get the dream job because the manager had to try to redress the injustices caused by the people who lived 100 years ago. Neither the manager nor the best-qualified applier benefits from this situation.

Affirmative Action

     Personally, my view is that affirmative action is, for the most part, unjust. Don't get me wrong, I think that equality and diversity are vital parts of a truly healthy society. But I don't think that taking job opportunities away from someone just because they're white, a man, or both is the answer. Yes, injustices far worse than this have been committed by white men to other social groups in the past, but the point is that it was the past. I did not commit those injustices, and neither did the vast majority of the white American men that are living in today's society. Therefore, we are not responsible and should not be held responsible for the things that our ancestors have done. After all, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Many people believe that the "tie-breaker" concept of affirmative action is the generally accepted form of the policy. While it is certainly reasonable to an extent, I personally do not like this form, because it is still showing favor of one person over the other based on ethnicity or gender.
     Instead, I feel that tie-breakers should be based solely off of merit in less obvious areas of a person's history and/or performance (i.e. how they did in college, community service, tie-breaking tests, etc.) These are all standards that are not based off of any factors outside of the applicants' control, but rather decisions that the applicant has made over the course of their life, as well as how hard they chose to work to get to where they're at now. Eventually, one candidate will get an edge and be more qualified for the job, whether they be Black, White, Man, Woman, Robot, Dinosaur, or somewhere in-between.

affirmative action

In regards to affirmative action I believe that it is necessary to provide a nation of equal opportunity. I think affirmative action is moral because it helps regulate the unmoral actions of the job fields. I suppose hirers should have the freedom to hire whomever they feel fit but it isn’t right to refuse someone a job just because of their skin color or ethnicity. I agree with affirmative action

We all deserve to start on a level playing field and let our personal qualifications and experience determine the more qualified. However it can be hard to determine which traits a hirer will carry as more beneficial.  Although times have changed and discrimination against African Americans has decreased, discrimination is still very present among people of all races and ethnicities. People are always going to favor one group over another, especially if they are part of that specific group. Caucasians are more likely to hire Caucasians because they can relate to them. This can be seen among all groups of people. Most people want to stick with people of similar social group because it gives them an automatic sense of trust and bonding with the other person.  Sometimes people are only looking for a specific type of person for their business and don’t want to hire anyone else. For example I applied for a job at a bakery in my town that my friend works at. She told me they only hire girls to work at the store. I thought this was stupid because I can sell cakes just as well as anyone else however I assume the owner has some reason for this discrimination.  If you’re looking for a bathing suit model you’re not going to hire a fat person because no one would by that so it’s not being discriminate towards fat people just because a thinner person would look better. The same example can be applied to other situations as well.