The Case Against Affirmative Action
Over the years affirmative action has come to mean many things. Affirmative action was originally a means to assure the genuine equality of opportunity. Its advocates usually presented it as a special effort to recruit more minority applicants. The presumption was that affirmative action would be a form of outreach, that minority applicants would be held to the same standard as non-minority applicants and that any program would be temporary.
However, affirmative action supporters want more than equal opportunity. Today affirmative action means adopting racial preferences. It means giving preference in university admissions, job hiring, promotions, and government contracts to less qualified black and Hispanic applicants over more qualified white and Asian American candidates. Many advocates of affirmative action say that preferences should be used to compensate for the wrongs of the past, usually presented in the context of slavery. But who decides when those wrongs are righted? Affirmative action programs of all kinds have been in place for over thirty years. How much longer are they going to last?
Consider two virtually identical scenarios. A white guy and a black guy apply for a position. In the first scenario, the black guy is better qualified; the white guy gets the position. In today’s world that is correctly called racism. In the second scenario the white guy is better qualified; the black guy gets the position. In today’s world that is called affirmative action. Is the second scenario intellectually different than the first? Of course not, both are instances of racism, but political correctness forces our society to emphasize the first scenario while ignoring the second.
In addition, the success of these affirmative action programs has been lukewarm, at best. Proponents of these programs insist that they are indispensable to bringing blacks on a par with whites, and that without them income and occupational disparities will persist As a result, billions of dollars in spending and thousands of regulations have been implemented to bring blacks to the same starting line as whites. Yet today black Americans still are less educated, much more likely to live below the poverty line, and much more likely to be incarcerated than white Americans even after three decades of affirmative action. In the media we constantly here about the plight of poor blacks and Hispanics in America. In fact, more often that not, we are told that the problems are getting worse, not better. If that is true, then the status quo needs to change and the leaders of minority communities should focus on educating people for success in America, rather than insisting on a culture of victimization and preferences that discriminate against others.
Black Americans and other minorities need education and opportunity, not preferences and quotas that reward them with jobs and other advantages over more qualified candidates. The solution has to start in America’s education system. Today, the public school system in America is atrocious. It is beholden to labor unions that spend massive amounts of money on bureaucracy and an ever shrinking amount on children in the classroom.
In 1999–2000, the 50 states and the District of Columbia spent an average of $6,911 in current expenditures for every student in public education. This represents a 6.2 percent increase in current expenditures per pupil from the previous school year. Three states—New Jersey ($10,337), New York ($9,846), and Connecticut ($9,753)—expended more than $9,000 per pupil. Yet despite spending more money on education than any other nation, the American education system is one of the worst in the developed world and we are far behind other nations in the increasingly important fields of math and science. Scores have continued to plummet and too many black Americans are stuck sending their kids to failing schools. In essence, massive reform is needed and the supporters of affirmative action would address the root of the problem by putting their efforts into this reform rather than insisting on racial preferences.
Affirmative action has not helped black Americans or other minorities succeed and has only created a stigma where minorities are always victims. The elimination of preferences will create a truly equal society where everyone will be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Any comments or questions can be received at whyyouareaconservative@gmail.com
~ The Conservative Guy
However, affirmative action supporters want more than equal opportunity. Today affirmative action means adopting racial preferences. It means giving preference in university admissions, job hiring, promotions, and government contracts to less qualified black and Hispanic applicants over more qualified white and Asian American candidates. Many advocates of affirmative action say that preferences should be used to compensate for the wrongs of the past, usually presented in the context of slavery. But who decides when those wrongs are righted? Affirmative action programs of all kinds have been in place for over thirty years. How much longer are they going to last?
Consider two virtually identical scenarios. A white guy and a black guy apply for a position. In the first scenario, the black guy is better qualified; the white guy gets the position. In today’s world that is correctly called racism. In the second scenario the white guy is better qualified; the black guy gets the position. In today’s world that is called affirmative action. Is the second scenario intellectually different than the first? Of course not, both are instances of racism, but political correctness forces our society to emphasize the first scenario while ignoring the second.
In addition, the success of these affirmative action programs has been lukewarm, at best. Proponents of these programs insist that they are indispensable to bringing blacks on a par with whites, and that without them income and occupational disparities will persist As a result, billions of dollars in spending and thousands of regulations have been implemented to bring blacks to the same starting line as whites. Yet today black Americans still are less educated, much more likely to live below the poverty line, and much more likely to be incarcerated than white Americans even after three decades of affirmative action. In the media we constantly here about the plight of poor blacks and Hispanics in America. In fact, more often that not, we are told that the problems are getting worse, not better. If that is true, then the status quo needs to change and the leaders of minority communities should focus on educating people for success in America, rather than insisting on a culture of victimization and preferences that discriminate against others.
Black Americans and other minorities need education and opportunity, not preferences and quotas that reward them with jobs and other advantages over more qualified candidates. The solution has to start in America’s education system. Today, the public school system in America is atrocious. It is beholden to labor unions that spend massive amounts of money on bureaucracy and an ever shrinking amount on children in the classroom.
In 1999–2000, the 50 states and the District of Columbia spent an average of $6,911 in current expenditures for every student in public education. This represents a 6.2 percent increase in current expenditures per pupil from the previous school year. Three states—New Jersey ($10,337), New York ($9,846), and Connecticut ($9,753)—expended more than $9,000 per pupil. Yet despite spending more money on education than any other nation, the American education system is one of the worst in the developed world and we are far behind other nations in the increasingly important fields of math and science. Scores have continued to plummet and too many black Americans are stuck sending their kids to failing schools. In essence, massive reform is needed and the supporters of affirmative action would address the root of the problem by putting their efforts into this reform rather than insisting on racial preferences.
Affirmative action has not helped black Americans or other minorities succeed and has only created a stigma where minorities are always victims. The elimination of preferences will create a truly equal society where everyone will be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Any comments or questions can be received at whyyouareaconservative@gmail.com
~ The Conservative Guy
posted by The Conservative Guy at
11:01 PM
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