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Some however feel it being reverse discrimination to others. It tended o be unfair to majorities. This has created a lot of debate over the years and many try to conclude this debate through looking at the effectiveness Of affirmative action. Some believe that it has worked where as some believe it has not. Some politicians and philosophers think that affirmative actions is bound to fail because a programmer that is based on race is unlikely to move society to a point where race no longer counts.
Many statistics prove the fact that affirmative action has in fact failed. If we look at the rate of college graduates, employed workers, income, the black population tends to continue to lag Enid the white population. If we look at the Congress, 85% of the Congress consists of White Americans compared to just 8. 1 % African Americans. In terms of income, African Americans are way behind White Americans, in 2009, the median net worth of whites was $113,149 where as the median net worth of the black population was only $5,677. This is a huge difference.
If such a difference still exists then clearly affirmative action is not working. If we look in terms of education and getting a job after graduating from college, a report has stated that African-American college students are about as likely o get hired as white who have dropped out of high school. This shows how the white population still have an advantage has they have an equal chance of getting a job as a dropout compared to an African-American college graduate. The unemployment rate for whites was 6. 7% in 2013 compared to 13. 4% for the blacks which is almost double.
This does not reflect affirmative action success. Affirmative action is supposed to give the black population a greater chance which is currently not evident. The war over affirmative action is a battle ” over what skin color the rich kids have”. The achievement gap by income is twice the size of the gap by race, and affluent parents spend nine times as much money developing the talents Of their children as low-income parents. Today’s affirmative action policies enable high-income advantaged blacks to claim the legacy of American apartheid.
Affirmative action policies largely benefit advantaged minorities which prop up a generally unfair system that includes legacy preferences, non-need merit aid, and an over reliance on standardized tests. In theory, affirmative action is only benefiting the elite or well-off part of African Americans rather than benefiting the whole community or section of people which is evident in the statistics of African-American students graduating or getting into colleges or work. Some critics say that affirmative action has in turn from eroding racial divisions, entrenched them.
This form of action tends to create the issue of reverse discrimination which makes matters worse. A California State Assemblyman Bernie Richter said, ” When you deny some who has earned it and give it to someone else who has not earned it.. You create anger and resentment. ” Imagine a college admissions committee trying o decide between the white son of an Appalachian coal miner’s family and the African-American son of a successful Pittsburgh neurosurgeon. Why should the black applicant get preference over the white applicant?
These kind of questions would always increase the stress of racial equality as one set of group would always feel being neglected due to their racial status which is why affirmative action is bound to fail and not work. It just increases the tension of it rather than reducing it. If we look at the other side of the argument, there has been some cases where affirmative action has been successful. Comparably, over the years the Tate and position of African-Americans have improved tremendously.
Even though it is hard to say that racial equality has been achieved but the black middle class now has expanded where blacks are more likely to occupy professional jobs compared to them being in such jobs in previous years. More than 20% of the Black working population over 16 years old are employees of the federal state, or local government. Black women in 201 1, 33% have jobs in management or professional occupations. Also, the fact that there is an elected black president also tends to go in favor of affirmative action as this was unimaginable in the sass.
There are many factors which contribute towards racial inequality. One of which is the views and perception of people. If an individual refuses to embrace racial equality and treat everyone else the same way, affirmative action can not do anything in that case. It has been successful in providing the African-American a boost in education which leads to them getting a boost in employment as well as graduating from a good college would tend to get them employed. This was the main purpose and objective of affirmative action. If inequalities remain, it may be the result of other factors which affirmative action can not address.
In conclusion, affirmative action is an idea which looks good on paper and seems like an appropriate way of giving African-Americans what they had lost in previous years back but it is an idea which is bound to fail as it carries a lot of complications with it. As mentioned before, it just creates more racial inequality which is not the way to solve the issue. Taking a piece of chocolate from one child and giving it to another is not the solution but is just a set of more problems. Hence, affirmative action should be phased out and other means should be introduced to provide equality rather than advantage one set of group.