Essay, Research Paper: Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action is a policy that is supposed to give minorities ?more? of an equal opportunity. Corporate America and educational institutions claim that they follow the policy of equal opportunity for all, but in reality they don?t. Affirmative Action is just a policy that is not implemented to do what it is supposed to do. I believe Affirmative Action was created to keep people quiet.
In Ward Connerly?s essay ?My Fight Against Race Preferences: a Quest Toward ?Creating Equal??, is a clear example of how unequal society is. It also demonstrates how educational institutions do not follow what is preached with Affirmative Action. As a result, not only are blacks and other minorities discriminated against but poor white?s as well. Connerly was not surprised to see that blacks were discriminated in the acceptance for Medical school, but he was surprised that poor whites were discriminated against as well ?The circles in the lower-left were almost all black. The fact that no whites circles appeared in the lower-left part of the square meant that ?their people,? poor whites who also needed a boost, were never given a break under affirmative action? (Connerly, Page B6). The lower circles were the students who were not accepted and the ones on the upper right were the students who were accepted. Educational institutions claim that they do not take into consideration the race of a person, but this essay seems to prove otherwise. There were more white students in that upper-right part of the square than there were of blacks or minorities.
In Alison?s Schneider?s ?Affirmative Action?s Impact on Academe Has Been Minimal, a New Book Argues?, shows that statistics play an important role to distinguish the reality and fantasy of some issues. Corporate America is good example where statistics show us the reality of inequality. According to the Profile of New Tenure-Track Professor, whites clearly showed that they dominated with 81.9% in 1991 and blacks with only 7.0% in 1991. People who advocate affirmative action argue that statistics do not really account for everyone. But for whatever number of people they do account for, it clearly shows us the inequality among the workforce. Yet, at every company one can read ?We are an equal opportunity employer?. Statistics give us an idea of how much inequality really exists, since advocates of Affirmative Action argue that statistics prove nothing. It is a fact of reality that whites dominate the workforce in almost all areas. The implementation of Affirmative Action is not taken seriously since the numbers still show us that there still exists a wide gap of inequality.
Connerly?s essay and Schneider?s essay show us that Affirmative Action is still in the ?needs improvement? area. Affirmative action is a policy, which the government has put into place to keep the court cases at a minimum. It is a policy with no solid framework. I experienced how unequal Corporate America really is. For example, my friend and I went for an interview at JP Morgan. I already had a job with the Bank of New York, but I went along because she asked if I would go with her. The position we were interviewing was for a Credit Analyst. My friend has a degree from NYU and also has some work experience. She is very bright and intelligent, but she is also African-American. On the other hand, I am still going to school and I have work experience. I knew she had the right credentials for the position. She went first in the interview. After she came out she said to me ?They are going to hire you,? I laughed and said ?I have a job and they are not going to.? I went into the interview and the interviewer explained that they needed someone right away and asked if I wanted the job. I suggested that they should give the position to my friend since she was qualified. The lady did not respond and I said that I had a job and wasn?t interested. I came out of the interview stunned of what I was experiencing. The lady told my friend that they would call her. At that point I knew the reason for the Affirmative Action policy. It was there just to make sure that they have something to save them if they were ever confronted. My friend was disappointed that they claim in fine print that they are an equal opportunity employer, but we experienced first hand that it was all bureaucracy.
Affirmative Action is something that really needs to be worked on. If the government really wanted it to work than they would stress the importance of it. But this nation has been created with inequality ever since the Bill of Rights were written. This nation was built on discrimination and writing on a piece of paper will not change that. It will not change because the government does not take the right measures to enforce its purpose. I believe all institutions should give each and every person an equal and fair chance. A person should not be looked down upon because of their race, ethnicity or religion. Reading the articles made me think about the essay ?Graduation? and how the girl must have felt once she was confronted with what lay ahead of her. It is time for the government to enforce the Affirmative Action policy just as they would do with any foreign policy, which would benefit them.


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