Two Views of Affirmative Action Essay - 1498 Words

Two Views of Affirmative Action We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal†¦. Even before it became a nation, America was heralded as a land of equality. Thomas Jeffersons statement begs more than a few questions, one of which is: How can we ensure equality to everyone? Beginning in the late 1960s, the federal government provided an answer to this question in the form of affirmative action. In recent years, many people have called this policy into question. Interestingly, affirmative action is sometimes attacked by the people it helps, and defended by those it hurts. In particular, two recent essays demonstrate that peoples race does not necessarily determine their beliefs on the issue of affirmative†¦show more content†¦He is, in effect, saying that his position must be right because he supports affirmative action out of the goodness of his heart, rather than because he benefits from it. In contrast to Spickard, Steele begins with the opposite scenario, stating how he could really be helped by affirmative action through financial aid for his childrens college education. However, he says that he does not want the assistance of affirmative action, because he believes the help should go to those who are truly at a disadvantage, not to those whose only disadvantage is the color of their skin. To him, it simply makes no sense for African-American students who are well removed from the kind of deprivation that would qualify [them] as disadvantaged to receive scholarship and grant money when that assistance is denied to poor white students. Next, Spickard claims that affirmative action is a way to help make life fair for minorities. He states that Americas initial push for equal opportunity resulted in very little progress, so affirmative action was needed to level the playing field. Steele, on the other hand, contradicts Spickard by saying that blacks had made great advances during the 60s without quotas, and that the quotas involved in affirmative action actually slanted the playing field in the opposite direction, rather than leveling it. However, neither authorShow MoreRelatedDoes Affirmative Action Make Moral Sense?1084 Words   |  5 PagesDoes affirmative action make moral sense? A moral being is one capable of conforming to the rules of right conduct, but a big question that follows concerns the idea if there even is such a thing as â€Å"right conduct.† â€Å"Whatever can be proved to be good, must be so by being shown to be a means to something admitted to be good† (Mill 6). In John Stuart Mill’s book, â€Å"Utilitarianism,† he states this notion where an individual assumes good things are good without knowing why they’re good. Defined fromRead MoreAffirmative Action: Equality for All? Essay1741 Words   |  7 PagesAffirmative Action: Equality for All? 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The extra points given to theRead MoreWhy We Still Need Affirmitive Action1493 Words   |  6 PagesWhy we still need affirmative action Because of the complex nature of the discussion on affirmative action and the controversies and the emotion surrounding it, it is imperative to first recap on the causes of race and inequality in the United States of America. The policies on affirmative action were proposed as a fractional remedy for the socio-economic impacts of past and present disadvantage faced by certain groups in the population, especially with regard to biases on gender and race. Such disadvantages