Sunday, June 1, 2014

Affirmative Action

Throughout America's history, we have experienced problems through discrimination. Although as a government, we have overcome legal boundaries into ensuring equality in our country. Slowly but surely, we are securing equality for minorities, for female, and for those who have grown up in a lesser environment. As we have struggled to form equality, different laws and restrictions have acquired an argument of one of today's norms; the affirmative process.

Affirmative process has stirred controversy in America over the last few years. Colleges search for diversity during admissions processes. Many colleges use the affirmative process to accommodate and provide relief for the less fortunate, ethnically diverse, and even those with poorer hometown locations. Although this has provided America to help educate people from different experiences, it is now becoming controversial because we have began to accept more people as equals. An article done by the Huffington Post, suggests that overall, approximately 63% of Americans still believe in this process.

An author educated on this cause, Sheryll Cashin published the book Place, Not Race which discusses the problems in our current affirmative action process but then goes on to suggest that we should focus on the applicants background rather than their ethnicity. Personally, I agree with her very much. I believe that if we are offering special consideration to students, they should be students who have overcome challenges that many others have not needed to face.

Affirmative action is something that will remain controversial. As our country changes, viewpoints on it will change along with the opinions of the time.