Use Chapters
5 and 6 (LaFollette, 2007) as the foundation for your reflections regarding if
affirmative action is ethical. Be sure to include external sourced content.
Present your opinion, support your opinion, and opposing viewpoints.
Affirmative action is something I see as a short-term answer
to a long-term problem. We live in an
incredibly diverse world, and America has an unfortunate history involving
minorities. As a young adult in my mid
20’s, I feel like I am not exposed to racism the way my parents and
grandparents were. I have lived, gone to
school, and work with a variety of
different minorities and have seen the progress that we have gained. Steven Yates discussed at a college
presentation on affirmative action that affirmative action brings about tension
between groups and more clearly distinguishes the differences in people.
(Yates, 1994) I tend to disagree with this opposing view of affirmative
action. When looking at history, we
have really come a long way, from the freedom of slaves, to women voting, to
the acceptance of the LGBT community, the strides we have made in the past
century are not something to ignore.
While we still have a ways to go, affirmative action could be one of
those short-term answers that help to solve a long-term discrimination
battle.
Affirmative
action has potentially made an impact in the way we handle discrimination in
our daily lives. While LaFollette noted
some people opposed to affirmative action believe it is reverse discrimination,
I disagree because if we look at history and understand the implications of it,
we can understand better how some groups have had a much more difficult time
than others. By giving the groups who
have a less chance of succeeding more opportunities, we give them opportunities
that would once have been out of reach.
They are then able to grow and learn through each generation of that
family. This is why I think affirmative
action is a great short-term answer. I
do not necessarily think it would a necessity in the long run because by that
point, hopefully the effects of the previous generations opportunities would
have trickled down to help balance out the overall opportunities that life
should provide to each person.
In my
opinion, it doesn’t seem like reverse discrimination if one group is place in a
situation where it is much more difficult.
That is like taking two runners of the same athletic abilities race
against each other, but giving one runner a 1-minute head start. It will be nearly impossible for the
disadvantaged runner to catch up, let alone win. By giving people equal opportunities to
succeed, we are setting everyone up for a better ending.
References
Andre, C., Velasquez, M., & Mazur,
T. (1992). Affirmative Action: Twenty-five Years of Controversy. Ethics, 5(2).
LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of
ethics. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Pub.
Yates, S. (1994). The Ethics of
Affirmative Action : The Freeman : Foundation for Economic Education. Retrieved
April 17, 2015, from
http://fee.org/freeman/detail/the-ethics-of-affirmative-action
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