Issues today with Affirmative Action Melissa Mueller

Issue Is affirmative action still effective or needed? If not what can we do that will work better? Who would need to get involved to make a change happen?

Affirmative Action What is the background of affirmative action? Who is for it and who is against it? What are some ideas of things to be done if we want to get rid of it?

Background John F. Kennedy first used the name affirmative action in 1961 Lindon Johnson used that term later in 1964 It requires businesses and universities to accept a certain number of the minority into their organizations or institutions Intent was to reverse the current trend of discrimination against all minorities including women.

Center for Individual Rights There is an organization called the center for individual rights that is against affirmative action They say they are against it because it favors the minority over the qualified. This demonstrates reverse discrimination which may have been needed to overcome discrimination practices of the past, but now should be ended.

AAAA The AAAA is the American Association for Affirmative Action They are for affirmative action and keeping it in play They were founded in 1974 Their goal is to foster equal opportunity programs like affirmative action They feel affirmative action is still playing an important role in equalizing education and work opportunities

AUAA Americans united for affirmative action Their goal is to educate the public on the importance of affirmative action and to keep it going

Why it is being Challenged Two white Michigan students claimed, and took to court, the fact that they were not accepted into law school because less academically qualified black minority individuals were accepted in their places due to affirmative action This causes reverse discrimination and is wrong for the same reasons people say we still need it. More than half of the workforce is made up of the minority already Black people can reach their potentials without it if they academically achieve similar scores with resources in place today. We have a black president which proves it can be done

Ending Affirmative Action Affirmative action is no longer needed according to some It has fulfilled its purpose and lost the majority of reasons it was created. We need to exchange affirmative action for different ideas like No Child Left Behind legislation. This moves the burden to lower grade schools to provide quality education.

Ending affirmative action Today more than half the workforce is made up of the minority Continued enforcement now punishes qualified individuals from pursuing their dreams. There have been some cases where qualified white students were not accepted to schools because less qualified minorities were accepted due to affirmative action

Ideas to end affirmative action With true discrimination in check we need to ensure all children have equal opportunity for quality learning. More schools and teachers for the younger minority kids to give them a background like any majority individual Need programs to help minority families have confidence that a great future is possible through education.

Volunteers and government In order to get any of this done we would need a lot of volunteers to help minority families understand their true opportunities We would need the governments approval and financial backing to make sure quality education is available in every city. The government and school systems would have convince all that opportunity will find you if you put fort the effort to be found.

Cost As with any program effecting millions of people this program would likely cost billions. A program that goes along with my ideas is the no child left behind program under President Bush This cost in the range of 35 billion dollars Though hard to measure many billions could be saved in the future by having more educated people and minimizing the need for welfare programs.

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