A634.4.4.RB - Is Affirmative Action Ethical?

To be honest I never really got affirmative action.  Now don’t get me wrong I understand what it was intended for but I feel that it has gotten away from the main point of what it was supposed to do and that was to give minorities and women an equal footing to be considered for jobs and getting into college.  So why has it become an issue yet again and some calling it reverse discrimination? According to chapter six on affirmative action, “these morally relevant differences show why this objection is not telling, why it is a mistake to say that blacks receive affirmative action simply because of their race” (LaFollette, 2007).  So Affirmative Action wasn’t put in place because of this reason.

Where do I stand on this issue?  I feel that affirmative action is important to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities to get into the school of their choice or to get the job they are qualified for.  But I will say that it needs a definite overhaul in many ways.  It isn’t just blacks or women that it affects….it also affects Muslims, Hispanics, Gays, etc. so it needs to be reevaluated and figure out what is working and what is not working.  People need to understand what the point of this action is for and why it is so important.  On the other side of this a person should be admitted to school based on their merit not the color of their skin or their sex.  This also applies to the job market.  I shouldn’t be a block to be checked because an organization will have met their affirmative action quota I should be hired based on my qualifications.

How do we fix this?  Should we remove all questions about race and gender from job applications?  What about something along the lines of The Voice where we choose an applicant based on their voice and their qualifications without actually seeing their faces first.  Why does it matter what the color of my skin is or what my gender is?  At the end of the day isn’t it all about what is between my ears…my brain?  We have to change the way we view the world and stop seeing colors, religions and even gender as a means for getting a job or even getting into school.  Some very deserving people will not get hired for the whole reason of affirmative action just like those that are undeserving and under qualified are hired because affirmative action is in place.

I wish I had the answers to make this system better, to make it work, to make sure that there was no racism, sexism or bias in any way but I don’t.  The only thing I can do is to make sure that my daughter grows up without biases and racisms but she already has two strikes against her….she is a female and she is mixed (Mexican and Italian).  My hope is that by the time she is ready to apply to colleges this will not be an issue.   The text stated it well, “We must undercut racist habits, and corral racist institutions.  Affirmative action is a reasonable and effective way to do both” (LaFollette, 2007).

Reference:

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Pub.