Affirmative Action
Should Affirmative Action still be Active in College Admissions? ... This unfair act is known as affirmative action. ... Kennedy instated in 1961 (Encyclopedia, Affirmative Action). ... Kennedy issued the order of affirmative action because of the desire to escalate the numbers of people from certain social groups in employment, education, business, government, and other areas. ... Even though affirmative action was a beneficial proposal and contributed to diversity in the 1960’s affirmative action continues to be active in college admissions to date. However today affirmative action is currently in contradiction of what it initially anticipated; which was to make college available to everyone despite race, gender, and ethnicity. Currently affirmative action has several negative aspects one of which is disadvantaged children should view themselves as victims of their own circumstances. Shelby Steele emphasizes this point wonderfully when she says, “I believe another liability of affirmative action comes from the fact that it indirectly encourages blacks to exploit their own past victimization. ... During the 1990s, federal courts ruled that affirmative action programs in a number of states discriminated against non-minorities. ... Clearly affirmative action does not base the admissions process on academics alone, if you are a minority you have a greater chance of being accepted. ... In addition to college admissions still using affirmative action, the ETS which is the educational testing services, claim they are committed to fairness and equity in higher education.