Monday, March 29, 2010
Affirmative Action
Recently in my Philosophy class we have been talking about Affirmative Action. Maybe I am just completely oblivious but I never really knew that it existed. I always assumed that people were hired for certain jobs based on their qualifications not their sex or their race. My teacher pointed out an interesting fact. He said that although racism and sexism is not as prevalent in our society as it used to be that in fact their are many statistics that prove it is still a problem. For example on average men still make 20% more in overall income than woman do. This is because many woman are unwilling to leave the home or their families in order to pursue careers. After talking about it for days and hearing both sides of the argument I still find it to be an irrelevant issue. One side of the argument stated that we need to make up for discriminations in the past. I don't think it is just or fair to give someone a job because their sex or race has been discriminated against in the past. The company should hire the person that is best qualified for the job. Race and sex should not be put into the equation. I think that Affirmative Action just creates a new type of discrimination. Anyone agree or have different thoughts?
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I have to say I agree with you. I learned about affirmative action in my senior U.S. history class in high school and was very frustrated when I learned what it was. I, like you, believe 100% that people should be hired strictly based on ability for particular positions and that there should really be no other factors considered. That is why I also find it frustrating when it is present in the college admissions process. I don't think colleges should ask what one's race/ethnicity is on their admissions applications. I think that everyone should be compared equally against one another and that colleges shouldn't be alotting certain percentages of their incoming classes to people of different races. I don't know maybe I'm being too harsh about this but I just feel like affirmative action furthers racist behavior in the opposite way, if that makes any sense.
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