Unit 3 Discussion Board

DISCUSSION BOARD Name Institution affiliation Course Date of Submission Affirmative Action has attracted praise and criticism almost on equal measure for the five decades that it has been practiced. The phrase was first introduced to the world by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as a way of redressing the prevailing discrimination that existed then despite the constitutional guarantees and civil rights anchored on the supreme law of the land. Affirmative Action was later pursued further by Kennedy`s successor Lyndon B. Johnson who enforced it for the first time, terming it as the "next and more profound stage" in the active quest for civil rights. In his quest to enforce Affirmative Action, Johnson famously acclaimed that: "We seek… not just equity as a right and a theory, but equity as a fact and as a result." (Howell, 2010). Affirmative action therefore came about as a result of efforts by advocates of civil rights to get the country to honor the solemn vow in the American constitution as espoused by the country`s forbearers that: "all people are created equal." In its 50 years history, affirmative action has been debated in recent times than it has ever been. While many of its proponents contend that affirmative action is a milestone, those opposed to the doctrine view it as a millstone, correspondingly, there are many other who see it as both or neither - as a basic requirement, though imperfect as a remedy for a perverse social malady. It should be understood that affirmative action is a in essence a "gender/race solution" to a "gender/race problem" which has seen the middle class white woman being the greatest beneficiary. The middle class white women have benefited most due to their minority status which has given them an advantage over other groups like the Latinos and African-American when it comes to entitlements, obtaining contracts and set aside senior positions when it is the intention of those in power to ensure that access to privileges is kept in the hands of "whites" (Strum and Guinier, 1996). Since affirmative action was institutionalized, race based admission policies have been put in place to ensure that there are barriers to access to college for minorities students. College admission remains the core of the debate on affirmative action. Policies to that effect have resulted to an increase in the number of minority students being admitted in two and four year colleges, concurrently therefore, this has resulted to a greater diversity ...