He Definition of Affirmative Action

The definition of Affirmative Action is “an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially in relation to employment or education; positive discrimination (www.dictionary.com)”. The idea of Affirmative Action is greatly debated; and many believe it’s the use of discrimination to prevent discrimination. In various occurrences you read, hear, or see of where an individual with better qualifications and experience has been passed over for a job in order for a company to appease affirmative action regulations. In instances such as these I believe that affirmative action is not being applied according to its original intentions. To me affirmative action was created to eliminate barriers and produce equal opportunity in the workplace and education systems and should only be applied as such. Everyone should have the same opportunity to get an education or job however, individuals with the best qualifications should always be selected regardless of race, religion, gender, or nationality. I do not believe that affirmative action was intended to produce equal results in education and employment just equal opportunity. For this reason I believe that affirmative action needs to be reconstituted to ensure it meets its original purpose of equal opportunity. I do believe that some form of affirmative action is necessary however the current form is outdated and unproductive. For Example, “The National Asian and Pacific American Legal Consortium reports that although white men make up only 48% of the college-educated workforce, they hold over 90% of the top jobs in the news media, 96% of CEO positions, 86% of law firm partnerships, and 85% of tenured college faculty positions (www.civilrights.org).” This last statement alone indicates that affirmative action has not truly been successful in its intentions to reduce barriers and create equality. Again I think affirmative action is justified to a certain extent which is to only create opportunity and not results.