The Painful Truth About Affirmative Action - 1992 Words

Minorities and their supporters in the late 1960s gave birth to the implementation of what is now known as Affirmative Action (AA) at institutions of higher education. This mark in history was viewed as a great effort to integrate minorities into society through the use of preferences in college and university admissions. Lately when addressing AA people have begun to question its cause and if it truly is a positive force for change. However, AA has not always been shrouded in a veil of suspicion. In fact, questioning of whether AA fails to successfully place students in institutions where they can succeed is fairly recent. The doubting of AA comes from what is called mismatching. Mismatching questions whether preferences in school†¦show more content†¦For this reason, Sander is known as one of the leading supporters and researchers in mismatching, his research was even used in the Supreme Court Case Fisher v. University of Texas as the leading work to oust AA as a failure. In an amicus brief in the case, the following was stated to show Sanders involvement, â€Å"the study most often cited is by Richard H. Sander† (Lempert par.1). Sander believes that the use of preferences, especially those that are based on race can affect the performance of students. He argues that mismatching prevents minorities from excelling at prestigious institutions because they are not as competitive as their white counterparts. Sander even claims that â€Å"even though blacks are more likely to enter college than whites with similar backgrounds, they will usually get much lower grades, rank toward to the bottom of the class, and far more drop out† (Sander par.4), a statement that implies that black students cannot compete academically with white students from the same backgrounds. Furthermore, Sander goes as far as to state â€Å"racial preference policies often stigmatize minorities, reinforce pernicious stereotypes, and undermine the self-confidence of beneficiaries† (Sander par.4). With this statement AA can only be viewed as a tool whose sole purpose is to create racial diversity and not as a tool to benefit the ac ademic careers ofShow MoreRelatedThe Gender Division Between Men And Women Essay1624 Words   |  7 Pagesdistractions. This is coded language: the dress code serves as another form of hegemony against females. Limiting what can be worn, and shaming those who don t comply certainly does not sound right for a free society such as ours, but it is the unfortunate truth. These deeply ingrained sexist protocols have now invaded high schools and colleges alike, and have deeply affected our youth. 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