Affirmative Action - History Essays - Social Inequality,

Affirmative Action - History Affirmative Action is defined by Webster's New World College Dictionary as " a policy or program for correcting the effects of discrimination in the employment or education of members of certain groups." The phrase "affirmative action" was coined by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 when he issued Executive Order 10925, initiating the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246. This order required federal contractors to take "affirmative action" to increase the number of minorities that they employed. Thus affirmative action was born. However, when Kennedy and Johnson established affirmative action, they did not intend for it to have the perverted and distorted effect that it currently has today. Such perversions and distortions include the hiring of unqualified workers, the causing of problems for groups it originally set out to help, and reverse discrimination that results in unfair standards into higher education and the work force. The practice of affirmative action must be stopped. The main argument for affirmative action is that it creates equal opportunity for people in the work force and for students seeking admission into higher education. However, this is not a valid point. While affirmative action creates equal opportunity for some individuals, it discriminates against others, primarily white males. Therefore, affirmative action uses reverse discrimination to solve the problem of discrimination. Do two wrongs make a right? The answer is no. The first reason affirmative action should be stopped is that employees often are hired that are not qualified to execute their jobs effectively. Many times employers are forced to find the best minority, rather than the person most qualified for the job. For example, a policy was adopted by Duke University in 1993 that required each department at the university to hire at least one new African-American for a faculty position (Pasour). However, various surveys and estimates show that less than 4,000 blacks receive Ph.D.s in the United States. This is less than two black Ph.D.s for every American college or university (Sowell). Therefore, Duke University's policy would force them to hire faculty that are not as qualified, due to a shortage of black Ph.D.s, as their white counterparts. The hiring of unskilled workers is also detrimental to businesses as well. The primary purpose of a business is to make money for the employer, as well as the employees. The hiring of unqualified employe es is harmful to the business's production. When employees cannot perform their specific tasks, it often leads to error, which costs the company time and money. If the business is continually paying for worker error, its profits will decrease, producing a decrease in employee pay. Many times companies are forced to hire unqualified individuals because of quotas. Often when a business's quota is not filled it is forced to conceive unnecessary jobs for minorities, which is also decreases a company's profit. Incapable employees are a detriment to worker unity as well. If an employee is not as qualified as his or her co-worker, it may create tension and frustration between them, in turn creating another complication.. The second reason it is imperative to abolish the practice of affirmative action is that it often initiates problems for the minorities it originally intended to help. This is apparent in the work place as well as in colleges and universities. The first problem affirmative action establishes for minorities is that it places a stigma on groups who benefit from affirmative action, especially those who actually earn their position because they are qualified for it. Consider an employer who hires a member of a minority group on the basis of merit alone. Many employees automatically assume that the individual's appointment resulted from affirmative action. Thus, any employee who does benefit from affirmative action bears the brand of "not being the best pick, but only the best pick from a limited group (Pasour)." The second problem it creates for minorities in the workplace is the loss of spirit and vitality for their jobs. If workers feel that the sole reason they are employed is to fill a quota, they may lack pride in their jobs, which in turn hinders their performance. In addition, minorities's problems due to