Affirmative Action

What Is Affirmative Action? Born of the civil rights movement three decades ago, affirmative action calls for minorities and women to be given special consideration in employment, education and contracting decisions. Institutions with affirmative action policies generally set goals and timetables for increased diversity – and use recruitment, set-asides and preference as ways of achieving those goals. In its modern form, affirmative action can call for an admissions officer faced with two similarly qualified applicants to …

…say its benefits are no longer worth its side effect: the perception that their success is unearned. Judging simply by the results, the playing field would appear to still be tilted very much in favor of white men. Overall, minorities and women are in vastly lower paying jobs and still face active discrimination in some sectors. At this point in our nation's history, does affirmative action make things better or worse? The debate rages on.