Affirmative Action in Empoyment
I have a group project in my management course in which we will research and present this subject to the rest of the class. My part, as it now stands, is to research and write about two pages on the pros and cons of affirmative action and come to a conclusion about its future- is it a good or bad thing for America? I started out thinking tht AA was all bad -just another form of discrimintion- but while I was researching it I saw one instance where it might be okay. So I don't know. I probably pretty caloused because as a white male, it could be me getting srewed out of a job in a company with an AA program. So here is a chance for you to influence my thinking, education, and as I present this material- the thinking of my whole class. What do think about affirmative action- does its help of the women and minorities for whom it provides jobs, overcome the negative impacts of ongoing discrimination? Should it be completely replaced by Equal Oppurtunity Employmnt (law that you can't discriminate against anyone), or are there instances where AA is a good thing?
2 Comments:
A couple of years ago I heard a fantastic suggestion for how to handle it in the modern economy (I think it was in World Magazine, but I'm not sure). When AA was originally created, it was greatly needed in the culture of the time. Now the culture has shifted to the point where "positive" AA (enforced on all companies) is not really needed anymore (because most companies meet the goals of AA on their own), so why not elimiate the "positve" AA and shift over to a culture of "negative" AA? What I mean by "negative" is that instead of enacting AA requirements on all employers, we could just drop those requirements (think of all the extra paperwork we'd get rid of) and only enforce it on offenders. Say, for example, a company is found guilty of racist hiring practices, the court would enforce AA guidelines (like what we have today) on them until they consistantly demonstrate compliance for 5 or 10 years. This way we'd get away with the mentality of punishing (with all that extra paperwork) all companies and only go after those who need it.
I don't know if that made any sense, but I thought it was a great idea...
AA is a bad idea. It is reverse discrimination and doesn't undo past injustices. It blames today's people for mistakes of the past and encourages vengence. Many companies that engage in the practice of AA will never admit to it. Many companies will use race or sex as deciding reasons for hiring, but cover that fact up.
I think race and sex can legally be considered in hiring, but not the only reason for it. All AA does is spead the unemployment around. People should be hired for their abilities regardless of sex or race.
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