“Killing Affirmative Action”

Affirmative action seems to have very little middle ground and nowhere else than Michigan the battle arrays seem to be drawn with more fervor.

Michigan holds this dubious distinction that is not without a historical precedent. In 1974 a Supreme Court decision struck down a plan to bus Detroit school children to the suburbs. The battle’s latest fighting venue has been university admissions.Much has been written for and against affirmative action. The proponents say that it levels the paying field – somewhat for the minorities and the underprivileged. This comes at a price though. You are always looked down upon as a product of some sort of charity. The argument against affirmative action cuts right into the ethics of the problem involved. At first site it just does not make sense. It is like turning justice upside down – according to Killing Affirmative Action – a report on the topic. (1) You treat some people unequally in the name of equality!The real debate is much deeper than this though as an article in Newsweek rightly points out. (2) Perhaps we have assigned too much hope and expectations to affirmative action. Perhaps it was never meant to carry the burden it carries right now. Perhaps affirmative action is only part of the solution to racial and socioeconomic disparities and not the whole solution. If that is the case then society needs to shift its focus from affirmative action battle to a bigger war on disparities and devise yet more and far reaching ways to address the issue.