Affirmative Action

President Barack Obama's Views on Affirmative Action

There are many people who believe it is not fair that minority students are given a special advantage in education. These same people do not consider race as a factor that should separate the way we see the success of children. They think that each child has the individual willpower to do well in school, so if they do not do well, then it is only their fault to blame.

These concepts contradict the view of Affirmative Action, a policy that President Obama discusses in the above video. Affirmative Action is a policy based off of preferential selection and is designed to take into consideration factors such as race, color, religion, sex or national origin. In relation to my blog, I want to focus on how affirmative action impacts the achievement gap.

In the video, President Obama openly advocates for affirmative action, but acknowledges the fact that some minorities do not need the additional "advantage". The qualifications to achieve racial equality in education are influenced by affirmative action because race and class go hand in hand. Some students need an extra push to attain a certain level of success that is equal to their peers, and some can accomplish this without.

The policy of affirmative action counteracts against the many years of racial discrimination, which is part of the reason the U.S. Supreme Court upholds its existence in education. For example, public and private universities are allowed to use race as a factor in admissions, although not all institutions take advantage of this procedure.

The achievement gap influences affirmative action because minority students come from an economic disadvantaged background in comparison to white students, which negatively impacts their academic achievements. And because universities base their admittance off of test scores and academic reports of the students, students of color are put at a disadvantage. Affirmative Action is implemented to help restore the balance and maintain racial diversity within institutions. If affirmative action was ruled unconstitutional, the number of minority students enrolled in university's would be dramatically reduced because fewer would be granted admittance, so its existence is critical for the academic future of African American and Hispanic students.