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The Cons of Affirmative Action:

------ Affirmative Action is the practice or policy of favoring

individuals belonging to certain groups of minorities that are
known to have been discriminated against previously. It is also an
effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of
members of minority groups.

----- Allan Bakke was a thirty-five-year-old white man who applied

to University of California Medical School at Davis two times,
getting rejected both times. The school had reserved sixteen
places in each entering class of one hundred for "qualified"
minorities, as part of their affirmative action program.

------ However, Bakke's SAT scores, and GPA exceeded those of

any of the minority students that had been admitted in the two
years that Bakke was rejected. Bakke brought this case first to the
California courts, and then finally to the U.S. Supreme Court. The
Supreme Court ruled that he indeed was excluded from
admission at California Medical School at Davis solely on the
basis of race, which is unconstitutional.
------ This brings us to our first argument, Affirmative Action can
serve as reverse discrimination. In Allan Bakke’s case, he was
discriminated against solely because of his skin color and nothing
else. This reverse discrimination blatantly violates our 14th
Amendment: No State shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
States.

------ This Amendment enforces equal protection and limits the

State and Federal Government’s power to discriminate by treating
employees, former employees, or applicants unequally based on
race, religion or gender. Allan Bakke’s treatment is clearly
unconstitutional despite the college’s best efforts to keep
opportunities equal. Even though there is still much racial
discrimination in our country, under the Constitution, we are all
considered equal and there should be no programs in place that
disrupt that.

----- Our second argument against Affirmative Action is how it

destroys the idea of meritocracy. Meritocracy is the principle of
distributing opportunities to the people that earn it, the people who
work the hardest and deserve it, which could be people of any
racial minority or background.

----- Placing under qualified personnel in positions simply because

of their race and not their readiness, experience or qualifications
does not help them or our establishments. We should create a
world where every person gets an equal chance to succeed in life,
regardless of their race.

----- Our third argument against Affirmative Action is that it

demeans true minority achievement and can be condescending to
minorities. Affirmative action can become condescending and
overshadow actual minority achievement. People like Former
President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Serena
Williams, and many others all got to where they are through their
own merit and hard work, not through the help of Affirmative
Action programs.

----- Affirmative Action can also lower the accountability

standards that are needed to push employees and students to
perform better. Instead of pushing people to do better and work
harder, Affirmative Action feels like a net that only certain people
can fall back on.

------ Another more current Supreme Court case debating

Affirmative Action is Fisher v. The University of Texas. In this
case, similarly to Allan Bakke, Abigail Fisher was denied entry to
the University of Texas. Fisher filed suit against the university,
claiming that its use of race as a consideration in admission was a
violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment.

------ The Court ruled in favor of Abigail Fisher deciding that since
the admissions process majorly factored in race, it was
unconstitutional. This overturned both the lower and appeals court
decisions. This case concluded that, no matter what you believe
about the treatment of minorities and how it should be handled, it
is clear to see that Affirmative Action in admission programs is
unconstitutional.

--- In conclusion, Affirmative Action can serve as reverse

discrimination, it destroys the principle of meritocracy, demeans
true minority achievement, appears condescending to minorities
and can lower the accountability standards that are needed to
push employees and students to perform at their best. Affirmative
Action in the process of admissions is a fair attempt at leveling the
playing field, but as we’ve learned from the Supreme Court rulings
before, it directly violates the U.S. Constitution, under the equal
protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Work cited