For a number of years in the United States, it was very difficult, if not impossible, for minorities to get a fair chance to succeed. Although the Constitution guaranteed the right to pursue happiness, the reality of that pursuit was filled with roadblocks. That’s what Affirmative Action was intended to eliminate – the roadblocks to success that minorities face.
Although the assumption that white men are discriminated against the most because of Affirmative Action, white women are typically the most disadvantaged in reverse discrimination.
That is because Affirmative Action is typically used to create racial balances within educational institutions and is not often a component of the career. Because white women are typically the usual demographic that pursues advanced education, the limitation of scholarships hurts them the most. This disparity is also likely to increase unless measures are taken to reduce these outcomes.
3 Fast Facts to Consider About Reverse Discrimination
1. Women outrank men in both undergraduate and graduate degrees by a minimum of 14%.
2. Some states, including California, have passed laws that prohibit the consideration of race, gender, or ethnicity when considering public education or public employment.
3. At the University of Wisconsin, the median composite SAT score for blacks who were admitted was 150 points lower than for whites and Asians and the Latino median SAT score was 100 points lower.
Takeaway: What every American wants is a fair shake of the stick. They want to be able to earn their way to their dreams, face the challenges they create, and succeed based on their own merits. With Affirmative Action, reverse discrimination occurs because it becomes easier to achieve these dreams for one group, yet it puts another group at a disadvantage. Some might try to justify this through historical perspective, but one wrong doesn’t make something right. To create fair conditions, an equally fair approach must be realized.
Where Does Reverse Discrimination Occur?
1. In law school admissions, white students who at a median LSAT score and grades had a 10% chance of being admitted. This is comparable to a 70% admission rate for black students and a 33% admission rate for Hispanic students.
2. Even with reverse discrimination components in place, whites generally have more job opportunities than minorities when it comes to job opportunities.
3. Some studies even show that white women have been able to benefit from Affirmative Action more than minorities, even with the inherent scholarship disadvantages.
4. The state of Texas replaced its affirmative action plan with a percentage plan that guarantees the top 10% of high-school graduates a spot in any state university in Texas. California and Florida have similar programs.
5. Only 7% of black students in the US are college ready in mathematics. This figure is even lower when it comes to biology at just 4%.
6. When Affirmative Action was abolished in certain states, many schools saw double digit decreases in the amount of accepted minorities.
7. 3 out of 4 people support the reverse discrimination that may or may not occur as it makes up for social needs, moral injustices, and historical inequalities.
Takeaway: Reverse discrimination might seem like a justifiable thing in some aspects, but the real problem is the lower level education systems. How is it that only 4% of black students are prepared for college level biology? The fact is that schools today need more funding in order to provide the quality of education that all students need. Although white students typically fare better, this is because of a better IQ to income ratio that exists for the average Caucasian household. Throwing kids into college just to make ourselves feel better isn’t the answer. That’s like taking a Vitamin C when you’ve got a cold! The real problems need to be fixed so a cure can be found.
Is There Such A Thing As Reverse Racism?
1. For every dollar a white household earns in the United States, black households make just 62 cents. Other minorities don’t even make this amount.
2. The black unemployment rate is 16% on average, compared with a white unemployment rate that is around 8%. Latinos of any race of an unemployment rate of 12.5 %.
3. Minorities are twice as likely to be living in poverty than white households, although there are fewer black households living in poverty today than in 1969 and more white households in poverty.
4. The infant mortality rate for blacks exceeds the rate of whites by over 2.24 times, which is a higher gap than it has ever been, even though mortality rates are at historical lows.
5. When Affirmative Action is blocked, enrollment rates at major schools for blacks and Latinos dropped by more than 30% in many instances.
6. The perceptions of reverse discrimination are typically characterized by a person’s own race, as whites typically believe more than minorities that it is minorities that have an outsized influence on society.
7. Only 23% of whites believe that minorities have too little influence in society, while more than 50% of all minority groups at minimum believe that they have too little influence.
Takeaway: It comes down to the personal experiences and upbringing that people have in regards to their views on reverse discrimination and racism. If people who have much give away a little, then they will typically see things as being “fine” or “justified.” On the other hand, when those who have very little get a little extra, that is nice – but not what is needed for society to improve. The issue at hand is this: is it moral to discriminate against a group of people when they themselves were the ones discriminating against others in the past. Those who would say yes would typically see the results of Affirmative Action as reverse discrimination. Those who would say no would find the outcomes of Affirmative Action to be what society needs.
Where Is There A Lack of Influence?
1. 64% of blacks believe they do not have enough influence in the Republican Party, while 43% believe they do not have enough influence in the Democratic Party.
2. Only 14$ of blacks are satisfied with their influence in the GOP, while 42% are satisfied with their influence in the Democratic Party.
3. All racial divisions are at least 40% satisfied with their overall participation as Democrats, but only 33% of whites are satisfied with their presence in the GOP. Hispanics are the next leading group at just 24%.
4. Racial presence and income are also directly influential at the voting booth, as those who make more than $100k per year are almost twice as likely to vote as those who make below $20k per year.
5. Less than 50% of Hispanics and Asians come out to the voting booth every year.
6. Those with higher levels of education tend to have higher levels of voter participation as a group as well.
7. Even with Affirmative Action in place, Hmong and Cambodian Americans are the least likely to participate in any form, including achieving less than a high school diploma.
Takeaway: Part of the reason why there aren’t as many minority voters and influencers in society today appears to be because they just don’t have the ability to care. When you make less than $20k per year, the outcome of an election is rather meaningless. On the other hand, if you are in the top 1%, an election can have a direct impact on the amount of income you have coming in. It is understandable then that minorities are encouraged and perhaps even influenced to attend college because this has a direct correlation on their desire to participate on all levels of society. Whites have typically always had this privilege and desire, so it could be said that reverse discrimination is really a natural outcome of having a better overall education in all minority groups. Is artificially allowing these standards a discriminatory act? Again – that seems to depend on the personal philosophies of each individual who looks and this issue.
Is Affirmative Action Still Necessary?
1. 84% of blacks believe that Affirmative Action is still necessary in order for their demographic to have a fair opportunity to succeed.
2. Historically without Affirmative Action, minority enrollments in college will typically have brief periods of surging higher, but will typically slump to single digit rates on average.
3. In 1990, blacks only made up 5.8% of the total amount of Bachelor’s degrees that were awarded by accredited institutions. By 2006, that figure had almost doubled.
4. For Hispanics, the amount of undergraduate degrees that were earned almost tripled in the same 16 year period.
5. The one truly unrepresented minority within higher education is the American Indian or Alaska Native, as they account for less than 1% of all graduate degrees or above. Their growth rates from 0.8% to 1.2% of undergraduate degrees is also the lowest amount of growth in any other minority demographic.
6. In the same period of time, whites accounted for almost 15% fewer total undergraduate degrees despite having more total degrees awarded year-by-year.
7. The combined amount of degrees earned by whites is more than double the total amount of degrees that all other minority groups earn each year.
Takeaway:As the emphasis on Affirmative Action took place in the 1990′s, it became more proportional to the overall population demographics as to education distribution. Although whites make up a vast majority of the population today, this is slowly changing as well. The push for these reverse discrimination statistics might be because of a fear in changing societal tides or lower percentages of the overall American pie, but the fact remains that the amount of degrees continues to rise every year for whites, but that isn’t always the case in other groups. The first professional degrees for Hispanics, for example, was completely stagnant from 2005-2006, the last year of this specific study.
Is It Time For A Different Program to Help?
1. 77% of whites and 64% of Hispanics oppose Affirmative Action because they believe it specifically dictates racial quotas at American schools.
2. 80% of whites and 71% of Hispanics are against the special preferences that are given because of Affirmative Action.
3. 65% of Americans in a 2003 study stated that they opposed the idea of Affirmative Action when race was one of the sole determining factors for admission.
4. Amongst whites, liberals are equally supportive of Affirmative Action as conservatives are to oppose it.
5. Moderates are about evenly split as to whether Affirmative Action should be continued as a practice.
6. Racial quotas have been removed from admission practices since 1978, but race has been allowed as a determining factor since then.
7. With large increases in the amount of degrees awarded to minorities while degrees earned by whites also continues to increase, there seems to be some benefit to the practices, though potentially not morally correct.
Takeaway: There really is no easy answer to the solution of making sure every racial demographic has a fair shot and equal representation when it comes to education. Affirmative Action seems to have been a good solution in some areas, especially in helping women and specific racial minorities find an education, but it does not seem to be helping with unemployment rates or even gender wage gaps. There has to be another solution, a better solution, that can end any form of reverse discrimination that may occur in attempts to equalize the playing field. How can that happen? All of us need to come together, set aside any differences we might have, and figure out a way for all of our children to be able to succeed. When we can provide equal opportunities across all wealth and racial divides from an early age, maybe reverse discrimination conversations won’t have to take place any more.
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