personally i think affermative action breeds racial prejudice instead of preventing it. what are your thoughts?

 

I think if we stopped worrying about peoples race or sexual preferences and merely hired according to qualifications then we wouldn't have to worry about this kind of BS..........but then thats just my "CNN inspired liberal view"

 

The problem is the majority of employers don't hire based on qualifications alone. Did you hear about the study they did where they sent out 5000 resumes, all w/same qualifications, the difference was the names, some were "white sounding" others black,mexican,asian, and other minoritiy sounding names. There was an overwheliming disparity(sp?) in the number of responses given to the ones w/white sounding names, they got over 50%. It's because of this there is affirmative action. The playing field has got to be leveled out.

 

i actually agree with something you said... holy **** :P


i personally think that affirmative action creates racial tension and stems to more racial prejudice. it causes those in the majority to look down upon those in minority because the minority is percieved as "just being there to fill a quota". the minority is then basically stereotyped regardless of qualifications.

 

I seem to remember the example you gave 94uhkord and it is sad that things are done that way. When I was in the position of doing the hiring and firing I made a pile of qualified and unqualified based solely on the experience on the resume. When I did this I would simply read the job history and not once look at the name on the app. and it worked pretty well. But I also realize that not everyone thinks the same way as I do.

I agree with you too Blackmagic I too think it creates unnecessary racial tension where before there may have been none, but because of affirmative action (racial privelige?) a person not necessarily qualified is hired to fill the "quota" and makes the others around them work harder and so the tension begins, "That token green guy doesn't do shit! but then they are all that way looking for a freebie...damn those green people".

I guess no matter how far we progress as a society we will never get past skin color or sexual preference as a way of judging others.

 

It's a two way street. How do you think us minorities feel when we put in out application or resume and know that we are already at a disadvantage simply due to our race. The study that was done was very intriguing, out of 5000 resumes sent out, all w/same credentials, just different names, some that sounded white, and others that sounded black,mexican, etc, the white sounding names were the one's that got 50% of the responses. So let's talk about creating racial tension. No matter what, AA may get them the job, but if they don't have the ability to produce and do their jobs, AA isn't gonna keep it for em.

 

It makes the white people mad so it shouldn't be like that? That's what im hearing. AA gets them the job, their skills and abilities allows them to keep the job. Who says that every minority isn't qualified to do the job for which they applied? All I keep hearing is that the job is given to a "green" person who's underqualified instead of the token white guy who's got the qualifications. What about when a qualified minority gets the nod over an equally qualified white guy, would you still have a problem w/that too? You guys just assume that all minorities are underqualified, I come to that conclusion cause that's the only example you two have given.

 

ok dude, first of all calm down... just because you don't like what you hear doesn't mean you have to throw out the racism flag. that's just ignorant.

second of all, nightshade's example is right on target. that is the same situation that occurs in every business firm, college, etc... in america.

i'm not saying all minorities in general are underqualified at all. that's just you taking my words out of context. my point is that regardless of qualification, if someone is hired to fill a quota, there will be those that feel discriminated against, regardless. this causes tension and breeds bigotry. plus hiring based solely on numbers instead of qualification is inherently immoral and unethical.

 

ok... for argument's sake let's do a little math here. this data was taken from the 2000 census.

Ethnic groups: white 83.5%,
black 12.4%,
Asian 3.3%,
Amerindian 0.8% (1992)
a separate listing for Hispanic is not included because the US Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean a person of Latin American descent (especially of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin) living in the US who may be of any race or ethnic group (white, black, Asian, etc.)

so if you say the study showed that white people got 50% of the responses, that doesn't prove your point at all. the majority of the population is gonna get the majority of responses. that's just how it works. actually the minorities in your study came out ahead because 50% does in no way match up to the 83.5% of the population. the response rate for minorities in the study you mentioned is substantially higher than that of white people, so what was your point again?

 

My pet peeve on the affirmative action issue happens to lie in the arguments for it. I've heard too many people say 'minorities are equally qualified' and two sentences later say 'well, <type of minority> hasn't had the opprotunities that whites have had'.

Well, which one is it? It can't be both, so either there's some economic or social issues involved which are preventing minorities from reaching their potential, or else they are fully qualified but are being discriminated against. In either case, affirmative action is only a band-aid fix and it is the root problem which should be addressed.

In my sometimes no so humble opinion, affirmative action is creating the opposite of its intended result. While it was implemented to counter discrimination, instead it is simply adding to the already prevalent stereotypes of minorities in America, as well as causing resentment amongst employers, coworkers, other applicants, and caucasians in general.


Also, AA has no place in an academic environment. Period. Minority perons admitted to the University of Michigan's engineering program had an average GPA nearly 1 full point less than whites. If I remember correctly it was 2.8 and 3.7. That is just disgusting.