Affirmative Action - Public Opinion vs. Policy :: Affirmative Action Racism Discrimination Essays

approbatory Action - Public Opinion vs. PolicyWhen Justin Ketcham, a white college student from the suburbs, thinks aboutaffirmative sue, he thinks about what happened when he sent out lettersseeking scholarships so he could practise Stanford University after being acceptedduring his senior year of high school.The organizations that wrote dressing told himtheir m singley was reserved for women or minorities. To Americans like Ketcham,its a matter of fairness. The clean white male will claim that its not fairto try on to rebalance scales by balancing them the other way. Students likeKetcham are also much likely to claim that affirmative action is a program adapt towards curtailing workplace prejudices that really dont existanymore.But when Hillary Williams, a black insurance alliance manager from theinner-city, thinks about affirmative action, she thinks about the judgment of conviction she hadto train trey consecutive white male bosses for a job that no one evenapproached her about filling. To her, its also a question of fairness.African-Americans like Hillary tang that there is just no other was besidesaffirmative action to level the playing field in certain businesses.And so the variety in public mentation begins. A racially-divided America creates separategroups, which Affirmative Action issue taps a fundamental cleavage in AmericanSociety (Gamson and Modigliani 170)--each with their own view of affirmativeaction on different sides of the line. G everyplacenment attempts to create constitutionbased upon the voice of the sight but affirmative action seems to present analmost un-solvable dilemma. Traditionally, it had been a policy that wasgreatly scrutinized for its quotas and alleged unfairness towards Blacks, but atthe same time it had also been praised for its inherent ability to helpminorities gets jobs they deserve but could not obtain otherwise. So how do wereach a happy intermediate so-to-speak? In American political finish, it appears as though individualism and equalitarianism are values that find themselves onopposite ends of the political battlefield.In a complex world of political ideology and political culture are sets ofvalues and principles that are widely endorsed by politicians, educators, themedia and other opinion leaders that make up the definition of what is to beAmerican (Feldman and Zaller). just about favor the values of individual freedom,especially individual economic freedom, over other values, especially equalityand popular sovereignty (egalitarianism). These large number are labeled Conservatives.The other side of the spectrum consider themselves as Liberals (Feldman andZaller).Because we live in a meritocracy created by the strong forces ofcapitalism, there is a tendency for people to fall behind either in the economyor in the academic community.