In the 1960's, affirmative action, also known as positive discrimination, was created in order to help benefit minority groups in several areas of society. Under this policy, colleges have been encouraged to take race and ethnicity into account for their admissions process. One idea behind affirmative action is that it compensates for the huge disadvantage African American people have in America, which is that their entire culture is rooted in slavery and for most of their history here, they did not have basic rights. Due to this history, black people are still often subject to discrimination on a daily basis, which is why affirmative action can be reassuring for them. .
In addition, affirmative action helps colleges obtain a diverse student body, which supposedly has many educational benefits. The diversity helps prepare students for the future through exposure to various different cultures. Unfortunately, while the motives behind affirmative action are to promote diversity within an educational environment and create a color-blind society, the action itself is ultimately a discriminatory process, especially in college admissions. .
There are many instances where universities will accept particular students over others because of race being factored into their decision. Although "numerous studies [have] show[n] that student body diversity promotes learning outcomes, and better prepares students for an increasingly diverse workforce and society, and better prepares them as professionals," Grutter 330) using affirmative action to reach this desired community is simply not fair. Racial discrimination was wrong in America's brutal history of slavery, just as it is wrong today. Affirmative action in college admissions should be outlawed because it is an unjust process which ends up promoting further discrimination, and it does not make up for America's past injustices toward minorities.
