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Affirmative Action Programs : Education And Employment Essay

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Affirmative action (AA) programs began as a management tool designed to ensure equal opportunity both in education and employment in the United States for members of underrepresented racial groups. There are numerous amounts of evidence to support that affirmative action programs have done exactly what they were established to do, but like with “any government policy that gives a positive meaning to some non-class non economic group difference”(Steinberg : 270) there are critics, who fail to see the positive side of AA programs. Did affirmative action programs actually cause more separation within groups of different ethnicities inside (and outside) University campuses instead of encouraging equality among all students? Or does the idea of racial “advantages” cause those who are not considered minorities to rebel and cause unwarranted complications for individuals benefiting from AA programs? In education, all affirmative action programs truly do is give the opportunity of higher education to those who would ordinarily not have the chance, but they do not crack open the books, do the work, or pass the tests. The real work is done by the students who are given the chance to grow and learn within the walls of some of the most prestigious universities in the United States. It is an opportunity some of them may not have had in different circumstances. The term “affirmative action” actually first appeared in the National Labor Relations Act, better known as the Wagner

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