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writing || The Problems with Affirmative Action

IoanaNovember 20, 2017

This was a short essay for my grade 12 politics class. It had to be about a controversial topic, so I chose affirmative action and argued against it.


Equality for everyone – regardless of race, sex, appearance, ability, and social status is perhaps the largest social campaign currently influencing the news, social media, and even our legislation. We are encouraged not only to treat others equally, but to hire and admit according to disadvantages others are either born with or faced with as a result of societal discrimination.

Affirmative action laws, which were first set into motion by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, exist in various forms in many developed nations – including the United States and Canada. They are a set of policies and legislation intended to correct discrimination towards disadvantaged groups in society such as women, Aboriginals, the disabled, and visible minorities. The problem with these laws is twofold.

First: although all life is equal, life itself is not. This is one of the beauties of a diverse biological planet. Not every human is born into the same conditions as everyone else, and although it is a symbol of a progressive society to embrace disability or personal difficulty, and provide support to overcome it, what is ultimately important is how much a person can contribute to society AFTER educating themselves to have the necessary skills.

If a lower-class woman wants to pursue the law, she should have access to the education she needs with the help of a social support system. But if a fellow candidate is more skilled for the job, why should her potential contribution to society be “adjusted” (in this case, increased) to account for the conditions she was born into?  Employment should be merit-based. Not only does it lead to a more productive society, but it is only fair.

Second: affirmative action measures are the wrong response to problems of inequality because they do not target the root causes. In fact, they can even make things worse.

As a female who has been interested in computer science for a few years, I am well aware of the backwards effect of affirmative action. Last year, I participated in a team coding contest where a maximum of three co-ed teams and one women’s team could be sent per school. The three other female coders interested in the competition and I were immediately encouraged to choose the all-female division. We were “more likely to win” that way. Sure enough, we won first place in our division. And fourth place overall. Yet, not only were we not announced as winners at the end of the competition, but we weren’t given the medals that the first place co-ed (though it really was all-boys) team received. What was the point of creating a separate category so we could win among women, when our division was not considered equal to our male counterparts’ division? To top it off, the astonished congratulations we received afterwards that, against all womanly odds, we beat some 10 all-male teams to come fourth overall were discrediting and even insulting. What a surprise, indeed! In sports, it makes sense – asking a female weightlifter to compete with a male one is unfair. But when it comes to something as purely academic and skill-based as coding, we don’t need another category. We don’t want to win because we’re female. We want to win because we’re good coders.

In the same way, affirmative action diminishes the value of merit and hard work. It leads members of the selected groups to question whether they got the job or the acceptance because of their value or their race or sex, as is implicitly suggested by the existence of such laws.

Not to mention that attributes like race and sex, though determined at birth, do not in any way directly correlate to ability or success. Those outcomes are entirely dependent on what an individual makes of his or her own life. Which lends the question: why does the law continue to generalize by assuming a disadvantage is inherently present when confronted  with people of a different makeup from the “general majority” – which (in the Western world) has been determined to be white and male?

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Comments (1)

  • Naomi Olasoji

    November 28, 2017 at 4:30 pm

    I might have to steal that topic for my essay. Great job!

    Reply

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Nice to meet you!

Hi, it’s Ioana! I’m a blogger, brand marketer, and recent Queen’s Commerce alumni. When I’m not drinking coffee, reading, studying or exploring the city, I dabble in creative projects like this one!

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Caught the @evergreen_brick_works farmers market t Caught the @evergreen_brick_works farmers market this Saturday for another @usktoronto sketching meetup! Always a great time with this group. 🥳 I’ll admit I didn’t do much sketching this time around… was *very* busy making the rounds at the farmers market. 😜

#usktoronto #torontosketching #evergreenbrickworksmarket #urbansketching #travelsketch
little cup, GIANT smile 🥳 Totally in my elemen little cup, GIANT smile 🥳

Totally in my element at the @usktoronto exhibition reception event at @atoriginto a couple weekends ago. The exhibit showcases sketches by local artists that are primarily done on-location in places we travel to or live in. I’ve tagged a few of the artists so you can tap through to their profiles!

You might remember helping me choose which two sketches to submit to the show application back in December. Check them out hanging right there on the wall in slide 3! 

And HUGE thanks for helping me narrow it down. 🥰

If you’re in the area come check it out. (Or better yet, let’s go together!) 👯‍♀️

#urbansketching #travelsketching #urbansketchers #usktoronto #usk #travelsketchtoronto #urbansketchersexhibit
Some more photos from our @usktoronto urban sketch Some more photos from our @usktoronto urban sketchers meetup this Sunday in Toronto at @theonlycafe!

Instantly loved the interior of this cafe. 👌 I feel like maximalist interiors speak to my soul. Its late and maybe this isn’t quite it, but … they sort of remind me of my favourite people.

#urbansketchers #torontoart #urbansketch #sketchbook #sketching #artjournal #travelsketch #drawyourday #watercolor #urbansketching #sketchjournal #finelinerdrawing #moleskine #moleskinesketchbook #watercolortraveljournal #watercolordrawing #traveljournal #travelwatercolor
The most perfect Sunday morning sketching meetup w The most perfect Sunday morning sketching meetup with @usktoronto at @theonlycafe 🥰 Art + chill + new friends + coffee = happy soul

Thanks for organizing @satori3000! Check out these talented artists: @deshpande.shardul @maragulens @aish_cj @april.sketchedthis @sarawenn17 @beverleydaniels5 @hirtescufineart @sonalipraharajarts @satori3000 @sonyapadovani @michaeltsouras
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