In Defense of Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action has received a lot of negative attention, being described as reverse racism at times. This is because the perception that because it uses race as a factor in hiring decisions or acceptance to colleges and universities. If man is supposed to be equal, then how can we allow race to be used as a factor in such things?

Although I do believe all men are created equal, we cannot lie to ourselves and say that our current educational system is even close to equal. Because of this, groups in our society are underrepresented in colleges and universities. Minority scholarships and affirmative action programs in colleges were instituted so that members of these underrepresented groups will find higher education more attractive. It is not a goal to make race a factor, but make it so that race will one day not be a factor. When all races are represented in higher educational institutions, then we can gradually phase out affirmative action policies, and I proudly look forward to the day that affirmative action is no longer needed. But in the present, it is still needed.