A Dismiss Affirmative Action - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2103 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2019/10/30 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Affirmative Action Essay Did you like this example?   Race relations, including that of affirmative action, have arguably been the most divisive and hotly contested issue in contemporary American politics. Many people feel that affirmative action is necessary to either counteract injustices or ensure the advancement of certain minorities. Affirmative action proponents generally point to four justifications; namely, these are racism, poverty, diversity, and underrepresentation in higher office positions. However, there is evidence to show that affirmative action has become a form of discrimination in and of itself through college acceptance rates and workplace quotas. Affirmative Action is an archaic government program that caters to those that are longer in need of help based on evidence that is no longer accurate or relevant. The process of adjusting the playing field through affirmative action might do more harm than good and muddy, instead of fix, the racial picture. One of the best articulations of this point comes from a story told by Clarence Thomas, which is related to us in an essay by Juan Williams in his essay A Question of Fairness: Thomas told me a story from his boyhood to illustrate what fairness means to him. He was on the back porch, playing blackjack for pennies with some other boys. As the game went on, one boy kept winning. Thomas finally saw how: the cards were marked. The game was stopped. There were angry words. Cards were thrown. From all sides, fast fists snatched back lost money. There could be no equitable redistribution of the pot. The strongest, fastest hands, including those of the boy who had been cheating, got most of the pile of pennies. Some of the boys didnt get their money back. The cheater was threatened. The boys who snatched pennies that they had not lost were also threatened. But no one really wanted to fight they wanted to keep playing cards. So a different deck was brought out and shuffled, and the game resumed with a simple promise of no more cheating.(Williams 5) Williams explains how Thomas felt that story is like race relations in America. The end of the cheating, according to Thomas, was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Dismiss Affirmative Action" essay for you Create order The dispute now is how and whether the government should return the pennies to their rightful owners, generally seen as minorities including blacks, Hispanics, Women, and Native Americans (Williams 5) If whites, the majority, living today were the equivalent of the boy who had the marked deck or the older boys who had stolen the pennies, then the answer to this dilemma would be easier. However, the vast majority if not all whites living today received little to no benefit from either slavery or segregation. In fact, most Americans and their ancestors immigrated to America many years after the end of slavery, themselves both uneducated and poor. These other immigrant groups didnt use or need government programs in order for them to get along economically. While not denying that minorities have been cheated, one must acknowledge that, as previously established, whites in America today bear little resemblance to the hooligans at the card game. This is especially true since many white im migrants were far more likely to be discriminated against themselves by those who benefited from segregation and slavery than to be among those sharing in the wealth. Another argument against affirmative action is that race is a poor indicator of hardships. While the average white person has a higher income and more net worth than the average black or Hispanic, there are plenty of poor white people and wealthy black people.   To assume that blacks are poor and whites are rich solely on the basis of race, which may be statistically accurate, ignores differences between individuals within groups. Since differences within groups are always larger than differences between the average members of differing groups, this type of grouping is unfair. Most applications for jobs and colleges require information about an applicants finances anyway, there is no more reason for them to assume poverty on the basis of race. Even if classifying economic disadvantage by race was justified in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement, many argue that this is no longer the case. Blacks have vastly improved their position over the past several decades. Blacks earning over $50,000 a year have become the fastest growing income group in America. The result of this is that since the 1960s, the percentage of affluent black Americans has doubled. In some cases, blacks are even doing better than whites. In two-parent households where both parents are college educated and both parents work, black families on average make more money than white families. Given this, it seems that problems peculiar to this minority group may be becoming obsolete. Lino Graglia says Not all blacks, and not only blackshave been disadvantaged (Grapes, 48). Since statistics indicate that blacks are getting closer and closer to the average income, many believe that it now makes more sense to base preferences on socioeconomic status. This way, whites who are as disadvantaged as the blacks that affirmative action is intended to help would be benefited while ensuring that middle and upper-class blacks with no right to preferential treatment are not swept up in the diversity frenzy. This would provide a true adjustment while reducing the racial tensions caused by preferences. This would also ensure reasonable numbers of minority students while providing opportunity to students of all races, which is really the point (Grapes 59). The case for socioeconomic affirmative action is especially compelling because according to Lino A. Graglia, very few children of the underclass, white or black, end up applying to the competitive institutions where affirmative action is used (Grapes, 48). This leaves us in the position of giving preference to middle-class blacks over middle-class whites. If we really want to help persons who are disadvantaged, we might do well to use socioeconomic status, which might have a better predictive value of disadvantage. Many who acknowledge inequities in America and acknowledge the need for corrective measures question the wisdom of giving preferences to members of the emerging black middle and upper classes. If race doesnt necessarily correlate with a disadvantage, then maybe there is another index to use to determine disadvantage when considering job or college applications. Plous states that because racial minorities are at a disadvantage that there is a need for a correction. However, he concludes his point by stating that unless pre-existing inequities are corrected or otherwise taken into account, color-blind policies do not eliminate racial injustice-they reinforce it. (Plous, 2) Plous, however, gives no reason why these inequities could not be otherwise taken into account by looking at other factors, such as socioeconomic status. While some might argue that there are disadvantages independent of socioeconomic status that disproportionately affect minorities, it should be noted that almost all college applications already request information about the applicants family structure. Likewise, it should also be noted that the vast majority of college applicants (and virtually anybody who has any claim of being disadvantaged) provide detailed reports of their financial status to the colleges that they apply to in the form of financial aid applications such as The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Thus, all the information that is needed to make an intelligent assessment of an applicants disadvantage is already provided in college applications and could be used to make an intelligent assessment of an applicants disadvantage without resorting to race. Since race is sometimes a poor indicator of disadvantage, there is no reason to give automatic advantages to a minority applicant just for checking a box corresponding to their skin color. Despite the fact that SAT scores correlate well with grades in college, some minority advocates and affirmative action supporters claim that they are biased against certain groups. While it is undeniable that different groups perform differently, racial bias is unlikely to be the cause. Statistics from the College Board indicate that the SAT actually predicts college performance for minorities more accurately than it predicts performance for whites (DSouza 44). Even if the standardized tests really did have terms that were less familiar to stude nts of certain races, its still not clear that the tests are at fault. According to College Board President Donald Steward, who is black, standardized tests are preparation for words and terms and ideas that students are likely to encounter, whatever their cultural background. (DSouza 44) In other words, even if they arent familiar with test materials, maybe they should be. According to these findings, SAT scores really do predict performance in college, especially for minorities. An examination of the disparities in SAT scores might shed some light on why socioeconomic status might be a good index. An examination of SAT scores by gender, race, and school types shows that Asians are a good example of how the SAT is not racially biased. In 1998, the average Asian score on the math portion of the SAT was 562, 50 points higher than the national average, and 34 points higher than the average white score. While some groups did score lower than others, these differences were not significantly larger than the differences between males and females on the math portion, or the differences between students at public, parochial, and independent schools. This suggests that disparities in SAT scores are just as related to the types of schools that students go to (dictated mostly by socioeconomic status) as they are by race. It is indeed very possible that the disparities between the races are caused mostly by the disproportionate numbers of certain races that go to public schools for economic, not racial reasons. Keeping this in mind, it might be better to give preferences based on socioeconomic status or even the type of school that a student attends rather than race. Affirmative action distributes educational resources in a way contrary to what is scientifically proven to provide the greatest return on the investment of resources. Grades and test scores have been shown to correlate strongly with performance in college (Study: SAT .). The SAT has been reworked over decades in an attempt to predict performance in college. Statistical studies have shown that there is no better predictor of performance in college than SAT scores. While some compromise between the efficiency of using SAT scores to distribute resources, and addressing class differences in America might be necessary, I believe that a fair result could be achieved through socioeconomic preferences. The only way that the loss of efficiency that results from going against scientifically proven methods of determining who would perform the best in a job or school could be justified is if there was proof that including persons under an affirmative action plan somehow results in an increase in efficiency greater than the decrease due to improper utilization of the resources. While there are anecdotal claims that diversity benefits everybody, nobody has been able to provide a large body of research proving that there is a substantive benefit. By contrast, there is much evidence that shows that those admitted with inferior credentials under affirmative action have a higher rate of dropout and delinquency than the general student population. Therefore, from a utilitarian perspective, affirmative action causes inefficient use of educational recourses. In addition to hurting white and Asian students, there is evidence that affirmative action may also have an adverse effect on the minorities that supposedly benefit from it. There are some who believe that affirmative action policies discourage minority achievement. Edward Blum, Chairman of the Campaign for a Color-Blind America Legal Defense and Educational Foundation says that while he admits that poor performance of minorities on standardized tests is due to poor education in minority neighborhoods, that he believes the solution is harder work and commitment on the part of those same minority students. He points to the fact that there have been countless studies and they all say the same thing- tests like the SAT are a highly reliable predictor of academic success. According to his article, no other variable grades, essays, leadership qualities or overcoming hardships so closely correlates to the likelihood of graduation from a particular college as does the SAT (Blum, 1999).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The fact is that affirmative action has outlived its usefulness and does more damage than good. It has been shown to make unfair placements in both colleges and the workforce in order to increase a diversity that provides no pragmatic boon. Not only that, but there is far less socioeconomic need for the program as well, with minorities gaining economically as well as socially. This leads to those of the majority paying for the mistakes of a minority within their own group, which is just as discriminatory and unfair.

The Crucible By Arthur Miller - 1749 Words

The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953. The action around the play is based on a historical event, the Salem Witch Trials, which takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. Most of the people living in Salem, Massachusetts were Puritans and they were expected to attend church and were restricted to work during the Sabbath. People believed in the existence of Satan and that he chooses the weakest individual to carry on his work and the people who follow Satan were considered as witches. They believed that witchcraft is one of the greatest crimes a person can commit and the punishment for practicing witchcraft is death. The fear of witchcraft increased among the people, so when a person act or think in a different way the people considered the person as a witch. 20 people were killed during the Salem witch trials, many of them were really innocent and extremely religious. The play is centered around three main characters, John Proctor, Abigail Williams and John Proctorâ€℠¢s wife Elizabeth Proctor. The relationship between Abigail and John Proctor is the crux of all that goes wrong in Salem during the trials. In Arthur Miller’s Crucible John Proctor has sinned and committed adultery, but he has a lot of courage and confesses the truth in order to save others even if it could spoil his own good reputation. In the beginning of the play, the town minister Reverend Parris catch a group of girls including his niece, Abigail Williams and his daughter, Betty Parris are dancingShow MoreRelatedThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1269 Words   |  6 PagesAt first glance, the playwright Arthur Miller in The Crucible highlights the historical significance of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, but in fact it is an allegorical expression of his perception of McCarthyism. If the reader has some background information on Arthur Miller’s victimization as a communist, it is evident that the play is a didactic vessel illustrating the flaws of the court system in the 1950’s. The communist allegations were launched at government employees, entertainers and writersRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1681 Words   |  7 Pagesof their way to the last dying breath to make sure they leave with a good or bad reputation. In one of the recent literature study in class â€Å"The Crucible† by Arthur Miller, Miller uses characterization to illustrate reputation throughout the play. â€Å"The Crucible† takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. It is based upon the Salem witch trails. In â€Å"The Crucible†, we journey through the life of three characters who reputations plays a major role in the play. The three characters are John Proctor, AbigailRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller998 Words   |  4 Pagesmotivated by jealousy and spite. The Crucible is a four-act dramatic play production that was first performed on January 22, 1953. Arthur Miller used dialogue within the characters to cover the multiple themes; conflicts and resolutions, plus the few directions for the different actions of the play. The Salem Witch Trials were intended to be performed as the play however, when read, it can be more carefully examined and broken down to analyze the techniques. Miller, the playwright, uses literaryRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1333 Words   |  6 PagesAs the various characters in The Crucible by Arthur Miller interact, the dominant theme of the consequences of women’s nonconformity begins to slide out from behind the curtains of the play. Such a theme reveals the gripping fear that inundated the Puritans during the seventeenth century. This fear led to the famous witch-hunts that primarily terrorized women who deviated from the Puritan vision of absolute obedience and orthodoxy. Arthur Miller presents his interpretation of the suffering by subtlyRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1145 Words   |  5 PagesUnbalance Through The Centuries In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the author reflects the persecution of communists in America in the 1950’s through a recount of the Salem witch trials. It is often presumed that Miller based his drama directly off of events that were particularly prevalent in the years surrounding the publication of The Crucible- which was released in the year 1953, towards the conclusion of the Korean War. Although there was not a literal witch hunt occurring during this timeRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1063 Words   |  5 PagesIn the English dictionary, there are three definitions of the word crucible. One is a metal container in which metals are mixed and melted. Another is a severe test. But the third definition, and the one that I think fits the best for this book, is a place or situation in which different elements interact to create something new. In my mind, this fits because all of the characters had their little grudges and dirty secrets. But when all th ose seemingly little things interact, they formed somethingRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1285 Words   |  6 Pages Rationale, Morality, Stereotypes, Pressure, Self-Censorship, Unanimity, and Mindguards. Groupthink has also taken place in our history a a country. The play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about a the real-life Salem Witch Trials that happened in 1692 - 1693, in Salem, Massachusetts. Some symptoms of Groupthink found in the Crucible are Rationale, Pressure, and Self-Censorship. The Groupthink symptom, Rationale, is described as when victims of Groupthink ignore warnings: they also collectivelyRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller841 Words   |  4 PagesThe Crucible is a chaotic play, throughout this American classic Arthur Miller takes the reader through multiple events of terror and insanity. While creating a great on-stage play, Arthur Miller portrays his life through the events, the characters, and plot of The Crucible. Using vivid imagery and comprehensible symbolism, Miller manipulates the real personalities of the characters and events in 1600 Salem, Massachusetts to create a symbolic autobiography. Throughout this play, the reader experiencesRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller811 Words   |  4 Pages While The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is only a four act play, it still resembles the format of a five act play. The five-act structure evolved from a three-act structure, which was made famous by Roman Aelius Donatus. Donatus came up with thre e types of plays: Protasis, Epitasis, and Catastrophe. The five-act structure helped to expand the three act structure, mainly made famous by Shakespeare through his many tragedies. Even though The Crucible contains only four acts, it still has the commonRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1052 Words   |  5 PagesBuddy Al-Aydi Ms.Healy English 9 CP 14th October 2014 The Crucible Essay The Crucible was a novel written by Arthur Miller in the 1950’s. It was written in a format of the play, portraying an allegory of the Salem Witch-Hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. The book is known to have a inexplicable plot. This plot is advanced by multiple characters in the book in order to ensure that the reader maintains interest with the material that is being read. The farmer, John Proctor, would be the

The Symbols in the Tell-Tale Heart Free Essays

01121133 A Professor: Introduction to English Literature and American Literature, Tue 78 Paper1: The Tell-Tale Heart Oct, 23, 2012 The Symbol in â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† According to the Norton Introduction to Literature, the definition of symbol is that† A symbol in a work of literature compares or puts together two things that are in some ways dissimilar. A symbol in literature usually carries richer and various meanings, as does a flag or religious image. And because of its significance, a symbol usually appears or is hinted at numerous times throughout the work† (Booth 209). We will write a custom essay sample on The Symbols in the Tell-Tale Heart or any similar topic only for you Order Now Thus, symbols are used in literature to represent something more than the literal aspect itself. They can come in the form of phrases, colors, objects or events. Through this, the writer can effectively suggest unsaid ideas and meanings to the audience. The use of symbolism serves as clues by the author, to infer something more or a deeper meaning. Therefore, this essay is going to analyze this story by interpret symbols appeared in the story â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart. † In the story, the narrator claims that he is not mad, but his behavior, thought and words tell a different story. The narrator is determined to kill the old man in the story, not because jealously or animosity but because â€Å"one of his eyes resembled that of a vulture- a pale blue eye, with a film over it† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart). The narrator put the subjective feeling on the eye; the narrator said the old man’s eye is an â€Å"Evil Eye† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart). An eye is covered by a veil or film; it symbolically means that the narrator has issue with the â€Å"inner vision†-what is commonly known as one’s outlook on the world. So our reading of the story is through the eye which is defined by the narrator. Then, when we read the story, we will be leaded by the narrator’ subjective feeling through what the narrator call an† Evil Eye† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart). So, one of the old man’s eyes symbolizes the narrator’s world of the heart. According to The Tell Tale Heart, â€Å"I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously — cautiously (for the hinges creaked) –I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. † We could know that the lantern in the story can be adjusted to as much or as little as you want, and the narrator keeps most of light hidden; only allowing one ray to escape. The narrator said,† I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart). The narrator wants to kill the old man because of that eye, so the narrator could only kill the old man when the old man’s eye wide-opened; however, we could know if the old man opens his eye, he will know that the narrator is going to kill him. And, in the story, the narrator keeps emphasizing that what the behaviors are done is so cautious and that the old man won’t find it. So, the ray from the lantern symbolizes the contradiction in the narrator’s heart. The bedroom is the place where we usually feel safe; most of the time, when we are on the bed, we are usually vulnerable because of a lack of sense of crisis. However, Poe write the bedroom as a dangerous place where might even be killed. It is defined as a burial. The biggest symbol in the story is all the contradictions which symbolize the narrator who is insane. We can see lots of contradiction in this story. First, â€Å"It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart). It is really strange to spend an hour placing one’s head within the door. Second, â€Å"I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously — cautiously (for the hinges creaked) –I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights –every night just at midnight –but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart). There are two contradict points in above sentence. One is that everyone should have a consciousness if there is â€Å"a single thin ray† fell upon our eyes; much less, the old man have been done like this lasting for eight days. The other one is that the narrator says that killing the old man only happens when that the old man’s vulture-blue eye is open. But if the old man opens his eye, he will know the narrator is going to kill him, also, when someone knows that you are going to be killed, you may scream or make some big noises or even some body reactions. In this way, this event may be found by others. According to the story, this kind of condition is not a result that the narrator wants. So we can know these things are contradict. Third,† And the old man sprang up in bed, crying out –â€Å"Who’s there? † I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart). Generally speaking, after we say â€Å"who’s there? † we usually go check out what happens or keep sleeping if no one answer us. We won’t sit up in the bed listening for a whole hour. Fourth, â€Å"I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart), and â€Å"although he neither saw nor heard† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart). One says the old man heard something, the other one says he didn’t hear or see anything. These two sentences conflict to each other. Fifth,† the sound would be heard by a neighbor† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart), and â€Å"it would not be heard through the wall† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart). If the sound would be heard by a neighbor, it would be heard by a neighbor. If the sound would not be heard through the war, it would not be heard by a neighbor. So, we could know these two sentences conflict to each other. Sixth, â€Å"There was nothing to wash out –no stain of any kind –no blood-spot whatever† (Poe, The Tell Tale Heart). The narrator cut off the old man’s head, legs and arms. It is impossible that no blood is on the floor. To sum up, according those contradictions, we could suspect reasonably that the narrator is insane and the narrator doesn’t kill the old man, this whole story is imagined by the narrator. In conclusion, after reading The Tell-Tale Heart, we can know that this story is not only a horrible story, it also teach us every story might have some significant meanings behind them. Reading is not only to understand the meanings on the surface but also to think deeply and train our ability of analyzing mentally. We should not be afraid of those symbols, and we shouldn’t be frustrated by those symbols; we should try our best to think about what the writers try to tell us truly. Works Cited Booth, Alison and Kelly J. Mays, eds. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. New York: Norton, 2010. Edgar Allan Poe, â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† How to cite The Symbols in the Tell-Tale Heart, Essay examples

Columbia Industries free essay sample

Also considered were Komatsu and caterpillar, Inc proposals. These last two proposals were presented to Mr. West by the sales person who were eager to first of all find the features that the company was looking for. Besides also discussing the mechanism of action of the trucks that were most appropriate for CI, the sales person did also take the bother of sending some demonstration trucks to the CI drivers to test and learn on how to operate them. 2. Describe the important â€Å"needs† Columbia Industries has as they undertake the process to purchase seven new lift trucks. Columbia Industries is a company that was founded back in 1948 and grew to become one of the leading manufactures of code-approved products. The first time that it came to their attention that there was a need for new lift trucks was when a complaint was submitted by the plant union leader about the performance and safety of the Hyster lift trucks. We will write a custom essay sample on Columbia Industries or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Of main concern here was the stability of the old lift trucks especially when they were fully loaded. There was also a fast increase in the rate of sales and this called for quick attention.The problem of not attending to the concerns associated with the old lift trucks did cost them extremely valuable customers. 3. What type of buying decision is this, and what impact does that have on how the forklifts should be marketed? It was not an easy decision to decide on the best lift model that was going to solve most of the problems that were being experienced. Mr. West was more interested with the brand from Toyota and he finally succeeded to meet with their salesman later on. Though the salesman was not able to get the kind of lift that Mr.West had initially requested, he managed to send one which was close to the specifications that had been given. The trucks from Toyota were easy to handle though their capability to lift the pipes could note be tested since the pipes only expanded for 112 inches and not for 260 inches as required. 4. What roles are being played by each member of the buying center for this product? There were several steps that had to be completed before the lifts could be bought and everyone involved had a specific plan. Following the successful presentations from different sales person, Ms. Ogrosky and Mr. West had a meeting where they reviewed all the features from the different kind of lift trucks that had been presented to them. After a thorough review, they then met on September 3 so as to be able to come up with a final decision as to which was the best model that they were going to recommend to Mr. Debre. Mr. Debre had not had some experience of using some of the trucks that were presented and Ms. Ogrosky together with Mr.West had to therefore prepare a very convincing presentation for him to consider any other company that they have not had business relations with before. 5. Which forklift company did the best job of identifying the key member of the buying center and developing appropriate approaches for dealing with their concerns? It was only the Caterpillar Company which did the best job of identifying the key members involved in the purchase and also in their approach of dealing with the concerns that had been raised by the company.The sales person was able to show all of the advanced features that had been fixed in the new maneuverable lift trucks from this company. Since the salesperson from Caterpillar did send a demonstration truck, the operators were able to test it in all conditions even on full load and with the mast fully extended as this had been the major issues of safety concern from the truck operators. As compared to the old models and trucks from other com panies, Caterpillar companies performed very well even under the most difficult conditions such as being loaded and having the mast fully extended. This was an advantage to this company since safety is of major concern. Every buyer wants some assurance from the seller that they themselves are confident with the product they are selling and that they are in a position to repair should there be a problem. The mechanic from Caterpillar company was highly confident that he could easily solve any problem that could arise from the trucks thus making the options of Caterpillar lift trucks here as being the most appropriate one.