After about thirty years of implementation, affirmative action is losing the foothold that it has in our society. Many debates have arisen with the passing of proposition 209, a ban on affirmative action in California. Washington has even passed an initiative modeled from proposition 209, and more states are now starting to debate the issue. The ban has become a reality in major universities in California and Texas. The results show a significant decrease in the enrollment of minorities. Thus the question arises, what should we do with affirmative action? Specifically, should public universities follow affirmative action in the enrollment of students?

The University of Georgia was ordered by federal courts to admit its first black students on January 6, 1961. Since then, segregation has been abolished in all areas of the United States. The ending of affirmative action brings many new fears as to whether this desegregation will continue. There are fears that schools will decide to not admit minority students at all. Then the community will regress to where it was back in 1961. There is no doubt that affirmative action has helped minority students to be accepted into colle

I believe schools can, and do somewhat, follow the first two of these ideals. More time spent in the recruitment of minorities, and on campus help for minority students. There is a big argument whether following part d and researching standardized tests will help. Schools use national standardized tests as one of their major guidelines for recruitment. I do not believe these tests to be racially biased towards white students. I have an African American friend who I went through primary and secondary school with. I know how smart he is, and his standardized test scores show exactly his level of knowledge. Since schools are not finding enough qualified students to enroll in the university they are admitting minority students who are not up to par with their counterparts.

that exponentially enhanced class discussion and contributed to better research for every member of the class. For example, the U.S. students of color helped us interpret and analyze readings pertaining to biculturalism. The Latino students helped a European-American design a study of learning at a Spanish immersion school in St. Paul. A Turkish international student made valuable contributions when we discussed another student's research on the significance of gendered features of the Japanese language. (Turkish lacks the kinds of grammatical gender marking found in Japanese and other languages spoken by class members.) Students with multiple cultures or origin introduced challenging perspectives on issues of cultural identity in the United States and on the process of cultural acquisition and enactment. All students were able to contribute cogent original ideas and interpretations because their rich variety of experiences in varying geographical and (multi-)cultural contexts created opportunities for nuanced comparative analyses. Classroom encounters of these kinds did not occur at "quality" educational institutions when I was a student of social science. Even when occasional non-European-Americans were in my classes, they were there to learn Western models and methods, not to teach and collaborate. What a lost opportunity for everyone -- students, faculty, and researchers!

Current affirmative action plans require the admittance of an amount of minority students that coincides with their percentage in the local population. If there are not enough qualified students to meet this percentage then the schools "should initiate affirmative steps to remedy the situation" (DOL). Some of the measures they recommend, relating to the work force but similar to education are as follows:

The average SAT scores were 288 points below the Berkeley average for black students admitted before the removal of affirmative action (Krauthammer 22). The admittance statistics for California after inacting proposition 209 are thought provoking. Black and Hispanic admissions are down significantly at the two top campuses in the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA. Black admittance to Berkeley and UCLA is down 57% and 43% respectively. Hispanic admittance is down 40% and 33%. The drop was far less dramatic for the whole college, which includes six more campuses. The total drop was 17.6% for blacks and 6.9% for Hispanics (Krauthammer 23). This shows the la

Some topics in this essay:
Paul Turkish, America Bronner, University Georgia, Francisco Bay, Hispanics Krauthammer, Asian Hispanic, Referendum Quotas, African American, Macalester College, Major Leagues, affirmative action, minority students, white students, students accepted, due affirmative action, enrollment students, preferential treatment, students meet, major leagues, proposition 209, accepted college, minority students accepted, minority students meet, students angry notion, help minority students,