Affirmative action is any plan or program that promotes the employment of women and members of any minority group (Britannica 172). This term, first used by President John F. Kennedy, is an action taken to remedy the effects and specifically end job and college entrance discrimination (Neiss 244). In nineteen sixty-four, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty-four which made job discrimination illegal and really began to push Kennedy’s affirmative action. When President Richard M. Nixon took office, he became the first to implement federal policies designed to guarantee minority hiring.

Over the years, there have been two significant court cases involving affirmative action. The first case occurred during the nineteen-seventies. A young man named Allan Bakke; who applied twice to the University of California medical school, was rejected in result of affirmative action policies both years. Bakke took his case to the

Supreme Court, and in nineteen seventy eight, the court ruled in his favor. Allan Bakke’s case resulted in an established affirmative action quota in colleges, and he was also admitted into the University of California medical school.

Although affirmative action has a positive-sounding label, it has resulted in negative actions. Instead of considering the qualifications of all candidates, without racial considerations, affirmative action favors selected races and, thus, bias the outcome. Race-based policies should be abolished in America. Both minorities and Caucasians have the same opportunity to learn, whether or not they take advantage of it. Because of affirmative action, minorities can never know if they were accepted to universities or hired for jobs because of their qualifications or ethnicity. This also holds true for Caucasians who are rejected.

It has been forty years since affirmative action was implemented here in America. The outdated law was originally a temporary measure that is now doing our country more harm than good. Systematic discrimination is not likely to have affected an eighteen year old in his/her lifetime to justify systematic discrimination in his/her favor. Affirmative action policies benefit individuals who have not suffered discrimination and burdens individuals who have not participated in discrimination. Turning the tables on previously favored groups is as unjust as the original discrimination. Relatively higher dropout rates of minorities from colleges and universities, is due to affirmative action policies that place students at more competitive colleges than they can handle (Clegg 4).

The problem with this policy is that it assumes

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