Animosity and Affirmative Action

Essay by cfawcett22High School, 11th grade March 2007

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Affirmative Action are two words that can bring up an emotional debate on the validity of this policy. Affirmative Action are measures taken to allow minorities equal rights when it comes to being hired for a job or being promoted within a job. As it’s intended, Affirmative Action means that people from a particular group should enjoy special consideration or benefits when it comes to job placement. I’m going to use firefighting as an example. Affirmative Action is the cause of difficulties in the firefighting hiring process. Because of the large number of minority applicants, including woman, getting hired as a firefighter is becoming increasingly difficult to accomplish for the white male because of the outdated Affirmative Action policy. As with many other outdated policies, Affirmative Action should be re-evaluated and possibly dismissed.

Because our country is becoming so diverse, it is increasingly more difficult for companies, such as fire departments, who seek qualified employees to maintain the Affirmative Action guidelines.

There are just as many, if not more minorities in this country now than when Affirmative Action was established back in 1962. This policy is increasing the difficulties of hiring as many white male applicants than minority applicants.

One example why Affirmative Action should be re-considered or dismissed is safety. Safety is the most important factor when training a firefighter. The civil service exam exists to evaluate the thinking process of applicants when it comes to safety among other things; therefore, someone who scores low on this exam could be compromising the safety of other firefighters on the job. Because fire departments have to hire one minority for every white male, they are forced to hire minority applicants who score a 72 percent on the exam versus white male applicants who score 100 percent. The result of hiring...