President John F. Kennedy created the affirmative action program to provide equal opportunities for everyone in education. While this program started in the 1960’s, problems continued to present themselves as shown through the many court cases, such as Brown vs. Board of Education and Fisher vs. The University of Texas. Some people believe affirmative action is needed because it increases the number of underrepresented minority acceptance, leads to diversity in higher education, and eliminates racial disparities that persisted in the past (qt. in Hultin). Alon further discusses the importance of affirmative action because minorities are not given the same opportunities as whites and how the institution needs diverse students to enrich the educational experience of students of all backgrounds. However, critics argue affirmative action leads to reverse discrimination and is unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. Most importantly, the author of unequal protection believes “‘lower[ing] standards to admit members of preferred groups” is a bad idea.” Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor Jr., the authors of The Painful Truth About Affirmative Action, find that students who are accepted solely because of race will find themselves falling further behind in class since the professors will teach at a quicker pace than those students are used to.
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This means colleges are selecting students they believe “can thrive on campus from an array of factors including grades, test scores, essays, recommendations, legacy status, athletic ability, musical talent and geographic diversity”
This means colleges are selecting students they believe “can thrive on campus from an array of factors including grades, test scores, essays, recommendations, legacy status, athletic ability, musical talent and geographic diversity”