A634.4.3.RB - Is affirmative Action Ethical

 

Create the foundation for your reflections regarding if affirmative action is ethical. Be sure to include externally sourced content. Present your opinion, support your opinion, and address opposing viewpoints.

            I think LaFollette's (2006) strongest points about affirmative action are spoken when he describes it as a form of reverse discrimination. Basically since so many programs, institutions, and organizations we developed around "white principles," in order to make the system more fair, adaptable, and diverse, we created affirmative action that bared Caucasians from certain jobs because of their dominate race. So did we really fix a problem by violating the very nature of why it was created in the first place? After passing into law, over the years states soon learned hard lessons that by just giving something to someone based on a certain demographic regardless of qualification wasn't going to work out well. I'm sure many folks on both sides of the dilemma screaming at the top of their lungs for and against it, while many unqualified but yet employed folks were trying to navigate a new system that was aided at getting the economy more diverse.

             Maxwell (2019) suggests that "all students, regardless of background, benefit from the value top-tier institutions provide." With regards to college admissions, I am in support of affirmative action because this is probably the best place for growing minds to get "woke." For most college students this is already an eye opener even when dealing with diverse opinions from the same race but geographically dispersed. So if at an early impressionable state of mind, to gather so many different opinions based on race, religion and sex, then this will probably benefit them by having exposure prior to the professional world.

            Sacks (1996) is a firm believer against affirmative action and states that "the basic problem is that a racist past cannot be undone through more racism. Race-conscious programs betray Martin Luther King's dream of a color-blind community, and the heightened racial sensitivity they cause is a source of acrimony and tension instead of healing." So how then do we evolve the fundamental of racism? Or should we at all, maybe we embrace it in order to understand it better? Maybe folks aren't really racist because of an undesirable skin color? Maybe folks just don't like a certain behavior style or accepted rules of ethics portrayed by a certain culture. Can we be racist to a set of behaviors, maybe be called behaviorist? I don't know, nor am I promoting an agenda, but rather toying with other justifications to other ideals and am willing to just say that "I don't know or don't have an answer."

            With all that being said I have a clear cut case of just how bad affirmative action has played out for me in the military. Yup, if you didn't already know that the military has affirmative action practices (I actually didn't know either until recently...) well in-fact it does very much. So as a young pilot my growing years occurred out in the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) in Hawaii. I was the first of my year group to show up fresh out of flight school and 6 others soon followed. All of us were a pretty tight group, highly motivated, fast to move up the ranks, and solid performers. We deployed together, partied together and still to this day engage in group txt that goes off the rails sometimes... Anyways come 3yrs later all of us decided to extend for another 6yrs in Hawaii in the very same company. Now comes in a new year group from all new locations but all similar in rank and pilot years out of flight school. 3 guys and 1 female showed up, all relatively quiet but eager to engage. We all got along except that new female didn't bond well with the other 2 female pilots who were exceptional at their job, though we still all hung out together.

            Now comes the affirmative action piece some 14yrs later. Pilot promotions are pretty regular at the junior level and get extremely competitive at the top. Fast forward, the 2 exceptional female pilots I grew up with had got out of the Army several years ago which is common for females who wish to peruse a family without the stresses of a deployed lifestyle, totally get it! On the other hand the one female pilot who was an extremely poor performer kept staying in and got promoted. I was shocked to see her make W3 since I knew she had horrible performance records year in and year out. However was recently appalled to find out she made W4 for several reasons; one she wasn't even a pilot anymore because she was stripped of her wings for some very egregious unethical actions, not personal but professional! And two she received a general reprimand for attaining further rank. So how then did she get promoted? By a congressional act of affirmative action that required a certain number of demographics regardless of poor performance or any other action. Just as earlier I spoke previously about riding the ultimate high, full of pride with the Army song blaring in the background when I got promoted to W4, again upon hearing about her promotion did the bugle fade away and again I was ashamed not of myself or the heroic things that pilots have earned in the past, but in an institution so structured and grounded in fundamentals behold such a policy that privileges someone because they are in a lacking demographic. Blew my mind!

References

LaFollette, H. (2006). The practice of ethics.

Maxwell, C. (2019). 5 reasons to support affirmative action in college admissions. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2019/10/01/471085/5-reasons-support-affirmative-action-college-admissions/

Sacks, D. (1996). The case against affirmative action. Retrieved from https://stanfordmag.org/contents/the-case-against-affirmative-action

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