Is there such a thing as equality in education? Affirmative action is a federal agenda initiated in 1961 by President Kennedy to counteract discrimination and disadvantages faced by ethnic minorities, women, and other underrepresented groups. One of the most influential parts of this policy is its stance on college admissions. Essentially, affirmative action promotes taking into account race, income, gender, and geographical origin in determining the acceptance of a student into a university. Critics of this policy argue that it is reversely discriminatory towards advantaged students and it causes students to be placed in colleges not equal to their academic abilities. However, affirmative action is an effective and productive agenda because it promotes equality and diversity and it gives all students an opportunity that appropriately fits their backgrounds.
Certainly, affirmative action has some drawbacks that hinder it from being wholly effective. One such argument critics make is that it can cause some students with preferable economic or ethnic backgrounds to be denied acceptance to colleges that they would have been accepted into otherwise. These students often grow resentful of the seemingly “discriminatory and unfair” system of affirmative action because it supposedly prevents them from becoming successful.(Is affirmative…) This resentment is evident in the Supreme Court trials of Grutter vs. Bollinger, Gratz vs. Bollinger, and Fisher vs. University of Texas. These cases had varying levels of success but it is clear that there is great support for the abolishment of affirmative action by those not benefitted by it. Critics of affirmative action also suggest that it places students into colleges whose course works are too challenging for them. Studies by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights show that “black students admitted to universities above their skill