Middle Ground

Author: Fahim Ahmed

Since its inception in 1965, affirmative action has been a hotly debated issue in academic, political and legal circles. Hailed by some as a method of redressing discrimination that had persisted despite civil rights laws and constitutional mandates, affirmative action has nevertheless been challenged by others as discrimination in reverse form.
While a consensus on the aforementioned issue is lacking in our society, arguably, a majority holds the view that affirmative action has failed to achieve its desired goal.
The failure of affirmative action in achieving racial equity in society is not surprising, if one considers that perhaps it was not designed to be a permanent solution to a long-standing problem. Affirmative action, in college recruiting and corporate hiring practices, provides a temporal response to the existing ethno-socio-economic conditions by treating the symptoms rather than the illness.
One may, therefore, posit that affirmative action was perhaps never intended to be a fixture in our social construct, but rather an intermediate step in the direction of social equality. And to reach that desired goal would require policies that make opportunities available to all Americans, every step of the way. And that process must begin well before the collegiate entrance or job hiring levels.
In the context of collegiate admission, affirmative action treats the symptoms, i.e. discrepancies in the academic credentials of applicants across racial or ethnic lines, rather than the root: differences in the quality of education at the secondary and elementary levels across socio-economic and racial groups.
The vast disparity in academic standards among public schools in inner-city neighborhoods and those in posh suburban neighborhoods provides a testimony to the argument that the causes of discrepancies in academic credentials of college applicants are indeed deep rooted.
Therefore, to supplement and eventually phase out affirmative action in college recruiting, the government needs to play a strong role in raising the bottom in educational standards. And that is best done by increasing federal funding for elementary and secondary schools.
The current level of federal funding for public schools stands at an alarmingly low level of 14 percent (Senator Jeffords (I-Vt.) 'Quotes of the Week', The Middlebury Campus, Feb. 26, 2003). In the absence of sufficient federal funding, local and state authorities must make up the balance from its cash-strapped budgets. Large metropolises, that generally account for a high density of minority population, tend to find their municipal budgets constrained by competing needs: residential projects, police service, building and maintenance, and of course, education. Thus, the desired level of educational excellence remains unachieved.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon the critics of affirmative action in college recruiting practices, including the Bush administration, to come up with suitable alternatives to the status quo, before the system is taken down entirely.
Meanwhile, the racially insensitive rhetoric under the banner of 'conservatism' must end once and for all. And may Hillman be reminded of the philosophy of 'compassionate conservatism' that had not so long ago elevated George W. Bush into office.