Affirmative action

Quotes: "affirmative action plan is precisely tailored to redress the losses in prospects of success [by blacks and women] attributable to racism and sexism, it only deprives innocent white males of the corresponding undeserved increases in their prospects of success." If our political progress was to be real, the underdogs of our society must be helped to become men (Rabindranath Tagore, Letters from Russia) Malaysia: Ordinary people revolted against the 37-year old policy of affirmative action. An Indian worker on a plantation said the following about affirmative action: Just like the axe marks on the trees, the Malaysian government inflicted countless wounds on the Indian minority by denying them jobs, restrain them from education, removing freedom of religious expression and most importantly by stripping them of their dignity. YES United States 1. Affirmative action had its origin with president John F Kennedy's Executive Order 10925, which mandated "affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." 2. Various changes to US law such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Revised Philadelphia plan have given minorities and women some additional support as compared to other races. 3. In addition, several Supreme Court cases (Griggs v. Duke Power Comp., Regents of the University of California v. Bakke) reaffirmed affirmative action and ruled against institutions which did not give preference when they were supposed to. 4. Experiments by Scott Page of the University of Michigan found that a diverse group was better at solving complex problems than experts. The reason is that people with similar qualifications or professional training often think alike. Adding people with different skills, backgrounds and life experiences tended to improve the group's performance. 5. In 2009, Princeton sociologist Thomas Espenshade and researcher Alexandria Walton Radford, in their book 'No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal', examined data on students applying to college in 1997 and calculated that Asian-Americans needed nearly perfect SAT scores of 1550 to have the same chance of being accepted at a top private university as whites who scored 1410 and African-Americans who got 1100. Whites were three times, Hispanics six times, and blacks more than 15 times as likely to be accepted at a US university as Asian-Americans. These results were after controlling for grades, scores, family background (legacy status) and athletic status (whether or not the student was a recruited athlete. 6. In December 2011, the Obama administration urged colleges and universities to get creative in improving racial diversity at their campuses, throwing out a Bush-era interpretation of rulings that limited affirmative action in admissions. The administration issued a parallel 14-page outline on Friday for the nations 17,000 public school districts, explaining what government lawyers consider to be acceptable ways that educators can seek to reduce racial segregation, which has been increasing nationwide

India 1. The affirmative action in India has started perhaps by Vice-Roy Curzon in 1905 by banning the employment of Hindu Bengalis in the government services; the official argument was that they were too advanced and taking away job opportunity from others particularly the Muslims. Later it was extended in the military services by giving preferential treatments for Muslims and Sikhs branding them as martial races. 2. Reservations in government jobs were introduced in 1918 in Mysore in favor of a number of castes and communities that had little share in the administration. In 1909 and in 1919 similar reservation system was introduced for the Muslims in British India. In 1935, for pure political reason the British government has provided job reservation for the backward castes. Soviet 1. Immediately after the revolution, Lenin proclaimed the affirmative action known as korenizatsiia to provide affirmative preferences for non-Russians backward ethnic groups and poorer Russians. To gain the support of the non-Russian, who were mainly illiterate except in Georgia and Armenia, for the new state, a Sovietization in three phases was developed. 2. This policy led to the creation of massive educational facilities in the Republics of the backward people, employment for the representatives of the ethnic intelligentsia, foundation of republican Academies of science and research centers supporting ethnic unions of writers, painters and film-makers. The policy was applied uniformly to create elites, which, like their culture, would be national in form, but with the same content in all units of the Union. 3. Due to this social engineering, within two decades the Soviet Union had eradicated illiteracy and had the best educated population among all nations of the world. In 1917 Azerbaijan had a predominately Muslim population that was 98-percent illiterate. Its people suffered great poverty and hunger. Little developed industry existed outside the capital city of Baku. 4. As a result of this deliberate affirmative action programs, in 1939, 97 percent of the population became literate. Women had been accorded full legal and civil rights. Literacy Rate in 1926 in Ukraine was 41.3, and in Russia 45.0, Kazakhs 7.1, and Kalmyks 10.9. Within a few years, by 1940, they were all educated. (The fundamental reason was not reservation system for the backward people, but completely free education and massive extension of education throughout the length and breath of the country) CAN USE FOR BOTH SIDES

France 1. Institute of Political Studies of Paris, a prestigious French university also known as Sciences Po, released a new study of its 10-year-old affirmative action program that suggests that a highly selective institution can substantially expand socioeconomic diversity and still graduate large numbers of students who go on to top careers. 2. French approach provides a leg up in admissions to low-income and working-class students of all races. Under the program, Sciences Po recruited top students from 85 disadvantaged high schools who would not otherwise have qualified and provided them admission and generous financial aid. Students in the program, known as the Priority Education Conventions, now make up about 10 percent of the student body.

3. Coupled with economically disadvantaged students who are admitted through traditional routes, the program raised the proportion of students from working class or underprivileged backgrounds to 28.5 percent of the student body. This proportion is substantially higher than at many selective American institutions, where, at the top 146 institutions, only 10 percent of students on average come from the bottom two socioeconomic quartiles. 4. The research, conducted by sociologist Vincent Tiberj, found that students admitted through the socioeconomic affirmative action program keep up or quickly catch up with their peers, and the dropout rate was marginal. Moreover, the study found, employers treated them either like their peers, or perhaps better.

NO United States 1. Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the only current black Justice, opposes affirmative action. He believes the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbids consideration of race, such as race-based affirmative action or preferential treatment. He also believes it creates "a cult of victimization" and implies blacks require "special treatment in order to succeed". 2. Opponents have interpreted things differently, pointing out that the text of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 advocates a "race-blind" approach in which "[n]o personshall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." 3. California, Proposition 209, 1996: This proposition mandates that "the state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting."[4]Prop 209 was controversial because it was promoted as civil rights legislation, although it was essentially a ban on affirmative action.[19]Proponents argue that the measure ensures that the civil rights of Caucasians, South Indians, and South East-Asians are protected by ensuring parity between races. 4. Washington, Initiative 200, 1998. In Washington was overwhelmingly passed by the electorate. Taking effect on December 3, 1998, it applies to all local governments, including counties, cities, and towns. I-200 prohibits "preferential treatment" based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, education, and contracting. 5. Michigan, Proposal 2, 2006 voters in the State of Michigan made affirmative action illegal by passing Proposal 2 (Michigan Civil Rights Initiative), a state-wide referendum amending the Michigan Constitution. Proposal 2 bans public affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment to groups or individuals based on their race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin for public employment, public education or public contracting purposes. The amendment, however, contains an exception for actions that are mandated by federal law or that are necessary in order for an institution to receive federal funding. All attempts to appeal this legislation on supposed grounds of unconstitutionality have thus far failed. PLUS NEBRASKA AND ARIZONA. 6. UCLA professor Richard H. Sander published an article in the November 2004 issue of the Stanford Law Review that questioned the effectiveness of affirmative action

in law schools and noted that prior to his article, there had been no comprehensive study on the effects of affirmative action.The article presents a study that, among other things, shows that half of all black law students rank near the bottom of their class after the first year of law school, and that black law students are more likely to drop out of law school and to fail the bar exam. 7. The article offers a tentative estimate that the production of new black lawyers in the United States would grow by eight percent if affirmative action programs at all law schools were ended, as less qualified black students would instead attend less prestigious schools where they would be more closely matched with their classmates, and thus perform better. Sander helped to develop a socioeconomically-based affirmative action plan for the UCLA School of Law after the passage of Proposition 209 in 1996 which prohibited the use of racial preferences by public universities California schools. This change occurred after studies that showed that the graduation rate of blacks at UCLA was 41%, compared to 73% for whites. 8. The United Nations Human Development Report recommended that affirmative action in the USA should move from race to the socio-economic position of the disadvantaged. In India the affirmative action programme was adjusted to take the socio-economic position of workers into account. South Africa 1. The biggest problem regarding the skills crisis lies in the South African education system. Currently, matric results are a big disappointment. In 2007 only 4.50% students (overall) passed mathematics on HG, and 4.98% passed Science on HG. This little pool of students is too small for South Africas need. When one takes into account that only about 300 black matric students pass mathematics HG with a Csymbol or higher, it is clear that affirmative action cannot progress in certain job categories. In fact, even if all white skills are used it will still not be enough. Thousands of black skills should be pipelines, not only for the purposes of affirmative action, but also for economic growth. 2. India: The 2006 report, known as the Sachar Committee report, found that Muslims who should have qualified for affirmative action were not getting it, even though they were living in greater poverty than some groups that were getting the benefit. Our Constitution says we should not provide reservation on the grounds of religion, said Mufti Julfiquar Ali, a Muslim leader in Uttar Pradesh. But basically, reservation was given on the grounds of religion. A Muslim washerman got no reservation, but a Hindu washerman got one. Hindu carpenters will get reservation, but the Muslim carpenter will not. 3. In Indian situation, because of the reservation system based on caste, the state could not lift up those who are backward or poor, as they may not belong to the castes or tribes qualified to receive such aid from the state. That is the main reason for the demands for reservation for Muslims and Christians. Also, the reservation system has turned castes against each other, as they have to compete for the small social and economic benefit in a very poor country. The failure of the existing system of reservation based on caste and tribe is very obvious. The characteristics of this failed system are many. 4. Reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC) in schools and government posts remain largely unfilled, whereas reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) are generally filled to capacity. A 1997 study indicates that nationally preferential policies only benefit 6 percent of Dalit families. Moreover, the same study reported that "none

of India's elite universities and engineering institutes had filled its quota for members of scheduled castes." 5. People from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes continue to be absent from white collar positions. For the country as a whole, members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes -- combined -- did not receive as much as 3 percent of the degrees in engineering or medicine, though together they add up to nearly one-fourth of the population of India, according to a study by Sowell(2004).

Japan Education was restricted to the children of the Samurai warrior class in Japan until 1860, the feudal lords kept general population ignorant. The democratic system and the restoration of Meiji emperor in 1868, has changed the Japanese education system completely. Free and compulsory education system was introduced not only in Japan but in the areas colonized by Japan in Manchuria, Korea and Taiwan as well