Get Rid of Affirmative Action

I saw you comment about trying to swing this an different way. I"m assuming by your post above your trying to say that Affirmative Action does not have preference but rather discourages it. This is an honorable notion but as we all know things that governments want to do don"t always work and can also have the opposite effect of their intended actions. Affirmative Action are one of those programs that do just this. affirmative action noun : the practice of improving the educational and job opportunities of members of groups that have not been treated fairly in the past because of their race, sex, etc. (. http://www.merriam-webster.com...) You say that race and gender don't play a role in getting jobs or gaining admission to a school, well if that's so why do they include race and gender sections on applications? If race and gender truly did not matter it wouldn't be included on the application. Here is the government itself making race play a role in jobs as well as scholarships, "The Obama Administration will make history by hiring the government"s first "Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity" to mastermind a multi-million-dollar effort that boosts the number of minorities in biomedical research and slashes discrimination in the federal grant process. The $500 million initiative to racially diversify medical research was launched last year after a government-sanctioned study uncovered a "disturbing and disheartening" lack of racial diversity in the field""""To right the wrong the NIH created a $500 million plan to support minority students with scholarships, research experiences and even graduate loan repayment. The agency is also creating a new committee that makes "diversity a core consideration of NIH governance" and ensures fairness in the peer review system that erases "unconscious bias related to disparities in research awards. " The plan also implements "implicit bias and diversity awareness training. ". (. http://www.judicialwatch.org...) Then we have the Dodd-Frank bill which was passed to stop a financial crises but it also did this "Key agencies such as the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Housing Finance Agency, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as the 12 Federal Reserve regional banks will get their own Office of Minority and Women Inclusion. So will the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the National Credit Union Administration. Each office will be equipped with a director and staff to develop policies that promote equal employment opportunities and racial, ethnic and gender diversity of the individual agency as well as companies that do business with it. The goal is to assure "to the maximum extent possible the fair inclusion" of women and minorities, individually and through business they own, in the activities of the agencies, including contracting. " I don't know but to me this seems like the federal government is definitely stressing race and gender. Here is just a another instance of city obviously doing what's right. "You can't make this stuff up. It's a real-life story out of Phoenix, the capitol of Arizona and the nation's sixth-largest city. It has more than 1.4 million residents and, among its official motto's is "value and respect" of diversity. This means "more than gender and race," according to the city"s official website. It also encompasses "uniqueness and individuality" and embracing differences. "We put this belief into action to provide effective services to our diverse community. " Evidently officials are willing to compromise those "effective services" at 29 public swimming pools spread throughout the city. To diversify the lifeguard force, Phoenix will spend thousands of dollars to recruit minorities even if they"re not strong swimmers, according to an official quoted in a news report. Blacks, Latinos and Asians who may not necessarily qualify can still get hired, says the city official who adds that "we will work with you in your swimming abilities. " (. http://www.judicialwatch.org...) Then of course we have the University of Michigan court case where the school gave an extra 20 points on its admission scoring process to students if they were just minorities. Race and gender play a huge role in Affirmative Action and quite frankly if things would like to be made fair for all it should just be gotten rid of.