Does Texas Need Affirmative Action?

Affirmative Action and its Purpose

Affirmative action plans are intended to provide equal opportunity for success to all groups in a community (Hill 31). President John F. Kennedy coined the word “affirmative action,” which President Lyndon B. Johnson later popularized. Despite the fact that different countries use different languages to describe the initiative, the fundamental principles remain the same. Affirmative action is predicated on the assumption that appropriate steps are taken and enforced to ensure that minority communities are well served and working in the industry, unions, and public agencies (Hill 32). Public health policies, educational institutions, admission to educational institutions as well as other sectors of employment have been influenced by an obligation to affirmative action. However, race-based admissions in colleges were legally prohibited in the United States in the 90’s (Hill 35). One of the most critical aspects to assess is whether the students from minority groups need affirmative action. Does legal probation on affirmative action adversely affect minority schoolchildren? In Texas, the Affirmative action involves the measures taken by the universities and the taxpayers to elevate the scales of conventionally underprivileged minority groups in those universities (Zisk 835). Usually, affirmative action countrywide has spread into various forms including gender and racial preferences, superfluous outreach efforts, and strict quotas. Texas is still faced with an enduring challenge to its education system concerning the reconciliation pursuit of diversity with the constitutional vow of equal dignity and treatment.

The Educational Gap in Texas and the Role of Affirmative Action

A number of issues in Texas are as pervasive as the educational gap among the non-minority and the minority groups (Zisk 837). The gap has to some extent lessened over the years due to the important market rewards liked to the acquisition of a university degree. What this means is that lessening the gap between the two groups of great concern to policymakers. If that is the case, therefore, that college degree is of the essence, then affirmative action is the best technique to narrow this persistent gap. In 2016, the court ruled four to three that the University of Texas at Austin might hold race-based college admissions (Zisk 838). The ruling was drawn from a case presented by Abigail N. Fisher, a white woman who pressed charges following being denied admission to the flagship college. She alleged that the policies of the institution were discriminatory due to her race citing that such policies adversely affect the intended recipients. As concerns build up concerning the dynamic lawful standing of affirmative action plans in university entry, it is critical to evaluate the effect of substitute college admission policies, particularly on the minority students. Some states which prohibited the race-based college admissions have currently executed rank-based strategies in the name of “top-x% plans. Texas legislated such policies and implemented its Top 10% strategy (Hill 35). Based on this rank-based policy, Texas students featuring in the top 10% of their graduating senior class have a definite pass to any four-year public college admission of their choice.

The Impact of Affirmative Action Removal in Texas

Texas offers a setting whereby an evaluation of the alternative education policies in higher education can be conducted. The students who were affected most were the minority pupils graded in the lower and the second deciles while the first decile pupils in Texas high schools were qualified to proceed to better universities. The shift from affirmative action policies negatively affected the second and lower decile students meaning that the removal of the affirmative action only aided in widening the persistent racial divide in university education accomplishment in Texas.

Works Cited

Hill, Andrew J. ”State Affirmative Action Bans and STEM Degree Completions.” Economics of Education Review, vol. 57, 01 Apr. 2017, pp. 31-40. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2017.01.003.

Zisk, Nancy L. ”Embracing Race-Conscious College Admissions Programs: How Fisher V. University of Texas at Austin Redefines Affirmative Action as a Holistic Approach to Admissions That Ensures Equal, Not Preferential, Treatment Null [Article].” Marquette Law Review, no. 3, 2016, p. 835-856. EBSCOhost