Affirmative Action

- Pros of affirmative action: It encourages and enforces diversity, gives disadvantaged persons a boost into the working world, draws people to areas of study they may not otherwise consider, breaks stereotypes, and compensates minorities for years of oppression and slavery.

- Cons of affirmative action: It leads to reverse discrimination, lowers standards of accountability, produces ill-equipped employees, is condescending to minorities, and demeans true minority achievement that is not a result of affirmative action. If I were hiring for a business, I would not take affirmative action into consideration unless it was required at the corporate level. I would want whoever is most qualified, no matter what their race is. I would simply hire based on resume and interview, and if I feel the person is right for the job, I will hire him or her. I do not feel that hiring someone just to meet a quota of minorities is right or fair to the other employees, who happen to not be minorities, who are very qualified. If forced to hire based on affirmative action, it could be very possible that I would hire under qualified and under experienced persons who come from possibly shady backgrounds. I would want all of my employees to feel that they are equal based on skill level and working abilities. They also will assuredly be treated fairly no matter what their race happens to be, because it will not matter who is doing the job, but how the job gets done.