Recognizing The Effects of Affirmative Action Policy

Shaina Warfield and Taylor Washington

Proviso Mathematics and Science Academy
Objective
Objective
The
The objective
objective of
of our
our research
research isis to
to discern
discern how
how effective
effective
Affirmative
Affirmative Action
Action has
has been
been in
in creating
creating opportunities
opportunities for
for the
the
advancement
advancement of
of minorities.
minorities. In
In the
the case
case of
of our
our research,
research,
"effective"
"effective" Affirmative
Affirmative Action
Action policy
policy would
would display
display evidence
evidence
of
of an
an organization
organization taking
taking efforts
efforts to
to create
create opportunity
opportunity for
for
historically
historically excluded
excluded demographics.
demographics. Effective
Effective Affirmative
Affirmative
Action
Action policies
policies would
would create
create equal
equal opportunity
opportunity in
in the
the pursuit
pursuit
of
of higher
higher education
education as
as well
well as
as stable
stable occupation.
occupation. Another
Another goal
goal
of
of our
our research
research isis to
to determine
determine the
the public's
public's understanding
understanding of
of
how
how affirmative
affirmative action
action policies
policies work
work and
and relaying
relaying the
the
deficiency
deficiency of
of the
the policy
policy in
in creating
creating equal
equal opportunity
opportunity for
for all.
all.
Methods
Methods
Combining
Combining race
race and
and gender
gender discrimination,
discrimination, our
our team
team drafted
drafted
aa research
research topic
topic that
that would
would allow
allow us
us to
to analyse
analyse the
the current
current
policies
policies that
that perpetuate
perpetuate racial
racial and
and gender
gender discrimination.
discrimination. We
We
educated
educated ourselves
ourselves on
on current
current Affirmative
Affirmative Action
Action policies
policies
that
that were
were put
put into
into place
place in
in 1965.
1965. We
We consulted
consulted articles
articles
explaining
explaining the
the holes
holes in
in these
these policies
policies .. We
We then
then surveyed
surveyed
PMSAs
PMSAs student
student body,
body, with
with aa majority
majority of
of students
students being
being aa
racial
racial minority
minority and
and over
over half
half the
the students
students being
being female.
female. Our
Our
respondents
respondents are
are the
the demographic
demographic that
that would
would most
most benefit
benefit
from
from Affirmative
Affirmative Action
Action policies.
policies. Our
Our survey
survey was
was crafted
crafted to
to
determine
determine whether
whether students
students found
found Affirmative
Affirmative Action
Action
policies
policies to
to be
be necessary
necessary

Results
Results

The majority of the respondents do not believe that minorities have equal
opportunity in employment. A large number of respondents do not believe
women have equal opportunity in employment. Black people have the
highest unemployment rate. 1/3 of respondents were not aware of what
affirmative action policies do.

Discussion
Discussion
The
The results
results of
of our
our survey
survey show
show that
that students
students believe
believe women
women have
have
few
few academic
academic and
and employment
employment opportunities
opportunities even
even though
though women
women have
have
the
the lowest
lowest unemployment
unemployment rate,
rate, lower
lower than
than the
the over
over all
all unemployment
unemployment
rate.
rate. This
This could
could be
be due
due to
to female
female respondents
respondents being
being the
the majority
majority or
or
that
that female
female respondents
respondents ,, who
who were
were mostly
mostly minorities,
minorities, experience
experience
academics
academics and
and unemployment
unemployment differently
differently than
than women
women over
over all.
all. The
The
majority
majority of
of respondents
respondents found
found racial
racial discrimination
discrimination to
to be
be aa problem
problem
in
in both
both academics
academics and
and employment
employment and
and believed
believed that
that factors
factors other
other
than
than GPA
GPA should
should be
be considered
considered in
in the
the college
college admissions
admissions process
process but
but
2/3
2/3 of
of respondents
respondents were
were unsure
unsure of
of how
how Affirmative
Affirmative Action
Action could
could
benefit
benefit them
them or
or disagreed
disagreed with
with the
the policy.
policy.

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