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Affirmative action is a US government program designed to promote equal access to education and vocational programs to underprivileged minority groups. It is a practice aimed at eliminating discrimination. It ensures opportunities are offered equally regardless of race, gender, and religion.

The program goal was to allow people access opportunities that were difficult to access like employment or attending college.

Pros:

1. Promotes diversity: Affirmative action ensures there is diversity in the workplace environment. This promotes a culture of hard work, high performance, and innovation which will otherwise be unavailable.

2. Stops stereotypes: The higher percentage of people choose to surround themselves with like-minded individuals and co-workers. Due to the implementation of affirmative action to promote diversity, more individuals are able to interact with each other regardless of their minority status.

3. Reverse societal losses: Over the past, the minority groups had no opportunity to build wealth and most of them face historical treatment like slavery and oppression. Affirmative action program has enabled them to reverse all the societal losses they have experienced in the past.

4. Eliminate socioeconomic differences: eliminating discrimination can help balance the overall income household received in the US. The household income for all US residents is able to grow equally thus eliminating socioeconomic differences.

5. Reduces bias: Affirmative action has enabled hiring managers to make justified decisions in the recruitment process. They have to set aside their bias of certain ethnic groups and give equal opportunity to all candidates looking for a recruitment position.

6. Leads to the growth of companies: Diversity within the workplace leads to improved revenues in the company. Bilingual workers will not only bring their innovative skills but also promote the growth of the company.

7. Attracts a pool of talents: Affirmative action enables companies to attract unique talents into the workplace. This brings a lot of creativity and innovations leading to the success of the company.

8. Creates new business opportunity: Companies which implement affirmative action policy in the US are able to receive government contracts and other lucrative opportunities that enable the company to expand.

9. Chase dreams: Affirmative action enables individuals to pursue a career they wouldn’t have considered without the implementation of the program. There are still some gaps in some fields even today like we have few women in technology and aeronautic field.

10. Eliminate societal gaps: When all people are treated equally within an environment, then it leads to the elimination of some gaps in society. There will be a reduced wage gap, gender, and minority gaps in certain industries.

Cons:

1. Creates reverse discrimination: The goal of affirmative action is to eliminate discrimination in society but this opens a new form of discrimination. Giving minority groups preferences over another group instead of relying on their qualification is a wrong move. This promotes discrimination in reverse.

2. Generates unfavorable results: Workers and students given the opportunity via this policy are always not ready for the task. This affects not only the businesses and schools but also that minority group. They have low self-esteem.

3. Affects productivity in society: Choosing people based on their protected class rather than their qualification can affect the productivity of those individuals.

4. Reduces accountability standards: Picking individuals based on minority class rather than qualification can lower the accountability standards needed to push the employees and the minority students to perform better.

5. Reinforce stereotypes and racism: Giving people opportunities due to their minority class rather than qualification reinforces stereotypes. It makes people believe that some certain class of people always need help and protection.

6. Destroy the idea of meritocracy: Affirmative action uses race as a dominant factor in the education and the employment process, where it is believed certain groups should always be given opportunity regardless of color and race.

7. Diversity may not be achieved: Having different people in schools and the workplace is not guaranteed diversity will be achieved. People from different ethnicities may not have the same opinion or culture.

8. Demeans minority achievement: Getting success based on affirmative action rather than hard work demeans your achievements.

9. It is insulting to minorities: Getting success through affirmative action policy can be condescending or insulting to the minority since they can’t succeed on their own without getting help.

10. Personal bias will always exist: Although affirmative action policy may be put in practice, there will always be personal bias in place.