Equal Opportunity Vs Equal Outcomes Essay, Research Paper

Equal Opportunity VS Equal Outcome

Description:

In society today equality is not a reality. Government has little control over this problem; people who want to be discriminatory in one way or the other will be discriminatory. Two issues that are very hard to distinguish between involving equality are equal opportunity and equal outcome.

When one can say that people have had the chance to use and develop their natural abilities, they can conclude that equal opportunity is effective. Equal opportunity is quite simply a chance to achieve something, not a condition. In order for people to be able to take advantage of opportunities, they need the resources necessary to develop their natural abilities. Equal opportunity is based on merit and skills.

The policy of equal outcome or equal results, on the other hand, is an advantage given to the minorities. The equal outcome policy would see that everyone ended up at the same place at the same time. If a company requires the employer to hire employees based on a direct percentage of the population, then equal outcome is in effect. Although this policy makes everything equal, it may not give the person that is more qualified for the job an opportunity to take it. The purpose of this policy is to provide the minorities a better chance of surviving equally in the real world.

The issue of equal opportunity gives everyone the chance to do or be what he or she has worked so hard for. Frankly, it makes everything fair. Citizens arguing against the policy of equal opportunity argue the fact that going to college does not demonstrate equal opportunity, since so many children grow up in an underprivileged environment. For example, many children grow up without having parents who really care about them. Therefore the underprivileged child has to take care of and become what he or she wants to be all on their own. An argument for the equal opportunity issue is that everyone in American society has the chance to go to college, but it is strictly up to them to take advantage of the opportunity. Citizens arguing in favor of the policy think that if everyone has an equal opportunity to go to college, then its only fair for college graduates to enjoy the rewards of a college degree. While that might be true to an extent, many citizens still object this view.

Individuals for equal outcome would argue that it supports the issue of letting a disadvantaged person have an additional chance at success. Many people believe that everyone no matter what the situation or background may be should end up at the same place in the end. While adopting the policy of equal outcome may offer more diversity among groups of people, it may also allow the less qualified applicant be accepted rather than the qualified. For this reason many Americans object this polity. To put it simply, what is an advantage for some will be a disadvantage for others.

Analysis:

The issue of equal opportunity has many positive and negative views. If the U.S. adopted the policy, everyone would have an opportunity to achieve his or her personal goals. Equal opportunity requires someone to work in order to be rewarded. Along with the work comes competition. Everyone is competing for the best position possible. The effects of this could only help our country strive towards improvement. As stated many years ago, in order to be a champion, one must be willing to go the extra mile. Football for example could be seen as an equal opportunity. Every young man that goes out for the team has just as much of a chance as another to be the starting quarterback. The one lucky individual that ends up in the position will be the one that is most competent and has the best skills. Likewise, the time and effort one puts into achieving their goals, the better rewarded he or she will be.

Many employment agencies have already adopted the equal opportunity policy, and it has been a great success. In order for an institution to put equal opportunity in effect, an employer would have to base decisions in hiring employees strictly on merit and skills. The policy would have to give the most qualified person the job. For instance, if an African American applicant came in and was much more qualified for the position than the Caucasian applicant, the employer would have to hire the African American. Some may argue the fact that with the policy of equal opportunity the ethnic ratio and the gender ratio will not be equal in the workforce. Though this might be true, American citizens need to stop and think about what is better for our country. Do we want more quality, or more diversity?

If the United States decided to adopt equal outcomes as a national policy, one would notice the effects immediately. The individuals in the workforce and in colleges and universities would be noticed first. For example, if a person lived in a society where the male to female ratio was 2/3, then employers would have to hire their staff based on a 2/3 male to female ratio. The same could apply to race or origin. The ratio of whites to blacks being hired would also have to equal the ratio of the population. This policy would ensure that everyone was equal. It wouldn t matter where you started, everyone still would be able to achieve the same goals, no matter what an individuals qualifications were.

Affirmative action for example, would be very similar to equal outcome. Affirmative actions sets quotas and is designed to give compensatory treatment to members of previously disadvantaged groups. For Example, getting into Medical School could be an issue of equal outcome. If the school had a black admissions committee and a white admissions committee, then one might be denied his acceptance because of quotas. Although the grades and standardized test scores might be higher, an individual could be rejected because there has to be an equal number of blacks and whites accepted to the school. A positive view to this situation would be that there are no discriminatory effects on accepting students. As a society we need to think about what would be best for the citizens of our country as a whole.

On the negative side of equal outcome, an individual would not have to work as hard or be as skilled to get the same opportunities as those that have been highly trained. For instance, with the policy of equal outcome an individual that went to college and go a degree is guaranteed the same chance of getting a job as an individual that didn t. In other words, we would basically be giving up highly skilled individuals for untrained unskilled individuals. For this reason, equal opportunity may cause the hard workers of our country to get taken advantage of by those who really don t care and want everything handed to them.

Evaluation:

As plainly seen in the above analysis, equal opportunity should be the only logical choice for our country. I personally agree with the equal opportunity policy and the fact that whatever reward one gets is directly related to the effort they put into it. The United States takes great pride in capitalism and with equal outcome, that philosophy is denied. By choosing equal opportunity as a national policy the United States could once again have the desire for capitalism. Equal outcome could possibly lead our country to communism. Regardless of the arguments for or against the issue, I believe everyone should be entitled to whatever rewards they receive from taking advantage of the opportunities offered to them.