For me, affirmative action amounts to reverse discrimination. But having said that I can see a case for having a diversified workforce, in some cases

You have three children;two of them bright' date=' outgoing, self-motivated, the third, bright but dyslexic, shy, scared of failure. Would you make no [u']extra effort[/u] to help the third child realise its potential?

I place affirmative actions programs at the same ethical level. Societies are families, writ large.

 

I would make an extra effort to help my shy child, i wouldn't expect an company to be forced to employ him or her to meet a quota.

 

I don't agree with the analogy that society is a family writ large. It's a nice idea but not realistic. I have natural loyalities which are not shared by others. To expect strangers to show the same concern for my children as i do and visa versa is to expect unnatural behaviour.

 

Certainly, extra help should be given to the disadvantaged, education to help the dyslexic for instance. But not affirmitive action programmes.

 

Apart from the practical point that they don't work they seem wrong to me on ethical grounds.