School choice more effective than affirmative action If America is to become an equitable society, then the direction of affirmative action must be changed. Instead of continuing to focus the weight of our efforts on helping individuals at the top succeed, we must implement policies designed to provide opportunities for those individuals at or near the bottom. Specifically, affirmative action must return to its original purpose: helping minorities enter the middle class through programs based on equal educational opportunity and job creation. Affirmative action is still necessary, but its efforts need to be redirected. The truth is that minorities ready to break through the glass ceiling will do so, based on sheer ability, but minorities at the bottom rungs of society need help breaking through the cellar ceiling. These are the individuals for whom Affirmative Action can do the most good, consequently, these are the people on whom we should focus our efforts. When Affirmative Action was first established, a majority of Americans supported its goal of displacing the poorest members of minority groups. to a better position in society. As time passed, however, supporters of affirmative action lost sight of this goal. Affirmative action programs have ceased to function as a rising tide designed to lift all boats and have instead become concerned with helping those at the top. Too little attention has been paid to helping those at the bottom, as a result the lives of minorities living in poverty have become increasingly bleak. Today, our urban centers look more like a war zone in Bosnia than an American suburb, and conditions continue to worsen. This is wrong, a... middle of paper... Lem's economy would end up resembling Hong Kong's. True “opportunity zones” would attract the capital needed for job creation, and increased employment will be the engine that transforms our urban centers from war zones to hospitable places to live. Today, the need for affirmative action remains strong, but current programs must be replaced with programs that help poorer minorities. Affirmative action programs must return to their original purpose. Instead of supporting programs that benefit individuals already poised to succeed, affirmative action advocates must fight for those individuals who suffer the most. We, as Americans, have a responsibility to help our nation's poorest minorities. School choice policies and “opportunity zones” will help us meet this responsibility by increasing educational and employment opportunities.