A Study On Affirmative Action In American Higher Education Between "Retention And Abolition" ——Based On The Perspective Of Stakeholder Theory

As a preferential education policy in the field of higher education,affirmative action,which began in the 1960 s,means that the American government has taken a firm step towards the goal of achieving educational equity by narrowing the gap between ethnic groups.However,over the past few decades,a series of doubts have been raised around this policy,causing it to vacillate between the key choices of retention and abolition.Studying this educational policy is nothing less than a research consciousness to actively explore the new trend of American higher education policy,and it can also accumulate valuable experience for our country on road to education fairness.Therefore,under the guidance of stakeholder theory,this study,starting from the debate over retention and abolition,carries out a theoretical analysis of this policy,which has lasted for more than half a century,so as to find out why this policy presents a pendulum development picture.Based on the theoretical level and research,this study draws the following conclusions: First,there are two opposing forces controlling the prospect of affirmative action from the beginning to the end,and it involves the confrontation between the two opposing sides for decades,which leads to the overall picture of the policy.The underlying causes of affirmative action are the inability to get rid of the influence of multiple tasks due to its weak foundation,the difficult choice between egalitarianism and elitism,and the conflict of interests between white supremacy and pluralism.Second,the trend of affirmative action is closely related to the interests of multiple subjects.The stakeholders of affirmative action refer to the specific groups that have the legal right to participate in the formulation and decision-making of the policy and decree,and can obtain certain benefits from it or their vested interests are subject to its tail,thus presenting an interactive influence relationship with them.These are the U.S.government,the Supreme Court,higher education institutions,opposition groups（such as white groups,Asian groups）,and beneficiaries（such as African Americans,Hispanic Americans）.These five interest groups not only have significant differences in their attitudes and core demands towards the policy,but also have internal relations with each other to a certain extent.Third,behind the prospect of affirmative action highlights the dynamic intertwined game relationship of multiple stakeholders,and on this basis,the game filed centering on the principle of maximum interest is jointly shaped,and the hidden interest game dilemma gradually emerges.The study found that the failure of major stakeholders to reach an effective consensus on the way of resource allocation,the selfish behavior of rational economic people,and the contradiction between realistic demands and limited resources are the key factors that cause the affirmative action of American higher education to fall into the difficult game dilemma.In addition,with the help of the “interest-power” analysis method,it is found that there is a closely related interaction model between the prospect of policy and multiple stakeholders.Fourth,according to the current research trend,affirmative action will bypass the two key choices,and move towards the third path of transformation,that is,the implementation concept of racial-based to class preference.At the same time,the study of this educational policy between retention and abolition draws the following enlightenment: to find the balance of interests of multiple stakeholders,identifying the scope of group compensation for preferential education policies;abandon one-size-fits-all compensation and provide a complete implementation mechanism;listen to diversified appeals and create a communication and sharing platform;expand the supply benefits and improve the quality of various colleges and universities.