Since then, Affirmative Action has become more than just legislative policy to enforce fair hiring practice. Richard Nixon, then in 1969, placed quotas and set goals for hiring. In 1971, the Civil Service Commission made a decision "authorizing numerical goals and timetables in agency EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) efforts." Gradually, the government began to issue rather enforce standards for fair hiring practices. The debate over today's policy of Affirmative Action is in chorus with the outcry of discrimination.

There are two sides to this debate, though, one supporting the government to ensure the hiring of blacks and other minorities and the other side calling for the country to look back to the days of meritocracy, where someone was hired because of their qualifications, regardless of race. The importance of this issue is that either way, Affirmative Action is a part of equal employment opportunity and this may be affecting the way people perceive the current status of employment levels today.