Reservation Vs Affirmative Action

I recently read in a blog talking about the positives that the affirmative action has brought in black peoples' lives in the USA. And I wrote this comment. I wanted to post it here to ask people here if my understanding is correct.


There is a lot of difference between affirmative action and reservation by quotas. Let me explain by example.

Lets assume there are 100 students writing an entrance exam for a college that has 10 seats. Lets say there are 20 backward students among these 100. Assume top 6 backward students score ranks 3, 5, 6, 17, 28 and 39.

Lets say the policy is to have 30% affirmative action.

In this scheme, the top 10 ranks are scrutinised. They see that they have accommodated 3 backward students who have secured 3,5 and 6th ranks. The top 10 ranks are given the 10 seats. Everyone is happy.

Lets now assume the policy is to have 30% reservation.

In this scheme, the 10 seats is divided into 7 for open category and 3 for reserved category. The top 7 ranks take the 7 open category seats irrespective of whether they are backward or forward class students. Now the remaining 3 seats is filled by the next 3 top ranking backward class students who are actually ranked 17, 28 and 39. The forward class students ranked 8, 9 and 10 are denied admission.