2. HEAR SOME ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
"Affirmative action allows for fair evaluation of candidates by making up for existing social inequalities."
The Argument: Critics of affirmative action often say that it makes it easier for members of some groups to get into college and harder for others. However, the purpose of affirmative action is to increase the admissions rates of minorities that are under-represented in America's colleges. This under-representation is attributed to various social factors: students from families where few people have pursued higher education are less likely to excel in high school; children who come from communities where English is not regularly spoken face a large disadvantage in reading and writing; and students from school districts with lower funding tend to perform poorly on standardized tests. Affirmative action does not make it easy for students from a disadvantaged background to get into college; it merely makes up for some of the difficulties.
The Response: First of all, college is an academic environment and schools should choose applicants based on their ability to thrive in that environment regardless of their backgrounds. Secondly, lowering admissions standards for certain minority groups perpetuates stereotypes that members of those groups are less intelligent because it implies that nobody from these groups is smart enough to get into college on his or her own merits. This sort of stereotyping perpetuates the inequalities that affirmative action seeks to eliminate.
"A diverse student body creates a better learning environment."
The Argument: A lot of the learning done at colleges comes from sources other than textbooks and professors. Students can learn a lot from one another, but only if the student body contains representatives of a wide range of backgrounds. Colleges go out of their way to make sure that their student bodies contain athletes, political activists, and musicians so that each student brings something different to the community. Affirmative action assures that members of all ethnic groups are present within a college.
The Response: Racial diversity does not necessarily lead to diversity of opinion. Students with different interests and talents make campus life vibrant and ensure that a variety of activities are pursued. Race is a purely external characteristic and has no effect on what a person brings to a community. Colleges should try to accept students who have many different interests and will voice a wide range of opinions, but affirmative action is not the best way to achieve this goal.
"Lowering standards for under-represented groups raises the quality of the student body."
The Argument: While affirmative action lowers admission standards for certain minorities, its purpose is to counterbalance academic disadvantages faced by those groups. Individuals who benefit from affirmative action must achieve academic excellence relative to other people with similar backgrounds. Affirmative action therefore creates a student body that has tremendous academic potential.
The Response: Affirmative action is based on race, not academic background. There are many factors that a college should take into account when making admissions decisions. In particular, colleges should consider difficulties a student has overcome, such as growing up in a community that does not expect its members to pursue higher education. Affirmative action does not help students based on the number of obstacles they have faced, and therefore does not achieve the goal of creating a student body with the greatest academic potential. By focusing on race, as opposed to judging students purely on merits, affirmative action necessarily lowers the academic quality of a student body.
