3. HEAR SOME ARGUMENTS AGAINST AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
"It is unfair to judge applicants on anything other than their merits."
The Argument: There are several factors that a college should take into account when considering applicants, such as grades, test scores, and extra-curricular achievements. However, an applicant's race is not a legitimate factor to take into consideration because it is outside of the student's control. It is impossible for a college to consider every aspect of a student's background when making admissions decisions. Why focus on race in particular, as opposed to the thousands of other aspects that differentiate students from one another?
The Response: The purpose of the college admissions process is not to reward merit but to get the best overall student body. Insofar as affirmative action increases the diversity of the student community, it makes for a better learning environment.
"Affirmative action does not lead to true diversity."
The Argument: Diversity of opinion is important in an academic community, but racial diversity is not. Affirmative action provides an advantage to some people because of the color of their skin, an attribute not relevant to the academic mission of a college. There are many factors which constitute a student's perspective, but affirmative action gives preferential treatment based exclusively on race, a purely external characteristic.
The Response: Race and ethnicity are incredibly important in American society and it would be foolish to think that a community made up entirely of individuals of one race could provide the same range of perspectives as a racially diverse student body. A person's race does affect his or her outlook on issues, so racial diversity is necessary if the full range of ideas are to be expressed on a college campus.
"Affirmative action does not help really disadvantaged groups."
The Argument: In many cases, affirmative action does not achieve its goal of helping disadvantaged minority groups. Instead, it perpetuates socioeconomic inequalities by making it easy for members of racial minorities from privileged backgrounds to get into prestigious colleges while not helping members of the lower classes.
The Response: This is only true part of the time. While minority students in top colleges are disproportionately from middle and upper-middle class backgrounds, this is true for white college students as well. Affirmative action does not cure all of America's social ills, but it can help eliminate the gaps between the average incomes and education levels of different races. Furthermore, this is not an objection to affirmative action itself, but to the manner in which it is being employed. This objection could easily be addressed by making affirmative action more sensitive to economic background as well as race.
