Affirmative Action

1. 4 Critics

1.1. 1 Unfair

1.1.1. Violates rights of the other applicants

1.1.2. Why should we compensate for past wrongs that our grand-grandparents have committed?

1.2. 2 Unlikely to achieve its aims

1.2.1. Will increase racial consciousness on all sides

1.2.2. Will damage the self-esteem of minority students

2. Sources

2.1. Michael J. Sandel

2.1.1. JUSTICE: What's the right thing to do?

2.1.1.1. Harvard Course

2.1.1.1.1. 2009

2.1.1.2. Book

2.1.1.2.1. Penguin

2.1.1.2.2. 2009

2.1.2. Chapter 7

2.1.2.1. "Arguing for affirmative action"

3. Read the post

4. Introduction

4.1. Definition

4.1.1. -> Policy that favours members of a disadvantaged group

4.2. Examples

4.2.1. A university sets lower admission standards for minority applicants

4.3. Question

4.3.1. Is it unjust to consider race and ethnicity as factors in hiring or university admissions?

5. 1 Correcting for bias in standardized tests

5.1. -> Here, affirmative action is an attempt to find the most accurate measure of each individual's academic promise

5.2. 1 The modest family cannot send their children to the best pre-school

5.3. 2 Therefore these kids are less prepared for the standardized tests

5.3.1. They will score lower

5.4. 3 We need to interpret the score of kids that could not afford a good pre-school

6. 2 Compensating for past wrongs

6.1. -> Here affirmation action is used as the remedy for past wrongs

6.2. History has treated us unfairly

6.3. We have a moral responsibility to redress wrong committed by a previous generation

7. 3 Promoting diversity

7.1. -> Here affirmative action enables us to build a better society

7.2. The purpose of a school is to form future workers

7.3. Having diversity at school is a good way of training

7.4. A class with diversity has better potential for collective intelligence

7.5. The school does not do this for anything else but to fulfill its purpose!!