31 Aug Issue: Is affirmative action an effective way to reverse racial inequality?
Instructions
In the worksheet, present your position and arguments for the debate topic, counterarguments to your position and arguments, and rebuttals to those counterarguments. The worksheet will finish with a conclusion on the strength of your position. Before submitting the assignment, be sure to review the assignment scoring guide to ensure that you meet all criteria, including the following:
- Your position.
- At least three well-developed arguments.
- Evidence to support your arguments (i.e., data and research), including how the evidence supports the arguments.
- Counterarguments to your points.
- Rebuttals to the counterarguments that oppose your arguments.
- Evidence to support your rebuttals (i.e., data and research), including how the evidence supports the rebuttals.
- A conclusion that asserts why your position is strong.
- In-text citations and references for all sources of information.
Issue: Is affirmative action an effective way to reverse racial inequality?
No: Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor,Jr., from “The Painful Truth About AffirmativeAction,” The Atlantic (2012).
Chauncey DeVega, a political essayist and cultural critic,presents a significant review of the history of racial discrimination andexclusion that African Americans have experienced throughout the history of thenation. Given this history and the prevalence of white skin privilegethroughout history, DeVega views affirmative action as a modest attempt tofoster equal opportunity. According to DeVega, opposition to affirmative actionis often informed by ignorance and racism. Richard Sander, a UCLA law professorand economist, and Stuart Taylor Jr., contributing editor for National Journal and a contributingeditor at Newsweek, are concerned that affirmative actionin college admissions has evolved into a program of racial preferences that doharm to both minority students and the colleges that they attend. Sander andTaylor are also concerned that colleges are not responding to the need toreform such programs.
