political science 3 parts in 15hrs
What Would You Do? Should Affirmative Action Programs in Higher Education Continue to be Supported?
INSTRUCTIONS: In this activity, you assume the role of a Supreme Court justice who has received a memo regarding affirmative action programs in higher education. You will review arguments for and against these programs, decide whether or not they should continue to be supported, and then provide a written explanation of your decision.
INTRODUCTION: To: Justice Roberta Wilson
From: Robert Gilbert, law clerk
Subject: Affirmative action in higher education
Affirmative-action programs in higher education in the 21st century face strong political scrutiny. In the 1970s, the Supreme Court said such programs could be instituted as a means of overcoming institutional problems of past discrimination, but the Court has wrestled with the specifics of doing so. For example, it has said that diversity goals are permissible, but not quotas. In recent years, the Court has questioned whether the need for affirmative-action programs still exists. The court needs to decide whether affirmative-action programs are constitutional, so schools operate uniformly, and constitutionally, in making decisions about admissions.
To Consider:
The Supreme Court has announced that it will decide whether affirmative-action programs in colleges and universities are necessary in the 21st century as a means of redress for past discrimination against racial minorities and women.
Arguments for:
1. Diversity is an important goal in higher education, as numerous schools, including military academies, have said in briefs for earlier cases.
2. The effects of segregation and discrimination continue in American politics today, and affirmative-action programs provide a necessary means of countering those problems.
3. Institutions of higher education grant preference to applicants for several reasons, including family ties to the school. Taking race, ethnicity, or gender into account has the same goal of incorporating a range of interests and perspectives into an entering class.
Arguments against:
1. Colleges and universities focus on higher learning and should seek intellectual, not individual, diversity.
2. Race is a suspect classification, and no state program that chiefly serves one race can be allowed.
3. Institutions of higher education should make admissions decisions on merit criteria, not on other considerations.
Additional Research:
The following links present the arguments for and against affirmative action programs in higher education. Choose at least one link for each side of the argument and make sure to read through the entire text. Once you have enough information, move onto the next part of the activity.
Pro:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/06/23/affirmative-action-advocates-shocked-and-thrilled-by-supreme-courts-ruling-in-university-of-texas-case/?utm_term=.321636cac7a2
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2017/08/15/why-colleges-and-universities-need-affirmative-action-programs-essay
Con:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/sunday-review/rethinking-affirmative-action.html?mcubz=0
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/the-painful-truth-about-affirmative-action/263122/
Should Affirmative Action programs in higher education continue to be supported? Why?