[302] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: Affirmative action
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Christopher D. Beland)
Sat Apr 28 19:45:23 2001
Message-Id: <200104282344.TAA29878@Press-Your-Luck.mit.edu>
To: "Pius A. Uzamere II" <pius@MIT.EDU>
cc: mit-talk@MIT.EDU
In-reply-to: The events that comprise the history of the universe.
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 19:44:57 -0400
From: "Christopher D. Beland" <beland@MIT.EDU>
> >And if what you say is true, for example, a white person who has grown
> >up in a minority neighborhood has some claim to ethnic diversity
> >(though personally, I feel I would be risking admissions fraud).
> >*But* a black person who was raised by white people in a white
> >neighborhood and who is culturally unremarkable from his white foster
> >brother, *would* be treated as if he has a "diverse" perspective.
>
>
> Interesting point. The fallacy in your argument, however, is that you are
> considering diversity of perspective in a person, whereas Marilee Jones is
> considering diversity of perspective in a class. The diversity argument
> for affirmative action has nothing to do with how many ethnicities a person
> can claim. Rather, it is predicated on the goal of having a heterogeneous
> class -- a class where one can find people with whom one identifies
> culturally.
It's not a fallacy -- it's why I think the policy is unfair. The ends
do not, I think here, justify the means. Both people who have a
genuinely different cultural perpspective from myself (but only in a
narrowly defined way) have a well-merited advantage, but people who
don't necessarily have a different perspective, just differently
colored skin, have an unfair advantage over me.
-B.
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Christopher Beland - http://web.mit.edu/beland/www/contact.html
MIT STS/Course 6 (EECS) - MIT Athena User Interface Project
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