After reading the article titled:
On College Forms....
answer the following questions on the blog and
comment on at least one of your peer's answers.
Responses due by Thursday @ 10pm.
1. Define: racial heritage, dilemma, anonymous, identity, affirmative action, imperative, diverse, onus, corroboration
2. Is it right for the Department of Education to require colleges to collect racial information?
3. Why do some students refuse to list their race out of protest?
4. According to the article, the intent of affirmative action is to help disadvantaged minorities, not those who are well off. Why don’t they want to help minorities who are not poor? Why don’t they want to help poor non-minorities?
5. How could colleges target help at minorities who are poor? How could they target help at poor people, generally?
6. The article also states that affirmative action is intended to “redress the nation’s long history of discrimination [against minorities] in higher education, but also to provide students rich opportunities to learn from peers who bring various backgrounds to campus.” Would offering advantages to someone who is half-white and half black help achieve this goal? Would offering advantages to white Jewish students? Asian students?
7.
a) Why was a woman’s French great-grandfather born in Algeria? Why was the consensus that she couldn’t qualify as African-American – was Algeria not really part of Africa when the French ruled it?
b) Why did College Confidential posters respond differently to her than to the other woman who was part African-American, part Asian-American?
8. “I’d be giving them information, not saying, ‘Do this,’ wink, wink.” Is there really a difference?
9. What does Rice really mean when it asks about “the unique life experiences and cultural traditions"? How could you write an effective essay about this?
10. “Rice knows that however much it emphasizes that students should be guided by the honor principle…some will seek to stretch the new definitions to their own gain.” If the rules allow a mixed-race person discretion, how will people make their decisions? Is it wrong of them to give answers that benefit themselves?
11. Are people who “stretch definitions” violating the intention of the programs? If so, what is that intention?
12. Should there be affirmative action? Explain your answer.
