首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Affirmative action may not be the most divisive issue on the ballot, but it remains an unending source of conflict and debate a
Affirmative action may not be the most divisive issue on the ballot, but it remains an unending source of conflict and debate a
admin
2011-02-11
101
问题
Affirmative action may not be the most divisive issue on the ballot, but it remains an unending source of conflict and debate at least in Michigan, whose citizens are pondering a proposal that would ban affirmative action in the public sector. No one knows whether other states will follow Michigan’s lead, but partisans on both sides see the vote as crucial--a decision that could either help or hinder a movement aimed at ending "preferential treatment" programs once and for all.
Ward Connerly has no doubts about the outcome. "There may be some ups and downs...with regard to affirmative action, but it’s ending, "says Connerly, the main mover behind the Michigan proposal, who pushed almost identical propositions to passage in California 10 years ago and in Washington state two years later. His adversaries are equally passionate. "I just want to shout from the rooftops, ’This isn’t good for America’, "says Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan. She sees no need for Michigan to adopt the measure. "We have a living experiment in California, and it has failed, ’says Coleman.
Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, sees something deeply symbolic in the battle. Michigan, in his eyes, is where resegregation began--with a 1974 U. S. Supreme Court decision that tossed out a plan to bus Detroit children to the suburbs. Henderson sees that decision as a prelude to the hypersegregation that now defines much of Michigan. The Supreme Court is currently considering two new cases that could lead to another ruling on how far public school systems can go in their quest to maintain racial balance.
All of which raises a question: why are we still wrestling with this stuff? Why, more than a quarter of a century after the high court ruled race had a legitimate place in university admissions decisions, are we still fighting over whether race should play a role?
One answer is that the very idea of affirmative action--that is, systematically treating members of various groups differently in the pursuit of diversity or social justice--strikes some people as downright immoral. For to believe in affirmative action is to believe in a concept of equality turned upside down. It is to believe that "to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently, " as the idea was expressed by U. S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun.
That argument has never been an easy sell, even when made passionately by President Lyndon B. Johnson during an era in which prejudice was thicker than L. A. smog. Now the argument is infinitely more difficult to make. Even those generally supportive of affirmative action don’t like the connotations it sometimes carries. "No one wants preferential treatment, including African-Americans, "observed Ed Sarpolis, vice president of EPIC-MRA, a Michigan polling firm.
In 2003, the Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan’s right to use race in the pursuit of "diversity," even as it condemned the way the undergraduate school had chosen to do so. The decision left Jennifer Gratz, the named plaintiff, fuming. "I called Ward Connerly... and I said, ’We need to do something about this’, " recalled Gratz, an animated former cheerleader. They decided that if the Supreme Court wouldn’t give them what they wanted, they would take their case--and their proposition--directly to the people.
Californians disagree about the impact of Connerly’s proposition on their state. But despite some exceedingly grim predictions, the sky did not fall in. Most people went about their lives much as they always had.
In a sane world, the battle in Michigan, and indeed the battle over affirmative action writ large, would offer an opportunity to seriously engage a question the enemies and defenders of affirmative action claim to care about: how do you go about creating a society where all people--not just the lucky few--have the opportunities they deserve? It is a question much broader than the debate over affirmative action. But until we begin to move toward an answer, the debate over affirmative action will continue--even if it is something of a sideshow to what should be the main event.
The author believes that the debate over affirmative action
选项
A、will soon be brought to an end.
B、has aroused many people’s awareness.
C、is a hot potato in the United States.
D、reflects partially the question of equality.
答案
D
解析
细节题。根据题目顺序及the debate over affirmative action定位至末段。首句提出问题:how do you go about creating a society where all people--not just the lucky few--have the opportunities they deserve?然后指出该问题比有关affirmative action的争论意义广泛得多。末句指出:该争论将继续进行下去,虽然那只不过是整件事情当中的细枝末节而已。[D]符合文意,故为答案。[A]与该部分意思矛盾,排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/mAeO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
EducationalValuesDuringthefirstweekatNorthAmericanuniversities,studentsmustdoafewthingsinpreparation,solif
Socialchangeismorelikelytooccurinheterogeneoussocietiesthaninhomogeneousones,simplybecausetherearemorediverse
Punditswhowanttosoundjudiciousarefondofwarningagainstgeneralizing.Eachcountryisdifferent,theysay,andnoonest
"VisualMusic"isafine-tuned,highlydiverting,deceptivelyradicalexhibitionabouttherelationshipofmusicandmodernart,
Itis______whodeclaredtheHundredYears’WarbetweenEnglandandFrance.
Values,Characteristics,PersonalHabitsandCourtesiesofAmericansAlthoughAmericanshategeneralizationsandholdaneth
1ThiscalmingdownisperhapsthemainreasonwhyIkeepadiary.Itisincrediblehowthewrittensentencecancalmandta
人类自有文化就有文化交流。人类文化整体来说,是各国、各国民族文化汇聚,交流的产物。现代国际间的文化交流,更是以空前的规模、内容、形式和手段,在直接间接地进行着。当今的世界,既非丝绸之路时代,亦非马可波罗时代。从上海去东京,只需两个多小时,相当于从北京到杭州
A、TheBritish.B、Germans.C、Americans.D、Notmentioned.C
A、Atleast8.B、Morethan30.C、Atleast120.D、Notmentioned.A
随机试题
型号为Q11F-40PDNl5是外螺纹连接球阀。()
咽一结合膜热的病原体为
下列与类风湿关节炎活动无关的是
大黄稀乙醇浸出液滴于滤纸上,置紫外灯下观察,显
渠道中线圆曲线细部测设常用的方法有()。
根据证券法律制度的规定,上市公司发生的下列情形中,证券交易所可以决定暂停其股票上市的有()。
《布达拉宫》一诗是80舌青年诗人()发表于《齐鲁晚报网.青未了文学网》上的一首赞美西藏拉萨布达拉宫的诗。
近现代西方科学与人文两种文化经历了融合、冲突和消解三个时期,反映到教育理念上也相应地经历了科学教育与人文教育的相互_________、越走越远和共同反思三个阶段。这一历史发展表明,过分强调科学文化和科学教育,必然导致对人文的_________;而过分强调人
Manypeoplewanttobecomefamous,butdon’tknowhow.HereI’dliketotellabouthowtobecomeknownorgetclosertopeople.
(lucky)______,thefiremencamerightandsoonputoutthefire.
最新回复
(
0
)