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Running head: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Affirmative Action
Vanessa Hernandez
English 1312
The University of Texas at El Paso

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Affirmative Action In The School System

In the employment and American school system whites are granted more opportunities
are rewarded to those that fit into the American ideal, which is typically: white, male, who lives
in middle to high-income family. Have you ever wondered what the American school system
does to provide more opportunities to counter these biased judgments? The purpose of this paper
is to analyze the differences between the information used in articles and the information
described in video interviews. One of the comparisons will be made on the use of statistics and
how they are presented to the audience.
For instance, in the article describing the different opinions in the University of Texas at
Austin (UT-Austin), as to whether or not to consider race into their admissions. On one of the
views the argument was that taking race into account will help create a diverse community
within the university, but this could also be viewed as a bad idea because some admissions
would be overlooking test scores and other qualifications in order to create the diverse
community (Unequal Protection 2013).
The article continued to state that Affirmative action in the school system has been seen
to cause more harm than good because some universities rely on race for some admissions.
Universities are expected to hold some morality. In 2006 a university from Michigan challenged
affirmative action with the Supreme Court (Unequal Protection 2013).
The argument was non-discrimination discrimination in other words, reverse
discrimination. There are many cases when a person of color is admitted even though having
below standard test scores compared to a person of white ethnicity and having average or slightly
above average test scores. Technically, universities are not allowed to reserve spots when

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selecting the student admittance. Therefore, many affirmative action ideas have been banned or
being monitored (Unequal Protection 2013).
The video showed two opposing professors that had different viewpoints on the matter.
They countered one another with facts and percentages that I believe to be distracting to the
audience. Being in an interview seemed to be harder to build credibility compared to the article
because the article was from a trusted site that automatically built credibility as opposed to two
professionals constantly changing opinion and attempting to persuade the audience.
How the Minorities Have Changed
One of the main arguments that affirmative action is doing more harm than good is
because the year is 2014 and discrimination has gone down, the minorities are no longer
minorities because the white population has dwindled and the people of colors population has
risen (Unequal Protection 2013).
However, the video talks about having different criteria of affirmative action. In these
criteria, the schools will focus more on financial burdens and obstacles the individuals have had
to overcome. They hope that this path would lead to the same ideal as affirmative action by
disregarding race and focusing on the individuals personal burdens and financial aid (2014
ABC). They would also hope to annihilate the notion of just because your parents went there
doesnt automatically insure ones admittance.
The comparisons made between the video and the article differs in the sense that the
articles claims are backed up by numbers and the videos claims dont seem to be backed up by
anything. The say a claim but dont say where they got their information. This leads me to
believe that the intended audience was suppose to have their own opinions and ideas of the

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matter before the interview. That way the audience had previous knowledge and can deduce
whether or not if the professors were credible or not, because they had done their own research.
Opinion On Affirmative Action
I believe affirmative action to be a good thing. Even though most of us dont want to
admit it there is still a strong sense of racism and sexism within this country. It is proven that
women in general make less than white men, and white women make more than people of color,
and the average colored women makes the least out of the American citizens. Until we can fix
these wage gaps, I believe we should still practice affirmative action. How can we possibly judge
equally on a criteria when just based on your race and sex you are automatically disadvantaged?
To me, taking away affirmative action does not make sense. If we were to truly do that I
can only imagine how general the college population would be. Yes, whites are starting to
become a minority but they are not a minority in the college system.
Differentiating Between Genres
I found that both the economist article and the video gave important facts and
opinions about affirmative action in the college education system. They both gave statistics to
give their information credentials. The video gave a more humor tone than a serious tone, which
can help someone become relaxed about the subject and the article had a more fact and story
filled agenda. Both of these were helpful in their own way. However, if I wanted to focus more
on facts I would quote the article a little more because they gave more statistics and even create a
chart for an easier understanding. The video was a general overview that did not get into too
much depth but had two professors that are experts in this issue, state their opinions and why

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they felt that way in a very calm manner, that left the watcher relaxed and wanting to engage
with others about the issue of affirmative actions in the school systems.
Rhetorical Issues
Both the video and the article used rhetoric but the way they were used and the efficiency
were varied.
Ethos
The video automatically has credibility because the individuals speaking are
professionals in their field. The credibility is easily accessible because the audience can witness
the professionals discussing and hear their manner of speaking. However, the article develops
credibility by the use of statistics and citing their facts. The article has more of a difficulty
expressing their credibility because they have to keep writing in a professional manner and to get
their facts from others research instead of their own.
Pathos
The article does not use a strong emotional appeal. One of the reasons they lack an
emotional appeal could be because they are focusing on making their articles credibility. There
arent any images on the web page that produce a strong emotional appeal. The video does have
a strong emotional appeal. There are clips and interviews that have talked about the African
American experience. There are also newscasts talking about the ruling of not being in favor of
affirmative action and how this affects black lives everywhere. The video is primarily an
emotional appeal because of the moving image (video) and whom they interview.
Logos

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The article has a strong sense of logos because of the terminology. The author made sure
to cite their information and how it relates to affirmative action. The video has a strong sense of
logos based on how the news anchors look with their ties and blazers but their language was not
very professional.
Structure and Delivery
Even though the main topic for both genres were the same the structure and delivery
varied. In the first genre, has some images but none of them really have a strong emotional
appeal. However, the article is well written and establishes credibility quickly by having quotes
from William Powers, who is the President of the University of Austin. In the second genre, the
video is made for a specific audience because the newscaster is extremely liberal, so videos
audience was primarily for liberal like-minded individuals.
Conclusion
Overall, both genre discussed the topic well. The first topic came from a secondary
source and took more issues into consideration when discussing about the affirmative action at
the University of Austin. The second genre had more open- minded viewpoint by talking about
affirmative action throughout out the United States and the pros and cons based on a larger
population.

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Resources
2014 ABC. (2014, April 27) This Weeks: Affirmative Action. Retrieved on September 19, 2014,
2014 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ChU-WGq7m8
Unequal protection. (2013, April 27). Retrieved September 22, 2014.