Teaching Affirmative Action

Abstract

Affirmative action, a controversial topic about which students have many misconceptions, lends itself especially well to a sociological analysis. This paper describes an approach to teaching that: 1) informs students of different affirmative action programs; 2) gives them the opportunity to apply and integrate a variety of concepts and research findings covered in our sociology courses; 3) allows us to assess how well students understand affirmative action and to what degree they retain myths about the programs; and 4) covers an emotionally charged topic with enough depth to go beyond surface reactions. We find that this integrated approach dispels some of the most common myths, leads students to become more thoughtful and analytical, and gives them a good foundation from which to examine affirmative action in the future.