Affirmative Action is Fair

To conclude this debate, I will begin by boiling it down to the main issues, and then giving my final word on them. I will end by weighing the voting issues for all potential voters, because ultimately, there will be clash. Essentially, there three are main points of conflict in this debate. First, the issue my opponent brought up about Asian Americans being harmed by Affirmative Action. Second, the issue of whether or not Affirmative Action is in conflict with care for economic class. And lastly, the two main points I brought up, about the obstacles African Americans and Latinos have to overcome. (It's true that this debate is about the fairness of Affirmative Action on principle, so I will agree to drop my third point.) Starting with the issue for Asian Americans. Ultimately, I have to concede to this point. Based on the correlations my opponent has presented, it is the most likely scenario that Affirmative Action is making it harder for Asians to be accepted into Universities. However, when looking at the weight of this issue, keep in mind the resolution and my arguments about overcoming difficulties. As an extension of my argument about overcoming disadvantages being considered an accomplishment, it logically follows that we must consider advantages in the same way. Therefore, the born advantage that many Asian Americans have of having parents who can and will fully support them in academic endeavors must also be taken into account. The main point of Affirmative Action is that it is judging people on a slightly different scale, because they come from different circumstances. So it's fair that the people who have the most direct path to success be judged on a slightly harsher scale than those who must struggle more to achieve the same end. For this reason, the entire issue of Asian Americans being harmed is less relevant to the resolution, because this could still be considered fair, at least for the vast majority. Next, onto the issue of economic status. This is a very important point of clash, because if Affirmative Action and considering economic status were mutually exclusive, then it would be impossible for Affirmative Action to be fair. But this is NOT the case. My opponent has used extremely tenuous reasoning, based on evidence that relied on implications, to attempt to prove that the very existence of Affirmative Action would cause colleges to neglect economic status. Not only is my opponent's evidence weak, logic is also on my side. We are arguing over a realistic form of Affirmative Action, not some extremist interpretation of it. In real life, college admissions officers put time, thought, and effort into all decisions regarding who the accept. Going off on my opponent's original example, they are not going to compare impoverished Asian American with an upperclass African American and say that the later was disadvantaged. Ultimately, Affirmative Action and considering economic status are both good, and they can easily exist at the same time. And lastly, let's go over my arguments. First and foremost, my opponent agreed that overcoming disadvantages should be considered accomplishments. This automatically validates my next two points, about poverty and discrimination. My opponent never even attempted to refute my argument about overcoming poverty being an accomplishment. The fact that this is affecting a huge percentage of African Americans and Latinos also went uncontested. My opponent did bring up the fact that there are still some Caucasians and Asians living in poverty. However, these percentages are much, much lower, so this doesn't have as much weight, overall. To address my opponent's final arguments on the issue of discrimination, I will provide a short example. Compare a young Asian male with a young African-American male. While one is likely to be stereotyped as doing nothing but work, the other is likely to be assumed a criminal, or even thought of as inferior. Although these are both the results of ignorance, it is clear that one is far more harmful than the other. So again, we must look at the weight of my opponent's arguments, when assessing how to judge this point of clash. Finally, here are the main voting issues for voters to consider: -How much weight should be given to the harms of Affirmative Action on majorities? (Taking into account the fact that they started out with an advantage in the first place, and therefore should be judged on a harsher scale.) -Can Affirmative Action exist, and economic status still be considered in the application process? (I would recommend basing this on simple logic.) -How much weight should be given to the small percentages of Caucasians and Asians who are in poverty or suffer from discrimination? (When also considering that employers and college admissions officers will be able to account for these, in their detailed selection processes.) I would like to thank my opponent very much for such a wonderful debate. It was very interesting, and thank you for proposing the topic. Also, thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read through all of it and caste your votes.