제한시간 내 영어지문 읽기 7)

 The compensatory argument views affirmative action as a remedy for past wrongs. It says minority students should be given preference to make up for a history of discrimination that has placed them at an unfair disadvantage. This argument treats admission primarily as a benefit to the recipient and seeks to distribute the benefit in a way that compensates for past injustice and its lingering effects.

But the compensentory argument runs into a tough challenge: critics point out that those who benefit are not necessarily those who suffered, and those who pay the compensation are seldom those responsible for the wrongs being rectified. Many beneficiaries of affirmative action are middle-class minority students who did not suffer the hardships that afflict young African Americans and Hispanics from the inner city.

Why should an African American student from an affluent Houston suburb get an edge over Cheryl Hopwood, who may actually have faced a tougher economic struggle?

 If the point is to help the disadvantaged, critics argue, affirmative action should be based on class, not race. And if racial preferences are intended to compensate for the historic injustice of slavery and segregation, how can it be fair to exact that compensation from people such as Hopwood, who played no part in perpetrating the injustice?

Michael J. Sandel-Justice-arguing affirmative action

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afdirmative action은 직역하면 "바람직한 행위"가 되지만, 고유명사로서 가지는 의미는 따로 있습니다. 그게 무엇일지 생각하시면서 읽어보세요. 물론 한두문장 읽으면 바로 유추되긴 함