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Philosophy and Society

שו”תCategory: generalPhilosophy and Society
asked 5 years ago

peace.
I am writing a seminar paper on affirmative action in academia and the right of the ultra-Orthodox to also receive these rights in accordance with their worldview. I would love to hear your comments.
My argument is a little complex and in it I claim:
A. A group that is not currently being discriminated against is not entitled to affirmative action – such as women in Israel. I have not seen or heard of a woman whose path to university or at university was blocked because she was a woman, and the evidence is that they are the majority among students in Israel.
on. With regard to the question of justification for allowing members of disadvantaged groups to enter prestigious tracks (a reality that began at the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University), in my humble opinion, there is no moral justification for this at the expense of a student whose grades are higher than those of the disadvantaged group, since belonging to the aforementioned group does not justify harming an individual who is not a member of the aforementioned group (and apparently there is no difference in the size of the gap between them).
third. The legitimacy of allowing minorities affirmative action is not for reasons of justice and correcting a historical injustice, but rather due to the desire to advance these groups, and because this can only be done by increasing the number of students and not at the expense of students who would have been pushed out if the number of students accepted into the track had remained the same.
D. The right to enjoy the public resource of academic studies (salary, status, etc.) is an equal right for everyone, and therefore the Haredi public is also entitled to it (and the Arab public – unless we define it as an enemy of the state, in which case it is not entitled to it, but not because it is a minority; for that matter, a member of the Druze community is certainly entitled to it). However, the Haredi public has two fundamental problems (at least) with academia. One is the content that, in its opinion, contradicts its religious beliefs – in the life sciences – evolution, etc., and in the humanities, in almost every issue, it will see things as heresy. The second problem is the way in which men and women study together.
My argument is that academia cannot change its content because a certain group believes in values ​​or beliefs that are different from the conclusions that science has reached. But with regard to the second difficulty, which is studying in mixed groups of men and women, is there no reason for academia to deny the aforementioned resource to the Haredi public? And that one of the rules of academia is mixed study (as long as we accept that both sexes in the Haredi public will receive the opportunity to benefit from this resource so that there will be no claim of exclusion, etc., which, as is known, is one of the lights and shadows of Western perception today).
Just as this is true with regard to the ultra-Orthodox public, we should not expect academia to change its content because of its beliefs, so the demand to allow Arab society to study in academia in its language due to the value of equality is not a legitimate demand – if the academy has resources that are unnecessary for its life – but in the absence of resources, the academy is not obligated to teach Arab society in its language in the name of the value of equality due to the fact that Hebrew is the official language in the State of Israel.
I would love to hear your response?

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מיכי Staff answered 5 years ago

Hello.
There are several arguments here, and each requires its own elaboration. I will address them briefly because this is not the place to review an entire work. If you want to expand on any point, write only that and explain what exactly you want to discuss.
A. I disagree with your initial assumption. A society can decide to give preference to a population that requires strengthening even if it is not currently being harmed. I am not one of those who think that weak populations are weakened. This is usually not the case. But this has nothing to do with the question of affirmative action. It has a place for it, although of course not always. The criteria for this require ingenuity and a lot of effort. You have not heard of a woman whose path was blocked, this is a problematic argument. First, you do not know all women and all academia. Second, it is difficult to determine when exactly someone’s path is blocked due to irrelevant considerations. Specifically, regarding religious women, there are certainly social obstacles. They are directed to unrealistic fields, prevented from studying Torah, and the like. But as mentioned, these arguments are not necessarily important to the discussion, since preference can be given to women even if their path is not currently blocked.
B. Disagree, and so on. Grades do not confer rights except by virtue of the public’s decision. And if the public decides otherwise, that is their right. Your claim is ridiculous. Who determined that the required score is 80? The public or the institution drew some line. Where does this line give rise to rights? And does it have a sanctity that cannot be changed? A private institution can of course do otherwise.
C. Not true and not true. It is certainly possible that there were obstacles and an injustice must be corrected. And even if not, there is still room for affirmative action. If there is a budget to increase the number of places, it is of course desirable, even for those with low grades (why should some be denied the opportunity to study the profession they desired?). But if there is not – there is room for preference considerations.
D. It is clear that the right is reserved for everyone. But the claim about changing the content is ridiculous. There are areas in academia where the content is not scientific findings but agendas. And there I see no reason why it should not be adapted to the learning public. Of course, there should be an opening here for all opinions and approaches. Regarding separate education for the ultra-Orthodox, I completely agree. In my opinion, it is a scandal that the ultra-Orthodox are being prevented from doing so. Secular-liberal terror.
The Arabic language has official status in the State of Israel, so you are not right. But at the same time, an institution has the right to determine that the language of instruction there will be only Hebrew, provided that Arabic speakers are given an equal opportunity (or an institution that teaches in Arabic).

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