Mark Tushnet, the distinguished law professor at Georgetown, has a rather odd defense of racial preferences on law.com. (Link via Howard Bashman)
Tushnet describes in simple terms how the Socratic process works, with the professor eliciting from the student a principle to cover the facts of a case, and then tweaking the facts to require the student to test his principle in the new situation. According to Tushnet,
This teaching technique works at the moment when the student reconsiders the principle in light of the new facts. The student has an intuition about the right result in the new case, tests that intuition against the principle she’s stated, and refines the principle. What drives the process is the student’s intuition.
The more different experiences the students bring to the table, the more intuitions at work.
Diversity may be fine, but, critics of affirmative action ask, what’s so special about racial diversity? The answer is that racial experience, our own and that of our families, friends, and relations, is uniquely critical in teaching Americans about justice and power and how the world works and what motivates people.
Race is uniquely critical? More than religion? Ideology? Career goals?
My intutition tells me this is wrong.
