Laurence Thomas: What Good Am I

question 20

Multiple Choice

Laurence Thomas: What Good Am I?
In "What Good Am I?" Laurence Thomas addresses the debate over affirmative action by asking why, given that knowledge is colorblind, the race and gender of professors should matter. What, in other words, is the benefit of a diverse professoriate? One answer is that a diverse professoriate provides role models for minority and female students. Thomas, however, rejects this answer because it is often presented in a way that suggests minority and female faculty have little to teach students from outside historically marginalized groups apart from how not to be racist and/or sexist. But even if this so-called role-model argument were innocent of such a suggestion, Thomas claims many would still object to affirmative action on the alleged grounds that affirmative action appointments are, by definition, not the best qualified applicants. After all, so the objection goes, if a job candidate were the most qualified applicant, he or she would not need any form of preferential treatment. According to Thomas, however, this objection completely ignores the existence the entrenched biases, which can persist even alongside a sincere belief in equality. In a morally perfect world free of these kinds of biases, women and minorities of superior qualifications would be hired on the basis of their merits. But that is not the kind of world we live in according to Thomas.
For Thomas, the best way to understand the benefit of a diverse faculty is in terms of intellectual affirmation, trust, and gratitude. Teaching, on Thomas's view, involves more than the mere transmission of knowledge. Crucially, it also involves providing intellectual affirmation, which is impossible in the absence of trust between student and teacher. Given that sexism and racism can make it difficult for female and minority students to develop this kind of trust with white male professors, a diverse faculty helps remove one obstacle standing in the way of some students achieving intellectual affirmation. Moreover, the mere presence of a diverse faculty can give female and minority students hope that the university is an environment where intellectual affirmation is possible for them. Finally, Thomas argues that intellectual affirmation creates gratitude, which when felt by white male students toward female and minority professors can help undermine academic "ole boy" networks that have served sexist and racist ends in the past.
-According to Thomas, in a morally perfect world:

• A) there would be no built-up gender and racial biases.
• B) there would be no need for affirmative action.
• C) women and minorities who were most qualified would be hired by virtue of their merits.
• D) all of the above.

---

Definitions:

Consignee's Ending Inventory

The value of goods that are still on consignment at the end of an accounting period, not yet sold by the consignee.

Specific Identification

An inventory costing method where the cost of each specific item in inventory is identified and assigned to the sold units.

Individually Identifiable

Characteristics of an asset or an entity that can be distinctly identified, isolated, and valued separately from other assets or entities.

Cost of Goods Available

Cost of goods available refers to the total cost of inventory that a company has to sell at the beginning of an accounting period, including purchases made during the period.