Click on this site to read a CNN report about a charge of reverse discrimination brought against the University of Michigan because it uses race as a part of its recruiting strategy. Write an essay in which you describe the university's defense of its policy and the objections to it raised by critics. What are the ramifications of this case for affirmative action programs across the United States? Do you believe that affirmative action is an appropriate approach for addressing gender and race inequities? Explain.
Much has been made recently of the fact that many leading actresses appear to be dangerously thin. Click on the above site to read an ABC 20/20 story about the dangers associated with media portrayals of women. Be sure to listen to the interviews with some leading actresses who felt the pressure to reduce their sizes. Write an essay in which you propose some possible causes and solutions to problems with body image among American women today. Include an assessment of how serious you think the problem is for women who feel pressures about body image and for society as a whole.
Click on the above site to read what one author thinks about sexual harassment laws in the U.S. Write an essay in which you first describe and then evaluate his views on laws that prohibit sexual harassment. Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
