Throughout the Thernstrom article, there is hardly any factual evidence supporting his ideas in opposition to Atkinson's proposal. Although Thernstrom may be opinionated on the subject, he must support his ideas by sighting his beliefs with some type of credible source. From the start of the article to the closing, he is clearly informative of many angles of the Atkinson debate, while also including his ideas on the dilemma. Yet many of these ideas can only be accounted for as blown smoke, because of his choice to neglect the sources from where his beliefs originated. .
As Thernstrom begins his paper, there is clearly no recognition given to a credible source in congruency with his statement that, "The president of the University of California has endorsed a bad idea." While Thernstrom may have a strong opposition to the idea of eliminating the requirement of the SAT for admission into UC, there must be credible evidence for him to voice his opinion and actually be listened to. Along with his accusation that Atkinson's proposal is a terrible idea for diversity in colleges, he also states that "large research universities and most prestigious colleges find [the SAT] indispensable." As a critical reader, I ask: According to whom?.
It is obvious Thernstrom neglects to recognize numerous sources to his claims (a trend which is ongoing throughout the article), continuing to declare unsupported accounts that, "Atkinson knows full well that the admissions process does not unfairly discriminate against Asian students. And he (Atkinson) certainly does not believe whites get a raw deal." While Atkinson may be referring to "non-Asian minority students," it is clearly unethical to put words into his mouth and explain the meaning behind a statement when the statement efficiently explains itself. .
Surprisingly, Thernstrom does give figures on Asian Americans to support his argument against Atkinson.
