So, I wrote the paper in support of my teacher's viewpoint. It's not what I set out to do, but in the end, I simply couldn't support the opposite stance. I guess by doing the research as I initially did, I understand the multiple perspectives better. I also went in to researching the popular stance with some of the criticisms of it a little better, no matter how out-to-lunch some of those criticisms are. That process allowed me to make fewer assumptions and to forced me to think through things a little more throughly. All in all, I think I did a pretty good job of the paper.
While this approach didn't end up as intended by the student, it did open up some thinking that wouldn't have otherwise occurred. It is unlikely that the student would have been as critical of popular opinion, had he not initially tried to argue a different perspective. If popular opinion is as one-sided as this scenario indicates, likely the resources easily available support that way of thinking and it would have been easy to think of the topic as fact rather than realize that there might be other angles on it. Attempting to argue against the teacher here will likely lead to deeper thinking and a better overall understanding of the topic, even if it did lead to discomfort through exposure to potentially offensive ideas.