I think it makes sense to pick up arguments for views you oppose and address them properly in an essay, although I think that should serve a proper analysis where you give those arguments a fair chance, but also have the freedom to point out their flaws.

But I always felt that arguing for any view, assigned by chance, like in debate clubs for example, gave way to accepting a certain ambiguity of truth. Being confronted with different arguments and weighing them is an improtant skill to be learned and if your analysis is set up to reach a certain conclusion, it strips you of the open-endedness, that is actually needed.