Angst Over Affirmative Action! (originally sent to Editor, Buffalo News, May 21, 2005)

LetterToEditor@buffnews.com  May 21, 2005

Dear Sir:

I couldn't help but think that your newspaper seems to have made another 'affirmative action' weak hire in the person of Rod Watson.  His recent claim that the primary reason black graduation rates are less than those for majority student is due to 'money problems' ("Lack of Money is the Root of the Grad Gap - May 19) is ridiculous.   Do you require your OP ED writers to have any common sense before they publish such rubbish?   First, he argues that PELL GRANTS are being reduced.   Okay, as any college student will tell you, you then take out a LOAN.  Many governmental positions today (teacher, police officer, social worker, etc.) offer up to 50% forgiveness on such loans!   My own son and my "Vietnamese boatperson" daughter-in-law have over $100,000 EACH in loans they have to repay for their college degrees.  (His being on the Dean's List repeatedly didn't help that much - not like the ability to shoot 'hoops,' that is.)  Why does Mr. Watson think black students shouldn't borrow?   Next was his deliberate attempt to bash Bush, the Governor, and most governmental organizations in general for being unsympathetic to the plight of black students.  I sort of think it is the exact opposite.  When just being Black can get you 20 points on some college admissions and a perfect S.A.T. score is worth a measly 6 points, well, you can see where I'm going.  I mean, why study?    I won't mention the myriad ways that most colleges make every attempt to ensure the success of their Black students.  Space won't permit me to list all the absurdities to which they go.  What I did notice is that Rod made no mention of the impact of the complete breakdown of the Black family in urban America, the levels of abuse and neglect resulting from many of these 'parents', or the well-documented aversion of Black students toward academics in general, regardless of family circumstance or income, for being 'part' of the black graduation rate problem.  Nor does he mention how so many Asian immigrants who, like my daughter-in-law, are able to do so well in America's schools when they don't even have the benefit of English in their immediate background or family!   I can understand Mr. Watson's propensity to take the 'easy' way out on what might otherwise be a very important investigative study for your paper, but what I can't understand is your propensity to print such drivel.  

Sincerely,

Jack Bovee

319 Fifth Avenue

Lehigh Acres, FL  33972

239-369-1397

 

“The main reason, more than anything else, is money,” said Robert Slater, Journal managing editor.   

      Don’t tell that to my Caucasian son who recently graduated and now owes over $100,000 for his Pharmacy doctorate – despite being on the Dean’s List repeatedly and winning numerous small academic scholarships – none of which exceeded $2,000.  Don’t tell that to his Asian Pharmacy Doctorate (former “boatperson”) wife who also owes about the same amount.   First, most of the black students at his school got pretty much all expenses paid, but many dropped out anyway.  Worse case scenario, why can’t the black students just BORROW the damn money like everyone else?  If they majored in the hard sciences instead of ‘social work’, ‘general studies’, ‘Education’, and other weak-minded professions, they’d earn the money back rather quickly.  

“Schools try to overcome that with programs to help minority students navigate campus life."  

Sure, like Departments of Diversity and Multicultural Relations, Black Dorms, Black Fraternities, Black Yearbooks, Black Proms, Black Cultural and Talent Shows, departments for AFRO AM History, AFRO AM Literature, AFRO AM  basket-weaving, etc.   How about the rigged admission policies like that at the U of Michigan (PERFECT S.A.T. score = 6 points on admission criteria, being BLACK = 20 POINTS!)  How about quotas which guarantee seats beyond their percent of the population in REMEDIAL COLLEGE COURSES?  How about ‘incentives’ like the old $500 given to every black student at the U of Pennsylvania years ago for every B or A earned by a black student – regardless of the family income of the recipient.   How about the skewed grading policies at some colleges – no “D”s or “F’s: may be given to Black freshmen or sophomores, so as to help foster in them the belief that they can succeed?  Do Jews, whites or Asians have any of this supportive crap out there to help them succeed?  

“The Bush administration is pushing changes that would make it tougher to get Pell grants, which help poor kids.”

Rod makes his case here pretty plain.  He demands the “FREEBIE” Pell Grant, as opposed to having to maybe BORROW some money like the rest of the students in  the real world.   In fact, many states allow for the “FORGIVENESS” of such loans for each year the graduate has worked as a teacher, parole officer, policeman, etc. etc.   Thus, even the LOAN wouldn’t have to be repaid if they majored in ‘governmental’ work of some type – where they would be assured of affirmative action hiring policies and be basically guaranteed jobs for ‘life’.

“As long as that’s the mind-set in our seats of power, we can forget about closing the graduation gaps...” 

Stop crying and admit you’re probably coddling too many people who are too lazy to do the things that ‘normal’ students do day in and day out. 

“, , , so much minority talent gets wasted.”

Sure, this ‘talent’ often seems to confine itself to anything that is a ‘game’ or ‘fun’ – like sports, the ‘art’ of Rap musician (Dr. Cornell West is a great example, churning out CD’s but no academic or scholarly work when he was at Harvard and now at Princeton), the ability to spew out filthy, vulgar jokes, etc. etc.   Numerous studies confirm what teachers have known for a long time –- black students in high school and college THEMSELVES admit that they don’t work as hard, study as long or take school as seriously as their white counterparts.  James McWorter, in ‘Losing the Race’ (he’s a black conservative professor at Stanford) writes that HE NEVER HAD A SINGLE BLACK STUDENT WORK TO HIS POTENTIAL in ANY of his classes.  (Blacks dismiss him because he married a white woman.)   

Well, since the entire football team and basketball team are all getting a ‘free ride”, I guess we can’t guarantee a free ride to ALL blacks.  We can only rig all the rules in their favor and hope that will be enough.   Sorry, Rod!  Grow up and accept some responsibility here!