Playing Favorites

So apparently, not all people are created equal. Shockingly, it turns out that the sons and daughters of privilege have opportunities that are different than those of ordinary folks. The Chicago Tribune had a little article that talked about how our beloved Orange and Blue admitted some relative of Tony Rezko, a political power broker, who was associated with our disgraced former Governor Blagojevich. And as you read through some of the evidence, it seems pretty damning. And naturally, this has sparked some outrage from people who like to scream about injustice about an event. And the response from Illinois is that we'll "correct" the injustice. It seems to me that these are more or less weak, PC statements. At least that news release is better than what our Chancellor sent out to us earlier today in one of those wonderful mass e-mails, which was basically a bunch of fluff.

So in the past, you've heard me talk about how college is overrated as an answer for the masses. Basically, my premise is that you don't need a lot of particularly smart people for a lot of jobs, and that we're letting way too many people into college. When I hear from my friends about how brainless their jobs are, I keep feeling stronger about the first part of my premise. And every semester, I run into enough bricks in my classroom so that I feel stronger about the second part of my premise.

Money quote from page 3 of the original Tribune article:

"Andy Wethekam, a York Community High School student who thought he would follow in his father's footsteps and attend U. of I., was denied admission to its business school this year despite earning a 31 on the ACT and a 4.1 grade-point average."

Yeah. Even with the bar set so high, I run into a bunch of bricks. I'm not saying that I don't run into a bunch of really smart folks in my classroom. But there's still a pretty normal distribution, only with the mean shifted a little to the right. So there's that part of me that just rolls my eyes.

But the other thing that I've been intrigued by is the idea that people are unprincipled, especially when it comes to their principles. I've commented on how people like things that are easily observable. And it's much easier to digest something that's already been processed for you, like the Tribune article. And the message of the article is that we demand that our institutions are strictly merit-based. And I'm cool with that principle. But we fall away from that principle rather quickly when we talk about things like affirmative action, financial support for underrepresented minorities, enforcing gender equity in hiring, etc.

I can't recall who it was (I want to say Gregg Easterbrook), but one column that I came across a while ago talked about how we need to take care of racism in general, not just when the commentary is regarding select groups. The example noted was if you were to take a seemingly innocuous commercial (like those old Washington Mutual commercials with the one black banker mocking a herd of old, white bankers), and were to change the race of the characters (like to where one white guy is bossing around or mocking a bunch of black dudes). Now take the exact same Chicago Tribune article, but instead of talking about the sons and daughters of privilege (the "Category I" folks they talked about), and talk about, say African-Americans (for example, imagine the uproar if there were an article that talked about Project 500 with the same tone).

If the message is about how some people are privileged, then keep it there. Once you start making the assertion that we should be doing things solely on merit, then you open up a very different discussion.

Maybe what I'm most annoyed with is that there wasn't a response that looked like this:

"Yeah? I think that you bitches can eat it. This ain't utopia. Governor's kid? Are you kidding me? If he wants in, he's in. We're not going to pick a fight with someone with power. State Assemblyman's kid? They have to be a little smarter that the Governor's kid, but we're not going to make too much of a fuss. And crap. We're bending the rules for black kids and brown kids too, so get off our junk. You know why we're bending the rules? Because they've gotten organized and have exerted power. You know why we it'll never be based on merit? Because we already have too many yellow kids running around here. This ain't Berkeley. And you know how we can get away with it? Because the Asians are too obedient to argue too much."

And to think. Soon, I'll be a representative of the academy that is higher education. Folks, all I gotta say is that if I'm ever in a position of power, that anyone who reads this blog will automatically be a Category I. Especially given all of the incredible blackmail that you'll have on me. Of course, if anyone is foolish enough to put me in a position of power, they'll get whatever they deserve.

-Chairman