Taking Affirmative Action

When Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrived at the Grand Valley State University Fall Arts Celebration, I was unsure of what to expect. His lecture on the history of the Encyclopedia Africana, and it's creator W.E.B. DuBois was entertaining and interesting, but not what I had thought the famous professor would be lecturing on. However, during the question and answer period, I felt he made multiple insights into the world of racism, technology, and affirmative action in the present day.
While it is not fair to assume where exactly Gates stands on the subject of affirmative action based on his lecture last Wednesday, it is important to dive deeper into his recent and past quotations on the popular subject.


"'Rough magic of the cultural mix' is nation’s best hope
BY KATHLEEN O'TOOLE

...Thanks to the civil rights movement and affirmative action, he said to "the tenth," the black middle class has quadrupled since Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, but a larger proportion of black children now live below the poverty line. He urged the tenth to "stop feeling guilty about our own success" and instead "feel a commitment of service to those left behind."
Referring to African Americans as "a nation within a nation" with a population larger than that of Canada, he said, "We can't pretend any longer that 35 million people will ever possibly be exactly members of the same economic class.

"The best we can strive for is that class differentials within the African American community ­ what I call the bell curve of class ­ cease their lopsided ratios because of the pernicious nature of racial inequality." Black intellectuals who want to lead must confront "the twin realities of white racism on the one hand and our own failures to take the initiative and break the cycle of poverty on the other."

Full article link: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/1998/october21/gates1021.html

Gates is stating above what I feel too little people take into consideration.
The United States, as well as many other nations on this planet, are lucky enough to be filled with an enormous amount of diverse and unique people. Whether it be race, language, physicality, or culture that makes us different, this diversity can enrich and enliven what sometimes turns into conformity or boringness. While not everyone may have the same views as I do on race, I think in an educational setting it is necessary to invite and educate all races equally. This equality involves affirmative action.

The 'commitment of service to those left behind' Gates speaks of is what I believe to help open doors that have remained locked unfairly for much of history. Affirmative action is not attempting to reward or make up for mistakes in the past, but is trying to change the educational and socioeconomic status for the better, and to emphasize the diverse world that we share today.

SAT Woes.

It seems U.S. college bound high school students aren't the only group of individuals who fear the SAT's. Lately, it's the administrators and officials who have been nervous, and rightly so, about the students performance on the well-known test.



County SAT Scores Lowest Since 1997

Arundel Averages Still Above Md., U.S.
By Daniel de ViseWashington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 7, 2006; Page AA03

"Anne Arundel County high schools turned in their lowest average SAT scores in a decade, mirroring a national trend, in a year in which a third section to the venerable college admissions exam was introduced.
The county's combined verbal and math scores totaled 1045 for the Class of 2006, the lowest average since 1997. That's an 11-point drop from last year's average of 1056, the largest such dip in recent memory.

Writing scores were lower still. The county averaged 506 on the new hour-long writing section, 516 in verbal and 529 in math. To put the figure in context, consider that the county has not averaged lower than 513 on any section of the SAT in the past 10 years.

Anne Arundel school officials focused on the county's continuing to score higher than the state and national averages, and they noted that the SAT average for black students had increased.

"This data shows us that despite a more rigorous test, our students continue to be very competitive with the rest of the nation," School Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell said in a statement.

Scores dropped across the Washington region on the 2006 SAT, perhaps reflecting the difficulty of the new writing section and its much-feared essay. Educators also noted that a revamped math section includes questions that require knowledge of Algebra II, which fewer students have taken. Also, the test is longer -- more than four hours with breaks."

For the full article, click on the link below

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090600530.html?nav=rss_education

One important reason that I chose to post this article in my blog is to show that the national average of the verbal and math sections of the SAT are decreasing. Why is this?

The easy answer might be that the students are getting lazier, perhaps not studying as much as they used to. Or another answer is that the teachers are simply not being successful in their jobs. But is it that easy to blame one party or the other? I believe that some of it, not entirely, is based on the outlook students have on the essay section, as well as the reading sections.

So Why is a section of writing, a part of the test where the student is allowed to express and show themselves in a more abstract way as maybe other parts of the test, feared? I believe students in high school today are disconnected with the positive qualities that writing can offer. They see it more as a task than as an alternative way to express an opinion. This is a problem in which some educators have provided students with. Essays assigned in class lack creativity and are not assigned to interest the student, rather they are to make sure the student knows how to create a thesis, make three points, and then conclude in 500 words or more. This is an easily solved problem and I believe the solving of this would create higher SAT scores across the country.