Spring Break
Mail call
By: Justin Thompson
Issue date: 6/29/09 Section: Mail Call
From Justin Thompson, junior aerospace engineering major
After reading Thursday's column, "Top 10 percent is past its prime," I have to ask, why should we value factors beyond a person's control more than something that tells us more about them as individuals? The Top 10 percent is a wonderful idea for college admission; regardless of race, creed, income or a myriad of other factors, it rewards hard work. Getting into the Top 10 percent is not an accomplishment that can be bought by anything but hard work. In theory, it shows that, if you work hard enough to get that high in your class, you can get an education. Instead, its racist detractors, see an unfair system that doesn't admit as many minorities as they would like. Looking at Thursday's proposal, working hard for grades is not as valuable as being born a certain way (20 points for GPA, 30 for being a minority). What does this tell the kids who are white; work all you want, but you will never be equal to that black kid or the Hispanic child. That is sick and destructive, all in the name of almighty diversity. Maybe instead of pushing down achievers because of their race, we should focus on encouraging everyone to succeed. If more minorities put in the work to get there, our diversity will increase.
After reading Thursday's column, "Top 10 percent is past its prime," I have to ask, why should we value factors beyond a person's control more than something that tells us more about them as individuals? The Top 10 percent is a wonderful idea for college admission; regardless of race, creed, income or a myriad of other factors, it rewards hard work. Getting into the Top 10 percent is not an accomplishment that can be bought by anything but hard work. In theory, it shows that, if you work hard enough to get that high in your class, you can get an education. Instead, its racist detractors, see an unfair system that doesn't admit as many minorities as they would like. Looking at Thursday's proposal, working hard for grades is not as valuable as being born a certain way (20 points for GPA, 30 for being a minority). What does this tell the kids who are white; work all you want, but you will never be equal to that black kid or the Hispanic child. That is sick and destructive, all in the name of almighty diversity. Maybe instead of pushing down achievers because of their race, we should focus on encouraging everyone to succeed. If more minorities put in the work to get there, our diversity will increase.
Be sure to include your name, major, and class year. Submissions without this information are subject to deletion.
By submitting a comment, you agree to thebatt.com's Terms of Use.
You may also send a Mail Call to The Battalion at mailcall@thebatt.com