Would-Be Attorney Headed to Harvard Grew Up in Homeless Shelters

joe
Jun 24, 2009 9:39 AM CST

Congrats but did the white girl who was number 3 in the class get rejected from Harvard so this minority could get in?

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person
Jun 24, 2009 10:11 AM CST

In before affirmative action wan…

Never mind.

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Leisa
Jun 24, 2009 11:04 AM CST

Who (besides J.D.) cares what her ethnicity is?  I am betting numbers 1 through 3 are pretty happy they did not have to compete with number 4 from a homeless shelter, alley or whever the beautiful, brilliant and driven Ms. Williams found to sleep and study.

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Disgusted
Jun 24, 2009 11:18 AM CST

Let me guess, posters 2, 4 and 5 are Caucasian and grew up in either middle class or upper class families with all the comforts.  (Although, I’m sure they consider themselves abused as children when they didn’t get the newest fashions and toys.)  Even with all the advantages of growing up white, however, these posters probably slacked off, had poor work ethic, lacked talent, and were/are all-around not very nice human beings.  So, who to blame for their lack of notable success in life?  Why, all the minorities who are being advanced through affirmative action, of course.  Because of course, a mediocre, lazy white person with a chip on his shoulder should receive preferance over an average minority who has climed mountains just to be able to get to average.  I would take the “C” minority student who fought every day of her life to be a “C” student because it was THAT important to her over the “B” white student who could have easily been an “A” student had he given a #$%.  And so would most employers.  It’s not always about affirmative action.  Sometimes it’s just about character.

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Heidi O
Jun 24, 2009 12:48 PM CST

JD: It wasn’t lack of intellectual curiosity that kept me from clicking the link to the article, merely a prioritization of my work-day and not really giving a rats @#$ what the race of the student is.  Frankly, I didn’t give a thought to the student’s race until I read the comments about affirmative action. Having now followed the link, I see that her accomplishments are in fact based on merit.  Joe is indeed making racial assumptions when he says, “Did the white girl who was number 3 in the class get rejected from Harvard so this minority could get in?”  What white girl that was #3?  Perhaps the top 4 were all black?

Do you know the difference between challenging someone’s assumptions (i.e., “the photographs in the article clearly show that she is a minority”) and labeling them dismissively? (“your political instincts—and lack of intellectual curiosity…are misleading you”).  Perhaps you don’t care.

I am much more concerned about the fact that numbers 1, 2, and 3 may have been squeezed out of Yale by legacy admissions (i.e. some of the descendants of Prescott Bush, who had clearly inadequate academic credentials) than that they may have been beaten out by someone who actually merits the position.

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J.D.
Jun 24, 2009 12:52 PM CST

Heidi—Of course legacy admissions are wrong. Just like Affirmative Action, they don’t result in applicants being judged on merit, grades, or SAT and LSAT scores.

Again, can’t we just look at a person’s academic credentials? Can’t we do away with judging people based on race and their parents’ standing?

Or is this too fair of a proposal?

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hal
Jun 24, 2009 2:05 PM CST

First, I congratulate Khadijah on her accomplishment.  It is the success she has achieved so far, despite where she began on that road that demonstrates that she will be successful at Harvard.  To achieve that with so many holes in her basic education demonstrates she is either smart enough, hard working enough, or likely both to achieve at Harvard.

Everyone knows that people with money and connections tend to benefit at the expense of others.  For example, whose place do you think George W. Bush “took” when he got into some of the schools he attended? 

For example, the University of Illinois has a scandal going on where various trustees apparently sought to get various people in the school that were not otherwise qualified.  This is especially egregious because taxpayer’s money fund this public institution. 

I know that some minorities who feel like they got in to certain schools without the need of any preference, often felt like others assumed they only got in because they were a minority. 

In any event, I don’t believe race or ethnicity should be a major determining factor. 
However, I do believe that there should be some room to acknowledge that people who overcame circumstances to achieve a measure of success before entering college, will likely continue to achieve the same sort of success because they worked hard enough and were smart enough to overcome such diversity. 

There are many white kids, take appalacia for instance, that grow up without money, power, or privilege.  Such kids could use a hand up.  Likewise there are miniorities that grow up privileged and have connections, that don’t need an extra hand. 

I believe there should be preferences, but perhaps the majority should be based upon criteria other than race or ethnicity.  Such color blind would allow some amount of sliding preference for minorities and others who grow up in less than privilege to get a bit of a hand up in recognition of the obsticles they have overcome.  For example, criteria might include the amount of money your parents have, how much they have earned over their lifetime, the educational level of your parents, the percentage of kids in you school that at least begin college, the crime rate in your neighborhood, the educational level in your neighborhood, and possibly other statistics that are already kept by cities, states, and the federal government. 

I also note that sometimes people assume that just because you are caucasion, you automatically grew up with lots of money and privilege.  That is not the case.

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blacklawyer
Jun 24, 2009 6:09 PM CST

LMAO!!!  You people are nuts!

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