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Saturday, December 12, 2015

Re: [mukto-mona] Scalia argues black students benefit from ‘slower’ colleges



Once again, Sukhamoy proves his mettle -- he cannot but be sympathetic to a racist remark by Antonin Scalia.



Dec 10 2015

NYT Rewrites Scalia to Make Him Sound Less Racist

Antonin Scalia (cc photo: Steven Masker/Wikimedia)

Antonin Scalia wasn't just talking about blacks with "inferior academic credentials." (cc photo: Steven Masker/Wikimedia)

New York Times Supreme Court correspondent Adam Liptak (12/9/15) recounted a startling moment in the Court's oral arguments over the University of Texas' affirmative action plan:

In a remark that drew muted gasps in the courtroom, Justice Antonin Scalia said that minority students with inferior academic credentials may be better off at "a less advanced school, a slower-track school where they do well."

"I don't think it stands to reason that it's a good thing for the University of Texas to admit as many blacks as possible," he added.

But part of the reason that the remark drew "muted gasps," surely, is that that's not what Scalia said–he didn't say minority students "with inferior academic credentials" would be better off at worse schools, he said African-Americans in general would. Here's the whole passage:

There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas, where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less–a slower-track school where they do well. One of the briefs pointed out that most of the black scientists in this country don't come from schools like the University of Texas…. They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that they're being pushed ahead in classes that are too fast for them.

He goes on to suggest that "really competent blacks" would be better off if they were "admitted to lesser schools":

I'm just not impressed by the fact that ­­ that the University of Texas may have fewer [black students]. Maybe it ought to have fewer. And maybe some, ­­you know, when you take more, the number of blacks, really competent blacks, admitted to lesser schools turns out to be less. And I don't think it stands to reason that it's a good thing for the University of Texas to admit as many blacks as possible.

 http://fair.org/home/nyt-rewrites-scalia-to-make-him-sound-less-racist/

fair.org
New York Times Supreme Court correspondent Adam Liptak recounted a startling moment in the Court's oral arguments over the University of Texas' affirmative action ...




From: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of Sukhamaya Bain subain1@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 7:19 AM
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Scalia argues black students benefit from 'slower' colleges
 
 

Well, I articulated myself OK, but had two typos in my last message, which I have corrected now.

To the point of affirmative actions in the USA, let me add that the beneficiary students in the universities are also likely to suffer from inferiority complex; because they know that they did not get their by virtue of their merits. So, providing historically backward and oppressed people with opportunity to grow up to be as good as anyone else should be at the very childhood stage where children do not understand differences in people's social and financial statuses.

SuBain 

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On Thursday, December 10, 2015 6:28 PM, "Sukhamaya Bain subain1@yahoo.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


 
Scalia's problem was his inability to articulate what he meant. I believe what he meant, and I myself feel, is that each school needs to decide its minimum standard of academic background for its prospective students. Students that do not meet that standard should not be admitted, irrespective of their race, gender, national origin, etc. For diversity on the campus, that standard should not be lowered. It should be a matter of the standard of the school and fairness to all prospective students, and not about diversity on campus, or about helping any race, gender, nationality, etc.

Indeed, there are many options in the USA for students of all backgrounds; and a lot of the graduates from lower ranking schools are known to succeed in life and do better than a lot of graduates from Ivy league schools. Painting any of them in terms of race, gender etc. is not a controversy that a justice of the US Supreme Court should have gotten into. 

Sukhamaya Bain

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On Wednesday, December 9, 2015 10:41 PM, "Shah DeEldar shahdeeldar@gmail.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


 
Insensitive comment from a supreme court justice? Politically incorrect truth?






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