[lovelyivy84]

I think this is the best post I've read on this thread- thanks for providing all of the technical information!

And you KNOW you wrong for prayin up in here! LMAO!

Originally posted by Exquisite5
WOW... First, let me pray. Dear God, please give me the words to educate without offending others and causing someone to miss the message because of the delivery. Lord, give me the words to enlighten minds and in doing so help your light shine through me. ~Amen

Okay, deep breath. There is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much to address here.

Let me start with affirmative action.

In large urban areas there is A LACK OF EQUITY IN EDUCATION. Breaking that down, that means, even within a certain school district that shares one huge tax base schools in which the student bodyis predominately white are often nicer, cleaner, better kept, employing better teachers, the benefisciaries of better field trips, the benefisciaries of free AP exams and many other things tha their predominately black counterparts in the SAME DISTRICT do not receive.

I am not referring to suburban schools that would clearly have a higher tax base (and can those afford higher quality), right now I am just talking of EQUITY WITHIN ONE DISTRICT.

Now this inequity, which is of even greater magnitude when comparing urban predominately minority schools and suburban predominately white schools, is what leads to inequity in education. A CHILD SHOULD NOT BE PUNISHED BY THE EDUCATION SYSTEM BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF HIS OR HER SKIN. period. When this happens, as it does EVERYDAY in America, something should and MUST be done to rectify the situation...this is where affirmative action comes in.

I am not dealing with the lazy children of any race. I am speaking of children who WANT to learn, but simply because of where they live and attend school (which due to zoning relates back to how much money their parents earn-an often related to "race") they are relegated to a school that provides an education less than and UNEQUAL to that of white students IN THE SAME DISTRICT.

For instance, in Houston, where I am from, high school attendance is based on where the student lives. Lets say I am from an area where the high school is sub-par and because I am from that area I AM REQUIRED TO ATTEND THAT SCHOOL (the magnet schools are full) I will not be afforded the same educational opportunities as students in THE SAME DISTRICT that live across town near the brand new school with computers in every classroom, free Princetown Review for SAT prep, school paid for AP exams and teachers who took pay cuts just to be able to say they teach at "the new school". This is inequity in education. Our parents live and pay taxes in the same district, therefore our schools which are in the same district and SHOULD be of equal opportunity, are not.

This contrast is even greater between rich suburban schools (often high European ancestry concentration) of suburban districts and poorer inner city (often high minority concentration) schools.

Affirmative action in education is NECEASSARY to rectify situations like this. Attending the inner city school, I may work HARD, HARD, HARD, but since my school does not offer free Princeton Review for SAT and since my school doesn't pay for my AP classes (which few inner city students can afford) I do not look as good ON PAPER when applying to college. I can get in, and I do. I have a 4.0, but I am often beaten out for scholarships by students from that school across town who took that free Princeton Review class and scored the guaranteed 140 points higher than me on the SAT. Or I cannot compete with that student who doesn't have a 4.0, but whose dad has whispered in the ear that if he can have the prestige of saying his son got a full ride to XX School, daddy will pay for the new chem lab (In this country on the whole, people who can afford to pay for new chem labs TEND to be white).

I want to go to college, I don't have a 1.39, or even a 2.9, or a rich daddy, but since there is no equity in secondary education I cannot afford to attend college.

Affirmative action in collegiate financing helps to rectify situations likes this. It helps to end the good old boy network of buying one's way into a free education. (Kind of ironic, huh?)

When money is set aside to fund minorities in higher education, it doesn't take money from white students, simply a separate pool of money is raised for minority students (who statistically DO come from lower socio-economic classes) so that they can compete against EACH OTHER on a level playing field. One in which being fortunate to attend "the good school" in the district does not buy one's way into college.

Additionally, I would like to state that a diverse student body BENEFITS EVERYONE. I attend Texas A&M, it is characterized as a "Good Ol' Boy" school. It has one of the most conservative and lily-white student bodies. In Texas, African-Americans make up about 13% of the population, but less than 3% of the A&M student body. Many of the students at A&M are from small (population less than 5000) predominately (if not completely) white towns. Many of the students have never seen a person of color before attending A&M.

Recently a survey was given to hiring departments at many Fortune 500 companies. The results stated that while employers were very confident in the strenght of the A&M degree and the A&M graduates were ALWAYS technically proficient they were often reluctant to hire them because many were closed-minded, lacked world exposure and LACKE THE ABILITY OR KNOW HOW TO INTERACT WITH DIVERSE GROUPS OF PEOPLE. They said they could not be confident sending them to Africa or the Middle East(very important in petroleum engineering...our engineering college is top ranked) because they were not certain of how they would respond and interact. Therefore, diverifying the student body (at any institution) strenghtens the degree earned by all because employers are confident that they are not hiring a person with limited exposure, limited knowledge of different groups and limited interaction capabilities.

Believe me, if a campus remains lilly-white it will hurt the very students complaining about efforts to diversify.

I hope all of that made sense.

Now, race.

There is no argueing race IS a social construct meant to segregate people. Period.

A person's phenotype (outward expression of their genes) CANNOT be used to make assumptions about their genotype (actually genetic makeup). This is because genes are either dominant or recessive. Basically, I may be very fair and very straight hair, and you assume I am of European ancestry and share a genotype common to many European people. You are wrong, because I am really born to two African American parents and my skin and hair are simply expressions of a combination of recessice genes that by nature and the decision of God made it through my bloodline, combined through my parents in just the right way to express my receissive genes. It just so happens that BOTH of my parents were carrying the recessive genes that are expressed phenotypically as light skin and straight hair and their combination was made evident in me.

note..I am not talking about me..I am pretty brown and loving it

Here is an example of a personal mishap. I spend six weeks in Israel during the summer of 1997. I traveled all over and one night my group dinned in the home of an Israelil-Arab family. The entire family was very pale with red hair. I (in my pre-reading of Race Matters ignorance) asked them if they were Irish Jews who made Aaliyah(moved to Israel and went through the steps to become citizens). They told me no, they were INDIGENOUS Arabs and just looked that way because of God.

They are not part of the "race" of people of European decent. Yet, they looked like it. PHENOTYPIC EXPRESSION (race) has no concrete biological basis, it is born of pure social construct by close-minded people who are now dead based on what APPEARS to be.

Let us just leave it at that. Yes, phenotypic expression is often similar of people of the same "race", but there is no certainty and for ANYTHING to be biological and therefore scientifice there HAS to be certainty.

I hope I have enlightened without offending. I have been respectful and welcome posts in response, but please maintain the same level of respect.

I too with say, "Bring it!". Not because I like the movie, "Bring it on" or because I am immature, but because I am confident in what I know. I have been trained for this discussion and an ready educate.