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> It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that this programme changed my life. It opened my eyes to what eventually became my career. It exposed me to other

> It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that this programme changed my life. It opened my eyes to what eventually became my career. It exposed me to other high-schoolers like me. It made me friends I still have today. It still stands as one of my most formative experiences. The difference being that even if you had missed out on this one, you would have most likely had quite a few more as a white guy. > Now, each spot once of those poor students occupied was a spot which could have been occupied by an excellent student. Excellent student? Someone could be an excellent student that's never done simple addition before and look horrible in an algebra class because of that fundamental education not being there. > The poor students weren't poor students because they were female, or because they were non-white, but because they were unintelligent and/or uneducated. I find it interesting that you put unintelligent before uneducated, you might want to self-examine and see if you hold some prejudices. I've found that it's almost always lack of education and/or lack of opportunity creating the environment you've described. > Each of those spots represented a young life which wasn't changed like mine was. Which of those students, unaccepted because of their gender or colour, dropped out of high school, never applied to college, committed suicide or majored in some non-technical field? How dare anyone think that's right? You're right. See the thing is, for every white male/female that this happened to it happens disproportionately more to women, people of color , and women of color increasingly in that order.

wtbob 12y ago
> I find it interesting that you put unintelligent before uneducated, you might want to self-examine and see if you hold some prejudices. What are you going on about? They didn't understand the material: either they were intelligent enough to understand it, but had been insufficiently educated, or they were unintelligent enough to understand it, and no amount of education would have helped. Regardless, they had no business being there. > I've found that it's almost always lack of education and/or lack of opportunity creating the environment you've described. Sure, but that's irrelevant: they should never have been admitted to the programme. They slowed down the rest of the class; they took places which could have been taken by others; they had a miserable time and hated the experience. Others were worse off; they were worse off. It was a lose-lose situation for everyone. > See the thing is, for every white male/female that this happened to it happens disproportionately more to women, people of color , and women of color increasingly in that order. So? The only fair thing is to do one's best to take everyone on his own merits. Those poor students should have been taken on their own merits, and not admitted; the students who were unfairly rejected should have been taken on their merits, and admitted. Only an idiot would give me a slot on a professional football team in order to make up for my lack of sports privilege; only an idiot would admit an unqualified student to make up for his lack of privilege.

wtbob 12y ago

> I find it interesting that you put unintelligent before uneducated, you might want to self-examine and see if you hold some prejudices. What are you going on about? They didn't understand the material: either they were intelligent enough to understand it, but had been insufficiently educated, or they were unintelligent enough to understand it, and no amount of education would have helped. Regardless, they had no business being there. > I've found that it's almost always lack of education and/or lack of opportunity creating the environment you've described. Sure, but that's irrelevant: they should never have been admitted to the programme. They slowed down the rest of the class; they took places which could have been taken by others; they had a miserable time and hated the experience. Others were worse off; they were worse off. It was a lose-lose situation for everyone. > See the thing is, for every white male/female that this happened to it happens disproportionately more to women, people of color , and women of color increasingly in that order. So? The only fair thing is to do one's best to take everyone on his own merits. Those poor students should have been taken on their own merits, and not admitted; the students who were unfairly rejected should have been taken on their merits, and admitted. Only an idiot would give me a slot on a professional football team in order to make up for my lack of sports privilege; only an idiot would admit an unqualified student to make up for his lack of privilege.