Letters to the editor

Racial reality ignored by racial neutrality

Re: 'Should summer programs go race-blind?' (Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003):

I confess to finding Mr. Wang's "race-neutral" argument sound in a strictly logical sense. Yet he fails to convey the true nature of the American racial landscape. Mr. Wang's analysis implies that disadvantaged blacks and whites do not meaningfully differ. To use Danny Goldberg's term, this portrayal lacks "teen spirit." Mr. Wang would have us believe that affirmative action in college admissions polarizes people along racial lines when, I think it's safe to say, such boundaries have already been delineated long before. Young white and Asian Americans see themselves well represented on corporate boards, TV sitcoms and law firms whereas young blacks find themselves bombarded with images of 50 Cent and Allen Iverson. I mean to disparage neither Iverson nor "50" (I have a good degree of admiration for both), only to point out the lack of nuance with which the general public regards many racial minorities. Indeed, many poor young blacks themselves internalize the "black" persona propagated by much of popular culture and formulate limited expectations of themselves and others around it. I believe we do a great disservice to ourselves and our fellow Americans by pretending these differences don't exist. In my mind, what we gain from our intelligent, articulate fellow students of color far outweighs our admissions stats in "U.S. News and World Report." Jonathan Jew-Lim '04

Personal achievement central to admissions

Regarding 'Should summer programs go race-blind?' (Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003):

I take offense to Katherine Reilly's assertions that "our parents attended Ivy League schools . . . could afford to send us to expensive summer enrichment programs . . . our high schools had well connected guidance counselors who knew us by name."

The only way my father was able to attend college was because he was smart enough to get a scholarship, and it definitely wasn't to attend an Ivy League school. I was accepted into and studied at a free summer program because I was good at math and science. My high school guidance counselor was not "well-connected:" No one from my high school had gotten into Princeton in over 15 years. She knew me by name, even though she was a counselor for over 200 other students, and I knew her by name because I made the effort to do so.

There is still something to be said for individual achievement, and I believe Ms. Reilly downplays the role that achievement should play in admissions to special academic programs. Perhaps this "white woman from an upper-class suburban family" is only relating the story of those students who share her own precollege social and economic background, but this unfair generalization should not be applied to the perceived "majority" of the student body. Tom Zychinski '05