One of the scarcest commodities during coronaplague is honesty. Rich white Americans love to say that they are advocating the lockdown of poor Black Americans and the closure of schools for Black children for the benefit of poor Black Americans.
One of our Boston-area Deplorables refuses to be cast into this mold. He says that he is happy that Shutdown Karens are denying an education to children of color throughout the U.S. and also denying urban children the opportunity to train athletically. His primary goal right now is getting his white children, currently in high school, into elite universities (both parents are Ivy League grads), and where the New York Times sees deprivation (caused by the policies for which the New York Times has advocated) he sees reduced competition. Unlike their urban counterparts, his children have not had any interruption or slowdown in their learning . His children have not had any interruption in their elite athletic training (since dad was an elite college athlete and can train them himself whenever organized sports are canceled; plenty of space in their massive suburban house with fully equipped gym and multi-acre yard).
(In fairness to this Deplorable, he was not himself in favor of shutting down any schools. But now that the say-gooders have crippled millions of his children’s competitors, he is not shedding crocodile tears.)
Related:
- Chicago Public Schools might consider partial reopening (“hybrid”) in February (NBC)
- The $70 billion travel sports industry (rich whites and Asians getting their kids into college) (25 percent of slots in some elite schools are reserved for accomplished athletes)
- The social justice of coronashutdowns
Athletic training at home is always great, but how backyard achievements, even if it is a multi-acre backyard, translate to varsity competition victories and athletic awards that are needed for college admissions when schools are closed? I observed that varsity victories and awards are clear advantages in getting athletic scholarships, but when applicant scholastic achievements are too in the ball park. However my observation was purely theoretical as in that case my college admissions candidate, who per this blog advise planned to go to a state school and dis sports only because he liked sports, did not accept athletic scholarship offer from one of the top schools.
His kids still have a year or two to go before the college admissions gauntlet. So they will go into the athletic competitions with an additional year of training compared to their urban rivals and/or suburban rivals who lacked an elite athlete dad.
As if on cue, David Coleman reminds everyone he is still hard at work to take some of the wind out of the sails of said competitive white suburban parents:
https://allaccess.collegeboard.org/update-reducing-and-simplifying-demands-students
This is a hasty decision and a lost opportunity: without Subject Test scores, how will the College Board accurately determine how much weight needs to burden Harrison Bergeron?
Incredible. Further dumbing-down of higher education. Hope that Advanced Placement classes and placement examinations are there to stay. Now Advanced Placement score or absence of such will become substitute to subject SAT test for college admissions to colleges that are interested in accepting advanced learners. For how long?
Forget SAT Subject test scores – will we still have working indoor toilets and potable water?
Clean water and effective sanitation require specific abilities beyond talking about one’s feelings regarding assumed victimization at the hand of implacable social injustice …