Recently, I got to talk to one of those protesters about theimpaction policy, here’s the dialogue:
Me: Hey, what’s going on here?
Protester: We’re rallying about the racist policy!
Me: What racist policy?
Protester: The one that kept my homies from getting in! Ever sincethey raised the standards, they can’t get in.
Me: Isn’t that their own fault, shouldn’t we get accepted tocollege based on the grades we get, and not the color of our skin?
Protester: You’re crazy! We should be accepted to college becauseit isn’t diverse enough here! We need some color at this place!
Me: Wouldn’t it make you mad knowing that you worked your butt offto get here, and find out that someone who didn’t even work half ashard as you got in because they are a different race! Doesn’t it makeyou mad that you are protesting to “dumb down” the standards! Here,let me ask you something, what is your major?
Protester: Afrikana Studies.
As I walked away I started to realize that his major only studiesrace. What are they going to do with a major like that? I’m prettysure that there aren’t many jobs out there that are looking forrace-based majors.
So, I could see why they would want to take the value away from mydegree (biology), because they are just here, I’m assuming, to hangout!
It’s time to mature and actually go to college, not sit on theoutskirts saying it’s too hard. Just like in basketball, if you arenot good enough to play, you don’t go and cry saying that there isnot enough diversity on the court. You work your butt off to getaccepted.
You don’t see little white short men protesting that the NBA isracist because they don’t let enough whites play. My message to allthe protesters: If you don’t like it, get out. It’s obviously toohard for you!
Angelo Kolokithasbiology freshman
Resolving remediation
I am responding in regard to the article about reducing the needfor remediation for incoming students (“CSU allocates almost $9million to reduce need for remediation,” Nov. 24, The Daily Aztec).
I have some ideas:
No. 1: Repair the high school curriculum. For English, don’t juststudy literature. Do one year of writing (if possible, at the grade12 level). Replace grade 12 English with a writing course similar toRhetoric And Writing Studies 92A and 92B here. That way, they willget the writing practice they need.
It seems most high schools just focus on literature and reading,and not the writing problems. RWS 92B (the remedial course here) isvery different than most high school English courses.
For math, you might change your admission requirements to meet theprerequisites of the entry-level math courses here. Since the mostcommon course that people start here is calculus, I would suggestchanging the admission criteria from just “three years ofmathematics” to “Algebra I, Intermediate Algebra, Geometry andTrigonometry.” Potential students would have the correct math coursesin high school to be successful here.
No. 2: I would set up a Web site with practice English ProficiencyTest, Entrance Level Math, Writing Competency, Math Competency, TWAand other tests. People could practice and see what they need to knowbefore they come in and take the competency requirements (even fromother states and other countries).
For multiple-choice questions, put the test in a Web form, andthen clicking submit would run a CGI script and grade it. For essayquestions, I would have the practice test people send their essays bye-mail, too. Someone would respond back within a few days. They couldcharge a fee to grade essays, because of the human graders involved.
I would also place study guides on the Web for both students andhigh school teachers to download and use to study for the competencyexams, and to incorporate the required material into the high schoolcurriculum.
No. 3: For students who need help and need some remedial work, Iwould allow transfer credit (for competency only) for high schoolsummer school, community college remedial courses, adult school andsimilar programs if the work done is equivalent and the program andthe course is approved by San Diego State University.
The other thing I would allow is that if you fail the EPT or ELM,you could retake it as many times as you need. Currently, studentsare only allowed to take it once.
I would also not require memorization of readings for people whoare smart, but have trouble “cramming.” In that case, I would letpeople use a note chart with three facts about each reading.
I think these suggestions would help people get out of remedialclasses, and get more students prepared to come here.
Stephen HinkleJunior-high journalism
Congratulations — The holiday list in was most impressive (“TheHoliday List,” Nov. 23, The Daily Aztec). Not only did it manage toshock me that something this junior-high-schoolish would be printedin a college newspaper, it also managed to offend me, which is not aneasy task by any means.
Kudos to whoever thought this one up. It’s creativity andoriginality like this that will get you somewhere in the journalismbusiness.
Jon Oropezacomputer science major
Gilbert’s good-bye
I wanted to express my feelings about Claude Gilbert, thedefensive coordinator of the Aztecs football team. Coach Gilbert isan outstanding coach and a wonderful person. I’ve known Claude forabout 29 years and he is without a doubt one of the finest coachesever to coach football at San Diego State University.
In addition to losing his exceptional persona, SDSU will be losinga valuable coach when Claude retires. I speak for all of us who haveworked with Claude over the years. He is a very special person whowill be sorely missed.
Jim DietzSDSU head baseball coach
Academic equality
The article “Students protest impaction” (Nov. 18, The DailyAztec) reveals that SDSU President Stephen Weber’s remarks about thisuprising of “mostly African-American” students was unsatisfactory.
He told them that black students in general deserve to be awardedpreferential treatment in gaining admission to SDSU because “theelementary and secondary schools in the country have failed them.”That is a partially incorrect statement.
It is true that public schools that enroll black students (andthose of other races) from low-income families have had a dismalrecord in developing these students’ academic skills and knowledge.The extent to which that unfortunate situation is a fault of theschools remains an empirical question, however.
Some well-designed surveys reveal that subpar academic achievementof low-income students (of all races) can be attributed significantlymore to such things as their negative attitudes toward formallearning, inability to pay attention and follow directions, and lackof parental care and supervision, than to deficiencies in the school.
On the other hand, school district managers typically allocatemore financial resources and assign the best teachers to schools thatenroll middle- and upper-class students, than to schools oflow-income students.
Through the recent passage of Proposition 209, the law now takesthose facts into consideration. Prohibited by 209 is preference forstate university admission for middle- and upper-class minoritystudents, based on their race, qualify for that preferment.
The justifiable message from 209 to parents and students ofmiddle- and upper-class families is that they now must acceptpersonal responsibility for making sure students study diligentlyenough to meet the requirements of university admission. Skin colorwill no longer suffice for that purpose for affluent black students,as it has in the past.
President Weber falsely interprets this change as a dastardlydeliberate plot to make SDSU “more elite,” i.e., to ensure that itenrolls only white students. In fact, the change does notde-emphasize the importance of racial diversity on state univer
sitycampuses.
It does rightly focus affirmative action on enhancing thisdiversity where it properly belongs, for the benefit of low-incomestudents, of all races, and not for relatively wealthy ones.
Finally, the tone of Weber’s reaction to the change seems designedto exacerbate racial disharmony on campus, rather that to urgemiddle- and upper-class black students to understand and acceptdiversity-at-any-cost statements are not only illegal, according to209. They appear demagogic just at a time when sagacity about theirtopic is desperately called for.
Patrick Groffprofessor emeritus
