Posted on 03/24/2005 1:21:35 PM PST by sinanju
Roland G. Fryer Jr. is 27 years old and he is an assistant professor of economics at Harvard and he is black. Yes, 27 is young to be any kind of professor anywhere. But after what might charitably be called a slow start in the scholarly life, Fryer has been in a big hurry to catch up. He was in fact only 25 when he went on the job market, gaining offers from -- well, just about everywhere. He abruptly ended his job search by accepting an invitation to join the Society of Fellows at Harvard, one of academia's most prestigious research posts. This meant he wouldn't be teaching anywhere for three years. The Harvard economics department told Fryer to take its offer anyway; he could have an office and defer his teaching obligation until the fellowship was done.
-snip-
Fryer has published only a handful of papers so far, all of them written with senior colleagues. A bet on Fryer is, at this point, a bet on potential. But his voice is bold enough to have drawn critics already. Some black economists say he is simply too hard on blacks. ''Part of his work tries to dismiss the influence of racism,'' says William Darity Jr., who teaches at Duke and the University of North Carolina. Darity points to ''An Economic Analysis of 'Acting White,''' a paper in which Fryer explores the mechanism by which high-achieving black students may be antagonized, and held back, by their low-achieving peers. ''The inclination to look for an explanation based on some sort of group-based dysfunctionality is an instinct I don't have,'' Darity says.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
"How many of his close family members, I asked him, had either died young or spent time in prison? He did a quick count: 8 of 10. ''Suppose you can separate people into two camps: geneticists and environmentalists,'' he said. ''Coming up where I came up, it's hard not to be an environmentalist.''
Having seen what he has seen growing up, he seems bound and determined to take on all the usual racialist sacred cows. I trust he already understands from the examples of fellow academics Thomas Sowell, John McWhorter, et al. that it can be a difficult row to how.
I read the article but I wasn't impressed. This guy has a long ways to go if he is going to enter the league of scholars like Sowell or Williams. I was optimistic at first, but once the article mentioned that his hero was DuBois you knew where he stood. By the time we got the story of his experiments with offerent economic rewards to innercity schoolchildren without addressing issues like family and out-of-wedlock childbirths then that judgement was confirmed. He is a "mend it, don't end it" liberal.
"...his hero was DuBois you knew where he stood..."
I'd have stopped there.....now, I'm not even going to click the link. Trojan horse comes to mind.....
He is only 27. It takes decades to make a Sowell or a Williams.
Just ask Williams! I'm sure he'd agree.
The topics being studied and written about by Roland Gehrard Fryer Jr. deserve to be presented on news shows like FOX. FOX could perform an immense information and community service by publicizing these research articles, doing interviews with Mr Fryer and his colleagues, and inviting commentary by other "experts" in the field.
Instead of FOX wasting our time with endless overkill on Court cases, FOX could be a TV News asset instead of a TV News Buffoon.
Why do people of Black heritage always want to poke blame on poor schools, poverty, and the litany of excuses dividing themselves from the rest of the world?
It doesn't work anymore and if they started looking inward at their own responsiblity for their deeds in life and how far they are able to advance themselves, they will find success.
These endless comparisons and divisions are getting stale.
John McWhorter an exceedly brilliant and educated man of color (see Google search) tells it like it is in many of his articles and books.
The title of the article is what got me. How do you come up with a unified theory of Black America? I thought Blacks were different, even from each other. Isn't this an invitation to stereotyping?
How dark skinned is he, I understand that is very important at Harvard now?
i read the article and felt that it led the reader on.
my expectations were to find some of his ideas.
there were no ideas, just a lotta whoopla from the nyt about a black guy.
apparently they're feeling the need to not look like racists or something, especially after their blair fiasco.
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