Posted on 03/18/2021 5:57:56 AM PDT by Kaslin
San Francisco's Lowell High School is one of the top public high schools in California. Beginning with its 2021 freshman class, Lowell plans to switch from a merit-based admission system to that of a lottery.
How good is Lowell? It ranked 68th nationwide by U.S. News last year.
About the school's reputation for academic excellence, The San Francisco Unified School District website says: "(Lowell) has been recognized 4 times as a National Blue Ribbon School, 8 times as a California Distinguished School, and one time as a Gold Ribbon School. Lowell has been consistently ranked #1 in the Western Region for the number of Advanced Placement Exams given."
How did students get admitted to Lowell? The SFUSD website still says: "Admission to Lowell is competitive and merit-based, serving students from throughout the city who demonstrate academic excellence and are motivated to pursue a rigorous college preparatory program."
About 60 percent of the student body is Asian, 18 percent white and1.8 percent Black. This is apparently a problem and explains why the SFUSD recently unanimously voted to admit students via this lottery system.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the "problem" is Asian American excellence: "One school board commissioner, Alison Collins, has called merit-based admissions 'racist.' The real problem progressives have with Lowell is that too many Asian-Americans are passing the entrance exam."
This brings us to Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology in Fairfax, Virginia, often the top-rated public high school in the country. TJ also plans to drop their admissions test and are debating on how to replace it. The problem? Over 70 percent of the student body is Asian American. Fairfax County Public School Board Superintendent Scott Brabrand proposed a "merit-based" lottery for 400 of the 500 spots in the school's classes. About that alternative, The Washington Post said: "The lottery proposal spurred controversy from the moment Brabrand introduced it on Sept. 15. He promised it would cause TJ's student body -- which is more than 70 percent Asian and about 20 percent white, with single-digit percentages of Black and Hispanic students -- to more closely resemble the demographics of Fairfax County."
So much for merit. So much for a colorblind society.
Let's assume that Lowell and TJ's competitive merit-based admissions policy resulted in a student-body population that is predominately Black, as is the case with the National Basketball Association. In 2020, the league that prides itself on its racial "wokeness" consisted of 81 percent Black players and 18 percent white players. In the NFL, in 2019, approximately 59 percent of players were Black. As to Major League Baseball, UPI, in 2019, wrote: "By 2017, 27.4 percent of MLB players were Latinos, according to the date compiled by the Society of American Baseball Research." This is roughly 50% more than percentage of the population of Latinos in America.
To correct for these "racial imbalances " and the "underrepresentation" of some groups, suppose professional sports organizations decided, like Lowell High, to use a lottery system? The new rules would prevent the Black player-heavy NBA, the Black player-heavy NFL and the Latino-heavy MLB from drafting the best college players, provided, of course, they had the misfortune of being born Black or Latino.
In 2012, Pew Research Center polled Asian Americans and asked their reaction to the statement, "Most people who want to get ahead can make it if they're willing to work hard." Sixty-nine percent of Asian Americans agreed, as opposed to 58 percent of the general population. Pew explained: "Compared with the general public, Asian Americans stand out for their success in education and career. Most also believe that the U.S. offers more opportunities and freedoms than their countries of origin. A large majority of Asian Americans believe that hard work pays off and most place a strong emphasis on higher education, career and family."
Why punish the best college players because "too many" Blacks excel in sports? Why punish Asian American students for the crime of working hard and outperforming others academically?
Ask the San Francisco Unified School District and Fairfax County Public School Board.
Easy to be the best when you only accept the best (and the best are waiting in line to get in). I predict with 100% certainty that these schools will no longer be the best after this change.
This is exactly the reason why ivy league schools are the best. They are better than other colleges, they simply have the advantage of being able to only accept the best, which perpetuates the lie that they are the best, when they are nothing more than a bus taking the best from point A to point B
A lottery among “qualified” students is OK.
But a general lottery for people who “believe” they might be qualified...that will be something to watch.
The problem with “equity” is that there are a lot more bums than there are geniuses. That “average” or even “median” is a bit skewed.
Merit-based admission to college stopped a long time ago. For non-Whites, that is. Whitey still has to compete, but against other Whiteys. Non-Whiteys are in a separate pool, and compete against each other on the basis of how many times they were in jail, how many babies they had/fathered, how many times they wrote “BLM.”
Looks like this is spreading to high schools.
The NBA players were bred for success
Remember the “admissions scandal” recently?
This will allow the connected to ensure their kids get into those choice schools without having to fake transcripts or pay people to take admissions tests.
Politicians, the rich, celebrities, “social influencers” will all benefit.
Smart kids especially white and asian will be the victims.
Is that you, Jimmy the Greek?
Yeah, “qualified” becomes the problem then. Here in VA, Thomas Jefferson HS, changed “qualified” to a MUCH lower GPA.... And then made diversity quotas based upon the “qualified”..... They always find a way to drop the standards to accommodate their worldview.
It's simply realistic to acknowledge some people are really smarter that other people....
But it takes someone very intelligent to acknowledge that. Doesnt appear to be any smarties there.
Maybe we need an NBA that “looks like America”. The rosters of all teams must reflect the demographics of the USA, and the values of diversity and inclusiveness.
——Worldview-——
No, to accommodate the uneducable feral population that is necessary to maintain political control of American cities
By next year all of those schools will need to offer remedial ed courses.
Why would anyone want to send their children to a racist school? It is obvious that both of the schools mentioned in the article are run by racists. They care more about the color of one’s skin than academic achievement. I can only imagine the utter garbage than taught at these schools. The academic part would be so much easier to obtain at any school if they just rid themselves of leftist drivel. The material taught in high schools, even the best high schools, really is not that difficult to learn.
You think you are pointing out a contradiction, or a double standard, but the Revolution cannot contradict itself and follows only one standard.
when they use a scoring system whose components include ‘diversity’ which insures white males get 0 ...
the system insures white males will not get in.
Expect growth of private schools
There will be a corresponding rise of:
1. Private Schools - especially Chinese-based schools which will focus on academics.
2. Home Schooling.
The “equity” measure will certainly destroy these schools along with their reputations - there will be no going back - and the schools will be blamed for not educating black and latino students.
You are exactly right, their rating will not last. Also find it interesting that the school is 60 percent Asian so obviously they have to do something to bring the Asians back in line. After all it is San Francisco, a major seat of political correctness, Democrat racism and general leftist lunacy.
If that were to happen I might start watching NBA games.
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