Admitting Stupidity

Liberty Magazine ^ | August, 2003 | Alec Mouhibian

[Alec Mouhibian]

Yes, I just graduated from high school, and this piece is published in the current issue of Liberty Magazine (August, 2003). You can find it at Borders and Barnes&Nobles everywhere.

[gcruse]

What a great piece, Alec. How did you get stuck on the chat side, though? This belongs on the main forum. Bumping for talent. How 'bout it, ping masters?

[mhking]

Impressive!

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Ping...read this!

[RJCogburn]

excellent. thanks for the ping.

[BOBTHENAILER]

(The question of how this enthusiasm, strength and purpose is going to magically appear in a tough university atmosphere, when it hasn’t been enough to sustain a requisite performance in a low-level high school, goes unanswered.)

What a great article and a great post.

The dumbing down of America continues in runaway fashion.

BTTT for a great read.

[Sloth]

Awesome piece. BTTT!

[Bahbah]

"University staffers have coached minority students on how to identify and present their hardships.”

Gack, gack.

[Lazamataz]

I hate that you write better than me.

Well, with any luck, all writing will be outsourced to India and you won't have a job like the rest of America.

[gcruse]

What gripes me is people like Alec and Cathryn are damned near kids, but have a great future in media. While me, what do I have? Get over here, bitch, and sing something!!!

[Lazamataz]

I despise the fact that today's youth outshines us in every way.

Well, at least I rest happy in the knowledge that time will wound them with paunch, fading eyesight, and progressive obsolescence.

Kinda like how it did to us.

[Scenic Sounds]

Nice article. We got us another great writer here!

Welcome to the crazy world of college admissions!

Here's an assignment for "extra credit": Using a "strict construction" of the fourteenth amendment's equal protection clause, see if you can explain why a state college should be permitted to discriminate on the basis of grades or SAT scores but not on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Thanks for the ping!! I'll keep my eye out for more articles by this guy.

[gcruse]

If I'm still around to see it, I'll cackle out loud.

[William McKinley]

Outstanding. Well done. Bravo.

Choose the compliment, it fits. This is a phenomenal article.

[Lazamataz]

If I'm still around to see it, I'll cackle out loud.

Yeah, IF we can get our bifocals on, and IF the nurse wheels us around so we can see them, and IF our dentures hold, we'll be able to cackle at them.

IF.

[Cathryn Crawford]

You guys stop whining because Alec and I are simply wiser than you two despite our youth. We can't help it. We were born that way. :-)

[gcruse]

You guys stop whining because Alec and I are simply wiser than you two despite our youth.

Oh, yeah?  Then get Wilson and Rebecca out of that mess!  :)

[Cathryn Crawford]

I'd love to - but I have to get out of another mess first. :)

[A_perfect_lady]

Kid, you do not need college. You are already a better writer and a more sensible thinker than 95% of the professors in the humanities. There is nothing, nothing, nothing those people can teach you. Take it from me. I have a B.A. in English, a B.A. in French, an M.A. in applied linguistics, and did three years in a Ph.D. program in Anthropology. I've published, I've taught, I've edited scholarly journals, I've done fieldwork.... what do you think you'll get from these smug, useless, socks-and-sandals wearing tofu-eating latte-sipping pony-tailed fascists?

[dark_lord]

The UC system spends $85 million a year on its outreach program.

This is a key statement. There are only about 201,000 students total registered with the UC system for 2003. Make a broad assumption that one quarter of those are freshman (the other three quarters being non-freshman undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral). So, $85M divided by 50K equals $1700 per student per YEAR spent on this stuff. Of course, only a fraction of those 50K students needed the services of this outreach program, so on a per student basis of those who need the services (say 10%), this works out to be $17,000 per outreach student. Tax dollars at work, I presume.