Affirmative action, Bush-style
The president, responding to minority journalists as to whether college admissions should get rid of the "legacy" factor, actually said this with a straight face: "Well I think so, yes. I think it ought to be based on merit."
A few bullet points to back up this genuinely-held claim:
-G.W. is a third-generation Yale graduate (his daughter, Barbara, is now the fourth generation)
-his SAT score was 1206, almost 200 points lower than the average Yale freshman circa 1970
-at Yale, he scraped by with a low C average
"Well, in my case, I had to knock on a lot of doors to follow the old man's footsteps," [Bush] said to laughter.
Well, maybe just one door--his grandfather's:
-Prescott Bush sat on Yale's board of trustees when his grandson was admitted
posted by bodenner @ 4:10:00 PM
2 Comments:
Nope, not fair. But would you pass up a Yale education if your grandfather was sittin' on the board? I don't know that I could.
I honestly think I would have. I don't think I could live with myself going to a top-notch university that I knew I didn't deserve. I would have rebelled from the unjust privilege. And even if I had accepted the hand-out, I sure as hell would have worked my ass off to prove myself. Thus...
I don't think his choice to take the family hand-out is to be condemned in itself. We have all received things in our lives that we didn't earn, or even deserve. What really reveals Bush's lack of character is the fact that he lacked any true appreciation or humility, by scoffing his academic wellspring and only barely scraping by with a low C average.
(And of course, this hand-out is only one in a life-long series of opportunities, positions, and wealth that he never earned himself.)
In a related story, I think Paul Hamm should take it upon himself to exchange medals with Yang Tae-young.
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