Article, editorial or a little of both
I read an article in Saturday's Los Angeles Times that I found a little puzzling. Larry Gordon wrote a piece about how recruiters from the "best" colleges visit private schools far more often than they visit schools where there are a "high proportion of low-income and minority" students.
Is this a surprise? The article makes a comparison between The Webb Schools out in Claremont with LAUSD's Jefferson High. This past fall, there were 113 recruiters from across the nation that visited Webb, which has a senior class of less than 100. Jefferson, where there are 280 seniors, got visited by 20 recruiters from colleges and universities.
The article seems to be making a statement that this is discriminatory. That may be the opinion of the author of the piece and of the people who publish the Times, but that doesn't make it fact. Nor does it make it an accurate illustration and comparison.
The tuition at Webb is over $32,000 per year. That's why they have a college guidance office with three full-time employees (two counselors and an executive assistant). That doesn't stop some of the parents of Webb students from hiring outside college counselors as part of the process of ensuring their child gets into the college of their choice; at a cost of thousands of dollars more.
Are the students from Webb "better" than the students at Roosevelt? They're almost certainly better educated and prepared for college, but that doesn't make them better overall. However, we cannot ignore the fact that colleges and universities are in the business of filling their classes with students who will stay the course; and who can pay the tuition. Financial aid is a limited, precious resource at the college level. Full-pay students, especially those who qualify for academic scholarship, are at a premium. Competition for them is fierce.
Plus, the bulk of these "prestigious" universities are private schools. They can choose to admit whoever they want. Even when they promote their commitment to enrolling a diverse student population, it is their own definition of diversity that governs. The school's operations are overseen by a board of trustees, not the public.
It is a sad reality that students from minority and lower-income backgrounds aren't going to get into the Ivy League and other top notch colleges and universities with the same frequency of the students who come from the best private schools. Or for that matter, charter schools. Palisades Charter High may be a public school but they have a college guidance office with four staff members and a number of volunteer counselors.
The Times should leave editorials on the editorial page.
* * *
I've been a fervent fan of the Los Angeles Lakers since I was five or six years old. I played basketball all through junior high and high school and my dream was to grow tall enough to play in the NBA for the Lakers at what used to be known as the Fabulous Forum. My feelings for the Lakers are like my feelings for the Dodgers. I bleed Dodger Blue. I also bleed the purple and gold of the Lakers.
However, as I've aged, I've become more of a realist. The Lakers, decimated by injuries; and not having the ideal squad in the first place, are not going to win an NBA title this year. At this point, odds are good they won't even make the playoffs.
They are 13-17 as of today and will play another 11 games minimum before Kobe will be back from his stress-fractured knee. He won't be 100% at that point either and even if he were, with the squad they have, he can't carry them on his back to the NBA Finals. Right now they are home for four games, but then will play 10 of 11 on the road. That takes them past the halfway point of the season. I do not expect to see the Lakers in the postseason.
I've never been a fan of teams that dog it in order to get a lottery pick and I'm not suggesting that they should. What I am suggesting is that considering the team will almost certainly miss the playoffs, it would be better to go longer rather than shorter on the rehabilitation program for Kobe. A 100% healthy Kobe next season is far more valuable than a 75% Kobe would be this year. Now if they were in the hunt for a title, things would be different. They aren't. We're counting on Kobe to deliver in the next two seasons, and he's being very well paid for them. The Lakers should take steps to protect that investment. No, they shouldn't try to lose to land a lottery pick. But you don't have to rush your superstar back into the lineup.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Who doesn't know that when you play Monopoly and someone chooses not to buy the vacant property they just landed on, the property is sold at auction? It's been in the rules for decades. Also, the cat replacing the iron as a game piece is lame.
Is anyone surprised that a judge has dismissed lawsuits against the federal government's Army Corps of Engineers for being negligent in maintaining the levees that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina? I'm not.
While I'm scared it won't be as good as the original, I have to admit I am looking forward to seeing "22 Jump Street" when it comes out next year.
Andrew Bynum's biggest problem has always been his lack of strong work ethic, but you can't teach someone to be 7 feet tall, so teams will always be out there willing to take a chance on him.
According to experts, gyms actually don't want their members to show up. They want members paying fees, and if everyone who belonged to a gym were to show up, the gym would be very overcrowded.
Ronda Rousey should have shaken hands after her win in the octagon.
If you have a large estate to pass on to your heirs, you don't want to be a resident of New Jersey or Maryland at the time you pass on. Both states impose an estate tax, and an inheritance tax. That boggles my mind.
Calling Britney Spear's choice to take up residency at a Las Vegas Hotel/Casino an "early retirement" is harsh, but more or less accurate. At least she isn't hiding the fact she's lip-syncing, by doing it so badly.
So if someone is legally smoking marijuana in Colorado, in their car, when they cross the border, will their next puff be "One Toke Over The Line"?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejvcd-JeVCQ
If the Australian icebreaker does what the Chinese icebreaker couldn't, and rescues the Russian ship stuck in Antarctic ice, is that a knock on goods that were made in China?
A woman who got her lost engagement ring back after it had disappeared six years early should have gone right out and bought a lottery ticket.
I'm not sure which is worse. That Miley Cyrus flashed her "hoo-haa" while attending Britney's opening night show by wearing no underwear and a mighty short skirt, or that some paparazzo snapped a photo of it. Call it a tie.
* * *
December 29th in History:
1170 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church.
1427 – Army of Ming Dynasty started withdrawing from Hanoi, put an end to the domination of Đại Việt.
1508 – Portuguese forces under the command of Francisco de Almeida attack Khambhat at the Battle of Dabul.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: 3,000 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia.
1786 – French Revolution: The Assembly of Notables is convened.
1812 – The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.
1813 – British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York during the War of 1812.
1835 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.
1845 – In accordance with International Boundary delimitation, United States annexes the Republic of Texas, following the manifest destiny doctrine. The Republic of Texas, which had been independent since the Texas Revolution of 1836, is thereupon admitted as the 28th U.S. state.
1851 – The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
1860 – The first British seagoing ironclad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.
1876 – The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 300 Lakota killed by the US Army.
1911 – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing Dynasty, enthroning 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu as Khagan of Mongolia.
1911 – Sun Yat-sen becomes the provisional President of the Republic of China; he formally takes office on January 1, 1912.
1914 – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the first novel by James Joyce, is serialized in The Egoist.
1930 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the Two nation theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.
1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
1937 – The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.
1939 – First flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.
1940 – World War II: In the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England, UK, killing almost 200 civilians.
1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
1959 – Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology.
1959 – The Lisbon Metro begins operation.
1972 – An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar) crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101.
1975 – A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York, New York, killing 11 people and injuring 74.
1989 – Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached.
1996 – Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.
1997 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million lives.
2001 – A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru, kills at least 291.
2003 – The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct.
2006 – UK settles its Anglo-American loan - post WWII loan debt.
Famous Folk Born on December 29th:
Charles Goodyear
Andrew Johnson (worst U.S. President in history)
Carl Ludwig
Billy Mitchell (aviation pioneer)
Billy Tipton (born a woman, lived as a man)
Tom Bradley (THE mayor)
Inga Swenson
Ed Flanders
Mary Tyler Moore
Ray Nitschke
Wayne Huizenga
Jon Voight
Rick Danko
Marianne Faithfull
Ted Danson
Yvonne Elliman
Brad Grey
Patricia Clarkson
Paula Poundstone
Jude Law
Paul Rudnick
Nancy J. Currie
Mehki Phifer
Shawn Hatosy
Danny McBride
Movie quotes today come from "Flirting With Disaster", a funny film that had Mary Tyler Moore in it:
Mel: [to Agent Tony] You got a lot of nerve. You come in here, you lick my wife's armpit. You know... I'm going to have that image in my head for the rest of my life with your tongue in there.
Nancy Coplin: You deserve it.
#2
Mary Schlichting: You apologize!
Lonnie Schlichting: I'm sorry.
Mary Schlichting: Sorry for what?
Lonnie Schlichting: I'm sorry that I put windowpane in Mel's quail, and I'm sorry that you ate it.
#3
Nancy Coplin: Does anybody actually own a white Taurus, or are they all rentals?
#4
Agent Tony: Do you mind if I look at your armpit?
Nancy Coplin: My armpit?
Agent Tony: It's my favorite part of a woman's body.
Is this a surprise? The article makes a comparison between The Webb Schools out in Claremont with LAUSD's Jefferson High. This past fall, there were 113 recruiters from across the nation that visited Webb, which has a senior class of less than 100. Jefferson, where there are 280 seniors, got visited by 20 recruiters from colleges and universities.
The article seems to be making a statement that this is discriminatory. That may be the opinion of the author of the piece and of the people who publish the Times, but that doesn't make it fact. Nor does it make it an accurate illustration and comparison.
The tuition at Webb is over $32,000 per year. That's why they have a college guidance office with three full-time employees (two counselors and an executive assistant). That doesn't stop some of the parents of Webb students from hiring outside college counselors as part of the process of ensuring their child gets into the college of their choice; at a cost of thousands of dollars more.
Are the students from Webb "better" than the students at Roosevelt? They're almost certainly better educated and prepared for college, but that doesn't make them better overall. However, we cannot ignore the fact that colleges and universities are in the business of filling their classes with students who will stay the course; and who can pay the tuition. Financial aid is a limited, precious resource at the college level. Full-pay students, especially those who qualify for academic scholarship, are at a premium. Competition for them is fierce.
Plus, the bulk of these "prestigious" universities are private schools. They can choose to admit whoever they want. Even when they promote their commitment to enrolling a diverse student population, it is their own definition of diversity that governs. The school's operations are overseen by a board of trustees, not the public.
It is a sad reality that students from minority and lower-income backgrounds aren't going to get into the Ivy League and other top notch colleges and universities with the same frequency of the students who come from the best private schools. Or for that matter, charter schools. Palisades Charter High may be a public school but they have a college guidance office with four staff members and a number of volunteer counselors.
The Times should leave editorials on the editorial page.
* * *
I've been a fervent fan of the Los Angeles Lakers since I was five or six years old. I played basketball all through junior high and high school and my dream was to grow tall enough to play in the NBA for the Lakers at what used to be known as the Fabulous Forum. My feelings for the Lakers are like my feelings for the Dodgers. I bleed Dodger Blue. I also bleed the purple and gold of the Lakers.
However, as I've aged, I've become more of a realist. The Lakers, decimated by injuries; and not having the ideal squad in the first place, are not going to win an NBA title this year. At this point, odds are good they won't even make the playoffs.
They are 13-17 as of today and will play another 11 games minimum before Kobe will be back from his stress-fractured knee. He won't be 100% at that point either and even if he were, with the squad they have, he can't carry them on his back to the NBA Finals. Right now they are home for four games, but then will play 10 of 11 on the road. That takes them past the halfway point of the season. I do not expect to see the Lakers in the postseason.
I've never been a fan of teams that dog it in order to get a lottery pick and I'm not suggesting that they should. What I am suggesting is that considering the team will almost certainly miss the playoffs, it would be better to go longer rather than shorter on the rehabilitation program for Kobe. A 100% healthy Kobe next season is far more valuable than a 75% Kobe would be this year. Now if they were in the hunt for a title, things would be different. They aren't. We're counting on Kobe to deliver in the next two seasons, and he's being very well paid for them. The Lakers should take steps to protect that investment. No, they shouldn't try to lose to land a lottery pick. But you don't have to rush your superstar back into the lineup.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Who doesn't know that when you play Monopoly and someone chooses not to buy the vacant property they just landed on, the property is sold at auction? It's been in the rules for decades. Also, the cat replacing the iron as a game piece is lame.
Is anyone surprised that a judge has dismissed lawsuits against the federal government's Army Corps of Engineers for being negligent in maintaining the levees that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina? I'm not.
While I'm scared it won't be as good as the original, I have to admit I am looking forward to seeing "22 Jump Street" when it comes out next year.
Andrew Bynum's biggest problem has always been his lack of strong work ethic, but you can't teach someone to be 7 feet tall, so teams will always be out there willing to take a chance on him.
According to experts, gyms actually don't want their members to show up. They want members paying fees, and if everyone who belonged to a gym were to show up, the gym would be very overcrowded.
Ronda Rousey should have shaken hands after her win in the octagon.
If you have a large estate to pass on to your heirs, you don't want to be a resident of New Jersey or Maryland at the time you pass on. Both states impose an estate tax, and an inheritance tax. That boggles my mind.
Calling Britney Spear's choice to take up residency at a Las Vegas Hotel/Casino an "early retirement" is harsh, but more or less accurate. At least she isn't hiding the fact she's lip-syncing, by doing it so badly.
So if someone is legally smoking marijuana in Colorado, in their car, when they cross the border, will their next puff be "One Toke Over The Line"?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejvcd-JeVCQ
If the Australian icebreaker does what the Chinese icebreaker couldn't, and rescues the Russian ship stuck in Antarctic ice, is that a knock on goods that were made in China?
A woman who got her lost engagement ring back after it had disappeared six years early should have gone right out and bought a lottery ticket.
I'm not sure which is worse. That Miley Cyrus flashed her "hoo-haa" while attending Britney's opening night show by wearing no underwear and a mighty short skirt, or that some paparazzo snapped a photo of it. Call it a tie.
* * *
December 29th in History:
1170 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church.
1427 – Army of Ming Dynasty started withdrawing from Hanoi, put an end to the domination of Đại Việt.
1508 – Portuguese forces under the command of Francisco de Almeida attack Khambhat at the Battle of Dabul.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: 3,000 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia.
1786 – French Revolution: The Assembly of Notables is convened.
1812 – The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.
1813 – British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York during the War of 1812.
1835 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.
1845 – In accordance with International Boundary delimitation, United States annexes the Republic of Texas, following the manifest destiny doctrine. The Republic of Texas, which had been independent since the Texas Revolution of 1836, is thereupon admitted as the 28th U.S. state.
1851 – The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
1860 – The first British seagoing ironclad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.
1876 – The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 300 Lakota killed by the US Army.
1911 – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing Dynasty, enthroning 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu as Khagan of Mongolia.
1911 – Sun Yat-sen becomes the provisional President of the Republic of China; he formally takes office on January 1, 1912.
1914 – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the first novel by James Joyce, is serialized in The Egoist.
1930 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the Two nation theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.
1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
1937 – The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.
1939 – First flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.
1940 – World War II: In the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England, UK, killing almost 200 civilians.
1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
1959 – Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology.
1959 – The Lisbon Metro begins operation.
1972 – An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar) crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101.
1975 – A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York, New York, killing 11 people and injuring 74.
1989 – Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached.
1996 – Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.
1997 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million lives.
2001 – A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru, kills at least 291.
2003 – The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct.
2006 – UK settles its Anglo-American loan - post WWII loan debt.
Famous Folk Born on December 29th:
Charles Goodyear
Andrew Johnson (worst U.S. President in history)
Carl Ludwig
Billy Mitchell (aviation pioneer)
Billy Tipton (born a woman, lived as a man)
Tom Bradley (THE mayor)
Inga Swenson
Ed Flanders
Mary Tyler Moore
Ray Nitschke
Wayne Huizenga
Jon Voight
Rick Danko
Marianne Faithfull
Ted Danson
Yvonne Elliman
Brad Grey
Patricia Clarkson
Paula Poundstone
Jude Law
Paul Rudnick
Nancy J. Currie
Mehki Phifer
Shawn Hatosy
Danny McBride
Movie quotes today come from "Flirting With Disaster", a funny film that had Mary Tyler Moore in it:
Mel: [to Agent Tony] You got a lot of nerve. You come in here, you lick my wife's armpit. You know... I'm going to have that image in my head for the rest of my life with your tongue in there.
Nancy Coplin: You deserve it.
#2
Mary Schlichting: You apologize!
Lonnie Schlichting: I'm sorry.
Mary Schlichting: Sorry for what?
Lonnie Schlichting: I'm sorry that I put windowpane in Mel's quail, and I'm sorry that you ate it.
#3
Nancy Coplin: Does anybody actually own a white Taurus, or are they all rentals?
#4
Agent Tony: Do you mind if I look at your armpit?
Nancy Coplin: My armpit?
Agent Tony: It's my favorite part of a woman's body.
posted by me at 9:33 AM
<< Home