Express Action Sports

Can’t deny this. Barrack may have got a few bumps because of Affirmative Action but compared to Bush, his family connection is the direct reason for his success. I don’t agree much with social engineering but I think its unfair to discredit a person because one used a different technique than the other.

Obama was an honor student! Any poor white guy can also be an honor student.

I came from a poor,yet educated family. Both of my parents had degrees. My father used the GI Bill and worked several jobs and my mother’s education was paid for by her family. She was the first female with a 4 year degree.

As sometimes happens (even in the "old days") my parents were divorced…my mother became a single parent of 5 small children. Long story short, we ended up on welfare and living in a housing project with 90% (+/-) minorities. Poor, yes, but we had an advantage over most of our neighbors…education.

Because of my mother’s education, we all knew how to read and write (to a small degree) before we entered school! We started out ahead and stayed there. As soon as the littlest kids were into preschool my mother went to work, of course. Our black neighbors didn’t have the HEAD START that we did.We only stayed in the housing project for a few years and were back in neighborhoods with GOOD schools by the time the youngest entered kindergarten.

I can never forget the lessons I learned during those early years…many painful but many that have shaped my views on social and economic equality. I could no longer be a racist than be a Republican as long as they perpetuate these myths they hold so dear about equal opportunity existing in the USA.

We remained semi-poor throughout my school years, but high GPA’s allowed my brothers and sisters to choose whatever schools they wanted through scholarships and/or grants. My younger brother was able to choose between MIT, Harvard and Stanford among others due to his extra-curricular activities (Sports and Student Body Prez)! The rest of us weren’t interested in all that and went to State schools.

Affirmative Action as long as it is needed works. Condi Rice and Clarence Thomas are both great examples of it. The little bit of money WE paid for their schooling along with their own hard work ie studying in school, has reaped the TAX-PAYERS that paid the bill a very substantial dividend in the way of money returned back to us in the form of their increased taxes!

All tax-money spent on education is a good investment. The countries that spend the most on it have a higher rate of longterm growth than the ones that don’t. FACT!

Note: Conversely, I think that letting "legacy" kids into prestigious institutions can ruin them in the long run by lowering over-all standards.

I don’t think Bush should have been allowed to go to Yale if he couldn’t pass minimum requirements for that institution. Nor do I think Annapolis should have let McCain in for the same reason…He did not have the grades. (I also have a cousin and an Uncle who attended Annapolis)…Both of them should have had to prove their abilities by a higher GPA, in a smaller school for 2 years before being allowed in.

I would like to see our Democracy strive to become a MERITOCRACY and descend further into an ARISTOCRACY !!!