Wow, "prick" huh? My comments cut you really deep, didn't they?
First of all, if you'd read what I said, you'd know that I grew up in a terrible environment. I was forthright about that. I grew up alongside folks of all walks of life, and I harbor no ill-will toward anyone that looks different than me, talks different than me, walks differently, or practices a different religion. Absolutely zero, zip.
What I have an issue with is someone I grew up with getting a slot in a pharmacy program based on the fact that he or she is a URM, not based on the fact of merit.
For example, I grew up with a kid named Miguel. I would consider us best friends, although when I went to Stanford he stayed in the area and went to CSU Sacramento. Assuming we applied to the same Pharmacy school right now, despite me always having better grades, despite me always working when he'd go out partying, despite me putting forth my best efforts and coming prepared with a 3.73 cumulative 3.85 sci gpa, he might get the nod over me with a more modest 3.2 or 3.1, or even worse, based on the fact that he is a URM.
Does that mean I dislike Hispanics, or "cross the street" when they're coming? Does that mean I'd be "shocked" to see that Dr. Johnston is not white? of course not, and to extrapolate that from what I wrote borders on irrationality. Clearly you got worked up from my post, and your reply was based in emotional response, not in logic. That's understandable as this topic is quite charged.
Was I harsh about my line on working less hard, having more "play" time if I was a URM? No, I don't think so. Why do I not think so? Because for every "hard working" URM that has to go to work AND school (please, as if I don't work 30 hours a week and still maintain a 3.8????? Okay.) there are 10, 20, or more who use their URM status knowingly to relax and use it as a shield. I know these people personally, and if you think this doesn't occur, you're living in a fantasy land.
To say things like Gator did, where URMs are possibly working to support a family and going to school I respond with "Isn't everyone else?" I mean, c'mon now, is it fair to assume every white guy has mom and dad bankrolling his education equally fairly as is assuming every URM lives in the ghetto, works 60 hours a week in the field and still somehow puts in enough school-time to get a 3.0 and deserves a slot in Pharm. school because of that?
It's not fair. Nothing in life is fair, I get that. Believe me, after spending a combined 30 months in Iraq and Afghanistian, I can totally relate. I grew up in the poorest part of Sacramento. Gangs, drugs, you name it, it was there.
I pulled myself out of that cycle of nonsense, and I didn't do that BECAUSE I WAS WHITE, nor did I get any accolade for doing so. However, my bff Miguel gets complimented and congratulated on a nearly daily basis for "escaping the horrible ghetto in which he grew up" and how he was able to avoid drugs.
To me, this is offensive to MIGUEL. Why? It's assuming every URM, every "mexican like him", is automatically predisposed to gang involvement or drug abuse. Please, this is nonsense.
URMs deserve no more special treatment than I do for doing what I have done in my life.
As white people, as the "majority" (Which is changing...), we see everything with our white lens of privilege, this is true. I won't dispute that, when I am trying to get a job, the fact that I'm white might be of benefit to me over an equally-qualified minority just because he's a minority. I'm not blind to that fact, but I don't think the answer is letting URMs into professional schools (ANd graduate schools alike) in an effort to even that disparity out.
And for anyone out there thinking "Oh, he has no idea what it's like being around minorities" - Stop thinking that. There is no one more diverse place on this PLANET than the United States armed forces. Nowhere. I was bunked in Basic Training with guys from Harlem all the way to Anchorage. In Iraq, I fought alongside women from the self-labeled "pit of hell" and I fought alongside privileged "preppy white boys" from Palos Verdes or the Hamptons getting some life experience.
Bottom line - Letting someone with inferior credentials into a program that is exclusive is ludicrous, and it creates a system of rewarding poor performance. For whatever reason, if a person performs poorly, he or she should NOT be rewarded, in any way.
But again, this country loves to reward poor decision-making, so I supose it's no surprise.
BUT WAIT!!! You cry out to me. Minorities don't know how to make good decisions, because they have a hard life growing up, and their parents are probably migrant workers and don't know anything about college! This is a common complaint for people like me against "affirmative action." To this, I point at people like myself, a "WASP", who grew up in the VERY SAME red-lined "GHETTO" that "URMs" grow up in, yet I receive zero compensation for it. What's the deal?
African Americans and Hispanics have lower stats on average. It has been documented. Thats your proof there.
