racism

[STG]

I remember when my dean first told me about CLEPs and that I needed 3 of them if I wanted to finish my Bachelo'rs in a bit over a year, she told me something which I remember shocked me. She told me that they are very easy to pass and that if Blacks pass it, so can I.
I kept quiet which, now that I look back, I think was a terrible mistake because she keeps saying those words to other students too. What makes her think that she has the right to say that? :mad:

[CLEP101]

What makes her think that she has the right to say that? :mad:

She has the right because no one has stood up and put her on check. Just have someone go in there asking about CLEPs, tape her and put her on youtube, then watch how quick she gets canned, and your college will be on the national spotlight.
Hopefully that is not the mentality of all your school's administration/leadership.

[scorched]

You have a moral responsibility to do something about that.

Yes you sat back, and I am glad you came to your senses now.
But sorry to be so harsh, but your no better than her for saying those things unless you do something about it.

[Tasman]

But sorry to be so harsh, but your no better than her for saying those things unless you do something about it.

Easy on purpleteen. As racist is what the comment is, sometimes one is flabbergasted because one is not expecting a comment like that.

[burbuja0512]

I remember when my dean first told me about CLEPs and that I needed 3 of them if I wanted to finish my Bachelo'rs in a bit over a year, she told me something which I remember shocked me. She told me that they are very easy to pass and that if Blacks pass it, so can I.
I kept quiet which, now that I look back, I think was a terrible mistake because she keeps saying those words to other students too. What makes her think that she has the right to say that? :mad:

:eek: That is a horrible thing to say and I'm surprised to hear something like that coming from the academic community, which tends to be a little bit more open-minded.

However... taking the initial racist comment apart, I wonder if she actually meant something else and just didn't communicate it well. I am TOTALLY giving her the benefit of the doubt here and disagree with what she said, but there is something else I can think of:

We know that unfortunately many standardized tests are geared towards middle to upper class white males and that other groups don't do as well because of the question biases. It's pretty well known that SAT and ACT scores for white males tend to be higher and that IQ tests are also very culturally biased. Maybe what she meant to say was that the CLEP/DSST's are standardized tests that don't seem to be slanted in favor of white males and therefore are easier tests to study for because you just have to learn the material and not worry about anything else.

I don't know... that is just a guess and I'm probably totally wrong. I'm just sincerely hoping that someone in that position wouldn't really be that idiotic and every once in a while, people say things that come out the wrong way, so I would love to believe that was not intended the way it sounded.

[IgnazSemmelweis]

At least she wasn't racist against purple people.

[CLEP101]

Easy on purpleteen. As racist is what the comment is, sometimes one is flabbergasted because one is not expecting a comment like that.

Very true, sometimes the comments just hit you like an uppercut and you don't know how to react.

[cookderosa]

I remember when my dean first told me about CLEPs and that I needed 3 of them if I wanted to finish my Bachelo'rs in a bit over a year, she told me something which I remember shocked me. She told me that they are very easy to pass and that if Blacks pass it, so can I.
I kept quiet which, now that I look back, I think was a terrible mistake because she keeps saying those words to other students too. What makes her think that she has the right to say that? :mad:

The Melanist Theory was a real thing. People were trying to link melanin levels in skin to IQ, but it was debunked in the last century. Maybe your dean is really really old, poorly read, or easily misled? Kidding aside, it's unfortunate that your dean's racism a) exists in the world and b) isn't run through a filter before she opens her mouth....cuz how ingrained does something have to be before you are casual enough to say it to a student AT WORK?

What I know about college- there is NO WAY she's getting repremanded unless you go public. People just Don't. Get. Fired. in higher ed. I looooovvveeee Clep101's suggestion, because she'd be bounced out in 2 seconds!

[ryoder]

I have to disagree that standardized tests are made to be easy for people like me and hard for other people.
I think that is a myth that people concoct to make themselves feel better about their socieoeconomic group when they do poorly on a test.

There was a case presided on by Obama's recent supreme court appointment in which reverse racism occurred at the judicial level. White firemen who scored well on a promotion test were denied the promotion because black firefighters didn't score well.

In 2003, the New Haven Fire Department decided to base promotions to the positions of captain and lieutenant primarily on a written exam. But the next year the city threw out the test results when all but one of the eligible candidates for promotion proved to be white. New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci, a high scorer on the test who is white, sued for reverse discrimination. His case is now before the Supreme Court in Ricci v. DeStefano. The case is getting extra play because 2nd Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's choice to take Justice David Souter's place on the Supreme Court, joined a brief opinion rejecting Ricci's appeal and then voted to deny rehearing of his case. Many commentators have championed Ricci's cause and disparaged Sotomayor for voting against him.

Why Sotomayor rejected the New Haven firefighters' claim. - By Richard Thompson Ford - Slate Magazine


“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” said Judge Sotomayor


NYT ‘Explains’ Sotomayor’s Racist Views » Sweetness & Light

When people say that my life was easier because I am a white male they cheapen the struggles that I have had in life.

[jackbanta]

But sorry to be so harsh, but your no better than her for saying those things unless you do something about it.

Living out in the sticks of western NY, if I had to take a stand against every racist comment I heard, I'd never have a chance to do anything else. And I'd probably get my butt kicked a lot. It's sad, but it's true. Purpleteen's dean's comment sadly doesn't surprise me because it seems a lot of times that even the "educated" ones around my area have at least some racist ideas, even if they aren't actively hateful.

Things are better than 30 years ago, but we still have a long way to go.