I was snowed in and bored so I started reading A Hope in the Unseen. It was pretty engaging and easy to stay with so I hope everyone else will enjoy reading it like I did.

An article in the Jan 31 Newsweek ties into the subject of the book. The article on p. 7 says that while affirmative action is boosting the number of minority group members admitted to colleges and universities, it may not be helping them graduate. An article in the Stanford Law Review says that more minority students drop out or score in the bottom of their classes. The author suggests these students may be mismatched for the prestigious schools they are attending.

That's a question that occured to me when reading Cedric Jennings' odyssey--why did he feel like he HAD to go to an Ivy League school? I don't feel like all university educations are equal--that he would have been just as well off going to a community college--but I don't feel the same about Ivy League that the author and Cedric seem to. Does it really give a minority student a toe in the door to success that an ASU or equivalent university would not provide?[/i]

I am not sure it will give a minority student a toe in the door but I do think that Cedric's focus on being Ivy League was to prove he could do it and to gain the respect of being able to say he went "ivy league". I think that Ivy League schools are awesome especially if they will challenge the students who may otherwise feel like classes arae too easy in other universities. I think that success should be measured on a personal basis. Success to some is finishing high school and to others it is obtaining their PHD. I think that having a degree from App is just as good as having one from Havard but I am sure employers will think a little differently. I enjoyed Cedric's drive to learn and succeed despite all the things that were going on around him and in his school. I think the fact that he drives for and gets into an Ivy League school is great for him. You should always shoot for your dreams and when you get them...rock on!

In terms of universities, I generally believe that education is what you make of it: you can choose to do the work or you can choose not to do the work required. This can happen anywhere.
However, in Cedric's case, I'm not sure if going Ivy was in his best interests. Clarence Thomas even said this. I just think that his experience at Brown was sooo very different from his previous experience in Washington, DC that in his courses he didn't have the assumed previous knowledge that others had. Add to that the conversation between two professors in the book about how affirmative action gets these students in/accepted, but then they're left to sink or swim. I have no idea what to do about this situation, but I can say that no matter who you are, I think that if you come from a disadvantaged background, the idea of leaving someone to sink or swim is unfair.
So this goes back to the debate on affirmative action. Is it ethical? Is it beneficial to admit people somewhere where they might not have the correct qualifications? There are no easy answers. I guess sometimes I wish we could start on a clean slate in society, revamp the educational system, and somehow find a way to get everyone on equal footing; however, with everyone always being on equal footing would probably have its own unique unforseen problems.