[458] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
minority students at MIT lack motivation?? I think someone is
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Nnennia Ejebe)
Wed May 2 13:15:07 2001
Message-Id: <200105021714.NAA13763@melbourne-city-street.mit.edu>
Date: Wed, 02 May 2001 13:13:28 -0400
To: Jay P Muchnij <munch@MIT.EDU>, mit-talk@MIT.EDU
From: Nnennia Ejebe <nnennia@MIT.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <200105021518.LAA13894@all-night-tool.mit.edu>
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So we were talking about affirmative action, and along the way this bizarre
and
tangential statement was written:
Statement:
**************************
I'm certainly not in a position to state whether or not 85%
of the people who apply to MIT can handle the load as it is now. That
does beg the question of whether or not MIT *should* be an institution
where 85% of the applicants can handle the load. I get the feeling that
many of those arguing against affirmative action feel that it shouldn't
be. (I know that there are professors who bitch about how the student
body isn't what it was when it comes to drive and motivation, and blame
this on the admissions office [aka Affirmative Action], deservedly or not.)
*****************************
My interpretation:
Some professors believe that affirmative action is allowing unmotivated and
undriven (is that a word?) minority students to come to MIT.
I think someone has been smoking crack.
1) Can someone please introduce me to this alleged unmotivated minority
student
at MIT, so I that I may ask him/her "How does it feel to be as mythical as
Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny?"
2) 99% of students at MIT could be GETTING PAID to go to school at their local
state universities. So why do we choose to pay $36K to get driven insane,
literally, by difficult psets and projects? Excluding a good percentage of
freshmen, MIT students do not lack drive or motivation.
3) Are you sure these "professors" are bitching about unmotivated students in
general? or are they bitching because students are not particualrly
interested
in their line of work? I think you need to clarify that statement, because I
may be able to agree with what the profs are saying if they are complaining
that not enough students are interested in research, academia, etc.
seek rehab,
Nnennia
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So we were talking about affirmative action, and along the way this
bizarre and tangential statement was written:<br>
<br>
Statement:<br>
**************************<br>
I'm certainly not in a position to state whether or not 85%<br>
of the people who apply to MIT can handle the load as it is now.
That<br>
does beg the question of whether or not MIT *should* be an
institution<br>
where 85% of the applicants can handle the load. I get the feeling
that<br>
many of those arguing against affirmative action feel that it
shouldn't<br>
be. (I know that there are professors who bitch about how the
student<br>
body isn't what it was when it comes to drive and motivation, and
blame<br>
this on the admissions office [aka Affirmative Action], deservedly or
not.)<br>
*****************************<br>
<br>
My interpretation:<br>
Some professors believe that affirmative action is allowing unmotivated
and undriven (is that a word?) minority students to come to MIT.<br>
<br>
I think <i>someone </i>has been smoking crack.<br>
<br>
1) Can someone please introduce me to this alleged unmotivated minority
student at MIT, so I that I may ask him/her "How does it feel to be
as mythical as Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter
Bunny?"<br>
<br>
2) 99% of students at MIT could be GETTING PAID to go to school at their
local state universities. So why do we choose to pay $36K to get
driven insane, literally, by difficult psets and projects?
Excluding a good percentage of freshmen, MIT students do not lack drive
or motivation.<br>
<br>
3) Are you sure these "professors" are bitching about
unmotivated students in general? or are they bitching because
students are not particualrly interested in their line of
work? I think you need to clarify that statement, because I may be
able to agree with what the profs are saying if they are complaining that
not enough students are interested in research, academia, etc.<br>
<br>
seek rehab,<br>
<br>
Nnennia</html>
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