Monday, July 13, 1998 - The Michigan Daily - 5
NOT'ABLE QUOTABLE
"We're the only place on the planet where you can see
more than 1,100 artists in the same place."
Dave Kronenberg, director of the Ann Arbor Sumer Art Fair,
which starts this Wednesday.
E O I 'ETOR
Other issues
are at play
To THE DAILY:
I'm not entirely up to date on
affirmative action's subtleties,
but from what little I know, I see
absolutely no way that it will
elp resolve the economic dis-
crepancies that currently exist in
our society.
The way I see it, there are
many people in the country, gen-
erally those in poor urban or
rural districts, that do not receive
adequate primary education. As
a result, few of these disadvan-
taged students have the skills to
compete with students from
ealthier districts or private
schools for positions in sec-
ondary education. Therefore
opportunities in the entry-level
workplace are less numerous
and generally go to those that
have more formal education.
Likewise, those who do make it
into the workplace are not as
quickly advanced up the corpo-
rate ladder as their better-trained
counterparts, and rarely make it
into positions of financial inde-
pendence. Because of this, the
families of these disadvantaged
people tend to live and learn in
the same region as the parents,
forcing children to be stuck at
the beginning of the same cycle.
The confusing thing to me is
that gender and ethnicity play no
part in this situation. Itsis true
that many of these disadvan-
taged people do turn out to be of
a minority, but the primary issue
is not the minority status of the
individual but the lack of prima-
ry education. If primary educa-
tion is really the broken link in
the chain, why doesn't it receive
more attention?
Unless, of course, the funda-
mental problem restricting
minority equality is instead soci-
etal racism and prejudice.
Undeniably, there is much evi-
dence that racism is strong in
today's society. But, to fully
accept that this racism is the pri-
mary cause of the txisting
inequality, it needs to be shown
that a large number of equally
qualified individuals were
refused access to an opportunity
solely due to being a minority.
However, this theory has been
repeatedly discredited in recent
months: For example, the matric-
ulation record for the University
clearly shows that the opposite
situation has occurred: many
minority students were allowed
acceptance despite weaker per-
formance prior to application.
Furthermore, universities in
'texas and California that took
minority status out of the selec-
tion process quickly showed a
drop in minority enrollment.
Based on this, it would seem that
racism and prejudice in the
minds of those that make deci-
sions cannot be the primary
problem but instead, statistically,
that education for minority stu-
dents is inadequate. Because
minority students are just as apt
to learn as any, it implies that
the major problem is primary
education, and that many minori-
ty students tend to be from the
districts of disadvantaged stu-
dents.
If this is true, the preferential
treatment policies of alTirmative
action seem to be nothing more
than short-term political diver-
sionary tactics. Confronting the
tremendous issue of primary
education is an extremely costly
and time-consuming effort.
I'nacting affirmative action costs
the government comparatively
notling. As a result, it is (or at
one time was) attractive to a
politician to support affirmative
action because it would gain
political clout with little effort.
. I write this to show that there
is a logical basis for questioning
affirimative action while believ-
ing that racism and inequality
exist. There are many, many
problems to deal with and few
people that want to deal with
them. As a result, it is important
that we encourage free and fear-
less debate while determining
and focusing on the real issues,
such as the quality of education
ha our urban and rural schools.
DAVID M. BARRETT
ENGINEERING SENIOR
I went back home to a place I had never even been
A few weeks ago, I traveled with my family up home to a family they had never met, to a place
north to go to a family reunion on a scale not they'd never been.
before seen in our family. I knew I was going to We all poured over exhaustive family trees, deter-
meet some relatives I had never met before, butI mining our relationships and seeing our shared his-
didn't really know what to expect. I found a good tory. I'm sure everyone had their own personal
deal more than my family tree. highlight. Mine came when I met my great-uncle
Adding to the meaning of meeting with a large Eppi (Edward in Finnish) for the first time. As he
part of my family was the recent death of came over, I could see my grandmother in
my grandmother, who died a few weeks him. It made me fee better. His face is
earlier on June 7 from a myriad of ill- similar, and he has the sac blue eyes
nesses. W were alt rather ained from veryone always remarks on eyes as
her passitig, and we thought mhis would blue as the crows on te Finnish fla.
help rekindle our spirits. The reunion : Meeting him was more than meeting a rel-
was being held in the place of my grand- ative. It encapsulated the whole event:
mother's birth, Houghton-Hancock, meeting someone for the first time, seeing
Michigan. the family history, recognizing the traits
For those of you who have never been we all share.
there, perhaps you've heard the phrase For the people my age, going to the
"God's country." Well, this is it. This isn't DAVID reunion was a way to explore our family
just up north, this is National Geographic WALLACE history and understand the place we come
up north. It's absolutely beautiful. (CATCtiE . iN from.
My grandmother and my family from 'tIHE WRY For the older members of my family, the
her side are of Finish descent. Her reurion was a time to remember the parts
father was born in Finland in 1866, but he immi- of that history they founded, and to see the members
grated to the United States and settled in Michigan's who will grow the new branches of the family tree
copper country. I of course never met my great- as it reaches into the next century.
grandfather, Charles La 1nala, but having seen pie- And standing there among the gathered people, I
tres of Finland, I would bet the Keweenau saw the influence of every individual. that impact
Peninsula looked like home. had been lost to my youthful vantagepoint. It was
My grandmother was one of 10 kids born amazing that these 170 lives all directly or indirect-
between the years of 1896 and 1921. And Charles ly spug from the same source. About half the peo-
had five siblings himself. I have always had contact ple there descended from Charles, and I'm sure that
with a number of family members, but I knew the he would be overwhelmed to see all that had been
number of extended family members I had never accomplished from the branches he started. Going
met had to be huge. It was. home to this place I'd never been gave me a depth
About 170 people from as far away as of understanding I didn't have. The despair of my
Washington and Alabama made the pilgrimage to grandmother's death left me, because I could see
our family's root. Some of them had no idea there how her threads, as all of our threads, still nun
were other Lahnalas related to them around the through my family and will continue to nn into the
country. When they first met some of the others car- horizon of time.
rying the name, the tears came. They had come --Ikniidtlalxtcrtsai.'chedtdctttuitnarnic.iiite
Adulthood is something that I'm not prepared for yet
A t work the other day, I wandered into my I'm 21, getting ever closer to 22. 'this time next
boss, Rob's, office to see what he was up to, year, I'll be close to preparing for a flight or long
and found him to be on the computer -- the inter- drive somewhere in this country to begin graduate
net to be exact. As I sometimes forget to follow school. And there is no way that I am an adult. No
basic social etiquette, I grabbed a chair and began way. I just learned how to make Hamburger
to peer over Rob's shoulder. eper this yer.
"Whatceaya up to?" I wondered aloud. And this one hurts to admit. My mom still cooks
"You done pulling those wee ds ,, , chose to everything clst. t eat. She freezes
already?" he shot back, not taking his everything for me so that when I come
eyes off the screen or his fingers off the home to visit, I'll have a stash oflife-sus-
key-pad. taining food to take back to Ann Arbor.
"Sure I am . . . so what's all this crap?" ,t But that's just food, you may say. A lot
Before us on the screen were a series of people our age don't know how to
of charts, confusing numbers, percent- t cook. You can still be an adult and not
ages and weird phrases such as "floating know how to cook, you may argue.
loan" and "adjustable fixed mortgages." ! OK, how about this? I know I'm going
Not being a total idiot, I quickly relized to graduate this coming spring. And I
that Rob was probably looking to buy a haven't really even looked at graduate
house or car or something big like that. CHRIS schools yet. Well, that's a lie. I peeked
Or there was the possibility that he's just LANGRILL into one of those "Guides to .."and saw
a complete dork who likes to study the :IiT that Maryland has a good journalism
topsy-turvey world of loans and mort- WiN-1 graduate school. What did I learn about
gages while surfing the net. Let's short- the program? It's in College Park,
en that a bit - or he's a complete dork who surfs Maryland (cool name). They have a good basket-
the net. ball program (bonus). And there is no deadline for
Luckily for my image of Rob, the former was applications (does it get any better?).
true, sort of-- Rob was looking to buy a condo- Good enough for me. Suffice it to say, I haven't
minium, not a hosse. As he began to tell me about looked into other schools yet. Who knows? Maybe
down payments and getting the right rate and I'll do a lot of growing up in the next year, my
wanting to shoot yourself in the head because senior year at the University. To take a step in that
you're getting too old, too fast (OK, he didn't direction, I plan on signing up for one of those
mention that), I could see how much he was Kaplan thingies to prepare myself for those gradu-
stressing about this potentially huge life decision. ate school placement tests I think I might have to
And as he continued to go on about interest rates take.
and how much money he'd have to put down to get But first, my friend and I were thinking of show-
"this one" over "that one," I began to drift off into ing up to one of those MCAT tests completely
my own little world of worry. I began to contem- wasted just to break up the probable tension in the
plate some weighty issues. room. You know, yelling answers across the room,
Rob is 27, 1 think. Maybe 28. Only a few years throwing up on the exam sheet, getting dragged out
removed from graduate school and definitely by security. Real adult, huh?
what I would consider an adult. -CrnisLanrilessatnbews s/'acheud/uaarss unicleodu.
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