For decades now, the rule in America was ‘the standard, is the standard, is the standard.” Simply put, it meant that everyone played on a level playing field, and nobody got exemptions. Then the idea of affirmative action was introduced. This was done with the mindset of making up for any past roadblocks white men may have put minorities through. Women were included in this as it was not simply about racial discrimination.
Then separate but equal black and Hispanic-focused television shows, magazines, and channels came out. It exposed much of America to new ideas and for many conservatives, got us to see that rural living and inner city/urban living could be very similar. We just needed to meet on level playing fields. All of this was largely fine, but small pockets would still try and push an anti-white agenda as if every white man alive now was responsible for any past negative actions, and much of it was played out comedically.
Look at All in the Family vs. The Jeffersons for some great examples of the overt racial undertones that were poked back and forth, but never with any actual malice between one another. Now all of that is about to be forgotten.
The Harvard University paper, the Harvard Crimson, is trying to call out the revamping of the school’s restricted essay requirements. After affirmative action for college admissions ended in June 2023, Harvard changed their admissions process. Going from one open-ended essay and two short ones to five required essays with 200 words or less was a huge change. Now the editors of the Harvard Crimson are claiming that it takes away from people in disenfranchised communities to share their pain.
“Learning to package yourself within a shorter amount of space is a product of advanced education; longer essays more equitably allow applicants to discuss their experiences in full, particularly if they are from non-traditional backgrounds and require more space to elaborate on nuanced qualifications. Those who have undergone traumatic experiences should not have to fear that writing about the experiences that shaped them looks like a beg for admission.”
One essay topic in particular seemed to strike a real chord with them as well. “’Briefly describe an intellectual experience that was important to you.’ This question seemingly privileges applicants from well-resourced backgrounds for whom additional academic opportunities were plentiful in high school.”
Unlike the rest of their arguments, this one is worded to sound like they believe anyone who wasn’t privately schooled would be at a disadvantage answering. The fact of the matter is that anything educationally related is all about getting the best opportunities. While inner-city schools love to claim they lack funding and have less-than-desirable instructors sign up to educate there, the fact of the matter is that they simply mismanage their budgets. Shuffling money towards basketball and football teams instead of books is what’s destroying the school.
Rural schools have the same problems. The big difference is that the things that can make big differences, like hearing great leaders and educators speak or visiting museums and exhibits, aren’t just a few city bus rides away for rural students. Great educators aren’t attracted there because of their lack of amenities and overpriced cost of living. Instead, they get the dedicated or the bottom of the barrel who just need a start.
This liberal safe haven has graduated some of the best and brightest in the history of the world, so hearing the editorial committee of their paper spew such trash is maddening. However, the two were smart enough to stand on their own and push for a different agenda.
Both Ruby J.J. Huang and Joshua Ochieng disagreed with them vehemently and co-wrote a dissenting opinion. “These prompts give clear guidance on what Harvard wants to know about its applicants. For a student with limited experience in writing an application, the prompts assuage the burden of trying to determine the aspects of their life that are of interest to Harvard.”
Simply put, the level of the standards Harvard expects in these essays is the same as students would experience while attending classes here. If they want to matriculate here, they will need to learn to maintain the standard, or they will be certain to fail. This simple immutable truth should be learned everywhere. People do not and never should care about the color of your skin or what sex you were born.
All they care about is if you’re smart enough to do the job and if you are capable of performing the tasks to the standard. Word counts are a part of that measuring stick, and they are coming up short if they cannot meet the standard. It really is that easy.