Lowering Standards

[AFPheonix]

Ah, that makes a little more sense. I can see that point, and I do look forward to a time where all of us are on a level playing field and such extra help to minorities are not needed. I don't think we're there yet, though. Of course there's exceptions to every rule, but on average minorities have a harder time getting into and staying in college than whites. That's just the cold hard reality.
Is this a messy way to fix it? Yes. I don't have any better ideas, though, other than the many on school reform that I've beaten into a bloody pulp on various other threads.

Darth, the scholarships we're talking about are not offered by the schools, but by private entities and trust funds. They can give money to whomever they like.

[DarthRetard]

So those private entities are just like special interest groups in the legislature, if you ask me. I don't really have a problem with those scholarships, i really don't. There are so damn many it doesn't even matter. Fastwebs.com can prove that.

I still think there's a teeter-totter weighing in favor of the minorities, here, and I think it's simply because we're STILL sitting on the backlash of a civil rights movement from 40 some odd years ago, that certain people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton refuse to use as a foundation for advancement, and not revenge.

[Seshat]

All graduating seniors met with guidance counselors, who would put together a list of scholarships that the student qualified for. I was offered a few, but never knew about the *my neighborhood* scholarship* until it was given out at the ceremony.

Then your guidance counselor messed up. Or was racist (against whites). That's not evidence of systemic racism, that's evidence of your counselor's incompetence, racism, or instructions to behave in a racist manner.

It's possible that your counselor's behaviour is a symptom of systemic racism (especially if he/she was instructed to behave that way); but your anecdote gives me too little information to make that call.

[AFPheonix]

I still think there's a teeter-totter weighing in favor of the minorities, here, and I think it's simply because we're STILL sitting on the backlash of a civil rights movement from 40 some odd years ago, that certain people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton refuse to use as a foundation for advancement, and not revenge.

Then it's a teeter-totter in favor of all minorities including the disabled and gay kids, too, as there are scholarships out there available only to those groups of people.
Government loans and grants cannot discriminate on those criteria, only on income earned. Even then, there's still Stafford loans available to kids in higher income brackets.