While I was suffering in the dentist chair today...actually I was waiting for the anesthesia to kick in so three people could climb in my mouth with picks and shovels to dig a canal, I picked up a recent Readers Digest.
I didn't have time to get very far, but I did get to read part of a Will Smith interview.
I got as far as his mother was a Carnegie Mellon graduate and had a good friend who worked in admissions at MIT. At the time, Will Smith says, that connection and the fact that MIT 'needed' black students made it entirely possible that he go
there.
Smith says his 'good' SAT scores would have been a help as well.
No doubt, Will Smith is sharp as a tack. His films are interesting. He makes me laugh. And he obviously takes good care of himself.
But, why should having a connection and being a specific color be of any consequence when applying to a school?
I know the answer, but it's not right.
Will Smith's comments in passing echo why affirmative action doesn't work the way it is supposed to.
What do you think?
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