Tools and power tools

Justice Antonin Scalia has been excoriated of late because of remarks he made in a recent supreme court case regarding affirmative action in college admissions. Justice Scalia stated that black students might be better off attending schools other than top-tier universities.  An example of the commentary unleashed on Justice Scalia can be found here.

As a general observation made in the 21st century, Scalia's comments should be, admittedly, troubling.  There is no reason that students of any race, sex, or religion should be expected to perform better or worse than their peers based purely on those identifiers.  The problem is, as Scalia alluded to, the admission process, which, driven by the over-riding need for "diversity", may be preferentially admitting minority students...and Scalia is right, that is a problem.

Here is the thing...I grew up a middle class, suburban white boy...went to a state university and did well enough there that I got a scholarship under the National Science Foundation's Manpower Development Program to go to a small Eastern technical school with a reputation for being very good in science and engineering.  I went.  Some of my classmates were also there on scholarships, some had parents well off enough that they just paid the tuition...didn't matter. Small Eastern Technical School was not the type of place that attracted dilettantes and frat boy partiers.  We were all hardcore nerds, geeks, and gearheads.  We called ourselves "tools" and the geekiest among us were "power tools".  We lived and breathed science.  We attended class, filled reams of paper with notes, compared notes after class, and tried to trip up our professor on esoteric points of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, or whatever the subject du jour was. I would wake up thinking about my lab work. I would work in my lab until all hours of the night, which frequently meant until the next day.  Fun was drinking - SETS conveniently had two bars on campus - and "hacking", our word for what would now be called "pranks".  Graffiti in not-easily-accessible places was popular...I'll take credit for "Free the DC-10" in the steam tunnel between Building 54 and Building 10, thank you very much.  Another popular "hack" was pitching a refrigerator off the tallest building on campus onto the courtyard below - I can't say why.  For obvious reasons this was not popular with the school administration and they began escalating security to prevent these hi-jinks.  I became involved in a number of these refrigerator drops as my talent for picking lock proved useful in some cases.

Life at SETS was intense, probably the most intense four years of my life.  There were women and blacks among my classmates.  All there for "diversity" I don't doubt, because even back then it was important.  Some were in the right place. Others were not. Which were which became obvious after a few minutes in a group discussion about a particular problem set.  Those who had something to contribute were included in future study sessions, invited to have beers, and contributing to the next hack.  Those who couldn't contribute were ignored.  Let me point out here that this same decision process was also applied to white male graduate students.  It was an extremely competitive environment, but not in a hostile way.  I made many friends during my time there and still keep in touch with them, but we were all focused on graduating and getting a job and anyone who couldn't help with that was kicked to the curb. Survival of the fittest.

Back to Scalia's statements...if you are a minority - define the word as you like - and are admitted to a "top-tier university", I would advise that you think long and hard about accepting that offer.  Ask yourself, "Am I that good? Can I do this, or am I just being accepted because I am <INSERT MINORITY STATUS HERE>?".  If you truly believe you're that good, go for it.  It will be an experience.  But keep in mind, that "top tier" university will make a big deal about the number of "minority" students they admit to show how "diverse" they are.  They could give a crap whether you graduate or not.  If you step back and attend a "slower track" (Scalia's words, not mine) university, I will throw this out there:  After you graduate, a few years down the road, out in the real world of private enterprise, you will enter the "What have you done for me lately?" zone.  No one will care where your degree came from.  If you are doing your job, being productive, and contributing to "shareholder value"..great.  If not, your degree from a "top-tier" university won't mean shit.