Reginald Fentress wants to succeed Yvonne B. Acey as president of the Memphis Education Association, and he is not willing to wait. However, the Memphis Education Association board of directors has said he must.
The board voted April 1 not to include Fentress’ name, or that of any other African-American candidate, on the ballot for the 2008-10 presidential term. Since Acey is African American, Fentress was ruled ineligible to run for the office because the next MEA president must be white.
“We voted to follow the bylaws,” said Acey.
According to bylaws formed when all-white and all-black teacher associations joined in the mid-1970s: “The position of president shall alternate from white to ethnic minority.”
I think situations like this are fantastic. The more often race considerations bite people in the butt, the sooner they'll get past this idiotic preoccupation.
5 comments:
I'm guessing that the bylaw was written to ensure that minority members had an equal opportunity to serve as president of the association. However, once you start making decisions based on race, it will eventually but definitely come back to bite you in the butt. I hadn't read about this situation in my own state. Glad you shared it.
Carol, I'm sure that's exactly the rules were written thusly, but that doesn't make the rule "right".
It is no more stupid that the Top 10% rule that any kid from any high school regardless of their SAT or ACT scores will be admitted to the University of Texas at Austin so long as they are in the Top 10% of their class. I have heard of parent moving kids from a good district to a poor one their junior year to insure just such an option. And I have heard of kids with much MUST lower test scores and far less AP experience being allowed admission over other candidates based simply on this rule. Wouldn't it be nice if we could really insure that all of the best students regardless of race or gender would get into good schools? Instead we rig the system to make things appear equal, when in reality they are just shafting some other kid down the line.
Part of that 10% rule is used elsewhere based primarily on equity. For one example, some schools do not offer AP classes so those kids are not punished by the system with the 10% rule. It's not my favorite rule but does serve some purpose.
Where's the equity in fooling a kid into thinking they have much of a chance at a school for which they aren't properly prepared?
The 10% rule is the political fall-back of the affirmative action crowd now that they're finding it increasingly difficult to sell the concept of "good" racial discrimination. But the harm it does, in treating kids as if they exist to validate the moral pretensions of those who run the colleges, is just as bad.
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