Kate Elim, Lake Anna Real Estate Specialist: Is Being SMART the Only Thing that Matters?

Is being smart the only thing that matters?  Evidently that is what some believe.  So what is wrong with being smart??? 

Being smart and studying hard are commendable things to have going for you...I believe this without a doubt.  But is it everything?

It's interesting to see which group is given special treatment in terms of admission at institutions of higher learning.  We have run the gamut.  We have had centuries where white males were not only the favored ones, they were essentially the only ones.  Than we have had periods of time when Asians were encouraged, women were encouraged, blacks were encouraged.

I have been an admissions officer.  When my oldest, a male, was applying to colleges and universities I told him that he was qualified to be admitted to all of them and yet might not be admitted to any of them.  Why?  Because he was a white male.  Asian or Asian descent and black applicants were given some preference.  So were other minorities and females.

Why was this happening?  Because for centuries these young people did not have the opportunities that white males did.  It was simply an ackowledgement that many and been discriminated against and the only way that was ever going to change was to make the changes happen.  It would be wonderful if this could have simply taken place.  Unfortunately intervention was necessary.

Do any of you really believe that through the years many white males were accepted into elite schools solely on their academic prowess?  Many entered prestigious institutions based on being Anglo/Saxon, on their families' political or financial means, their dad being an alumnus, or on the recommendation of someone of influence.

If you were not a white male you were often not admitted to any college or university.  This was true until there were separate schools for women and minorities.

In spite of the odds against him, my son applied and was accepted in Ivy League and other top ranking schools.  His choice of Stanford, about as selective as they get, happened.  We had visited there the summer after his junior year and once he saw the school he was smitten.  He has often said that getting into Stanford was the hardest part of his experience there. 

Did he have advantages that helped him?  Yes, he was an excellent student, an athlete, involved in other school activities, and an all around great kid.  It also helped that he had parents that emphasized education (his mom and dad were affiliated with universities and his dad had a doctorate), plus he had exposure to other cultures by virtue of having lived in and traveled to other countries.  His brother and sister had these same things going for them.

Very few of us succeed strictly by our own efforts.  We succeed by having parents that encourage and support us, teachers that take a special interest in us, an innate ability to learn more quickly and easily, a bit more financial security than many others, opportunitites to travel abroad and within our country...some or all of these advantages and perhaps others.

There are many young people that do not have these factors working for them.  Sometimes it takes a little more or something a little different to give them a boost.  Perhaps a candidates potential has a place in deciding who deserves a chance to succeed. 

Is it wrong to provide a chance to someone that might not have had the opportunities that many of us have had and our children as well?  It may even be the Christian thing to do.

Some may believe that I am a bleeding heart.  I believe I am a realist.