When Charles
Murray appeared on the "Today" show, then co-host Bryant
Gumbel practically ripped his head off.
In his controversial
book The Bell Curve, Murray argued that blacks score lower
than whites on standardized tests because of their inherently inferior
intelligence. Critics called Murray a racist, and attacked his findings,
research, and methodology.
Well, a Philadelphia
federal district judge just sided with Murray. Four black athletes
sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association, challenging its
requirement of a minimum 820 SAT score in order to play college
ball.
Judge Ronald
L. Buckwalter struck down the minimum test measure, called Proposition
16, stating it "has an unjustified disparate impact against
African-Americans." What, no "black leader" calling
this Bush appointee a bigot?
Let’s be blunt.
The judge found black student athletes too stupid, too incapable,
too oppressed, too disadvantaged to expect minimum performance.
One of the plaintiff’s
coaches said, "He really tried to improve his SAT scores, but
he doesn’t test well on big tests. This is a kid that deserves a
break." Try telling that to an NBA head coach, "My kid
can really play. He just does not play well in big games. But he’s
a great kid, so sign him." Huh? What about an excuse like this
at the police academy? "This cadet is a good one. Oh, he may
shoot an innocent citizen in a stressful situation. But, short of
that..."
"Emerge,"
a black magazine, annually publishes the graduation rates for black
versus white college athletes. In February, 1996, the magazine looked
at graduation rates for black college basketball players. According
to the magazine, "Four schools on the list—the Universities
of Iowa, Sam Houston State, San Jose State, and Texas at El Paso—graduated
all of their white male basketball players and none of their blacks."
In October,
1996, "Emerge" looked at the graduation rates for black
football players, "For years, the statistics have been disturbing.
This year is no different. Black football players on scholarship
continue to graduate at a disproportionately lower rate than their
white counterparts." The survey covers NCAA Division I-A schools,
from 1986 to 1989, during which time the black and white graduation
rates were 46% and 67%, respectively.
But isn’t the
judge right, since for many disadvantaged minorities, sports remains
"a way out"?
But the "way
out" seldom leads to Madison Square Garden. Sports sociology
Professor Gary Sailes of Indiana University, according to "Emerge,"
says that "52% of blacks playing college basketball think they
will make pro," yet only "2.5% will play in the NBA
for at least one year." Even more damaging to this "sports-is-a-way-out"
theory, Sailes found that "83% of the 1,500 student-athletes
questioned said they study only enough to remain eligible!"
[emphasis added]
The Northeastern
University Center for the Study of Sport in Society found that,
of black teens, 66% believe they will ultimately play pro ball,
twice the percentage of whites who see themselves becoming pros.
More disturbingly, black parents are four times more likely than
white parents to believe that their children will become professional
athletes.
"Hoop Dreams,"
the brilliant documentary, followed two talented, black inner-city
kids with visions (ultimately unsuccessful) of playing pro basketball.
Notably, the kids’ parents did not push them academically, but the
parents’ eyes lit up when they fantasized about their kids suiting
up in the NBA.
If, Judge Buckwalter,
the SAT discriminates against poor, disadvantaged black students,
please answer some questions. Why do poor Asian students outperform
middle-class whites on standardized tests? How is math culturally
biased, such that American-born, English-speaking kids (who happen
to live in the inner-city) should not be expected to perform? Why
are there high schools where the average SAT score is 1300 in Barbados,
a poor, black country, with a high percentage of single-parent households?
And, if the
SAT does not predict academic success, why do University of California
kids admitted under "special criteria" (a.k.a. affirmative
action) drop out at much higher rates than do students admitted
under regular criteria? Of the minority students admitted under
"special criteria" from 1983 to 1987, only 7.2% graduated
in four years, less than 50% within six years. During the same period,
for "white and other" students admitted under regular
criteria, graduation rates in four and six years were 34.1% and
77.6%, respectively.
For those dancing
at the court’s decision, understand this. The judge’s ruling backs
The Bell Curve’s thesis—that blacks lack the intelligence
to perform on standardized tests.
Wade Williams,
a black New York high school coach, worries, "I’m very concerned
that kids will think they don’t have to do anything. It also exposes
kids to unscrupulous coaches who will accept them for their talent,
then cast them aside."
Let us now,
Coach Williams, pray for our kids. With compassionate adults like
Judge Buckwalter, they’ll need it.