By now most have heard about the Memphis high school principal making
national news for ordering a list of all couples in her school, some of whom were gay, then calling their parents to inform them of this shocking news. Not only that, but apparently she also
prohibited them from participation in a field trip to New Orleans because:
..as one of his teacher's explained, he would "embarrass" the school by engaging in gay affection.
Of course the ACLU is involved, fighting for their rights while the Memphis City Schools can
see no evil to this point.
If the facts in this case are true as presented it sounds like an
open and shut case should it reach litigation. Personally I'm not too hip on homosexuality, or any other sexuality on school grounds inhabited by kids under 18, but there are matters of privacy. Nobody deserves to be embarrassed in this manner by a publicly paid school official. It's none of her business.
But that's not what interests me here. The school itself interests me. Keep in mind this is Memphis, the city of racism and corruption (John Ford, now relaxing in Federal Prison in Louisiana, comes to mind) so naturally there's a tendency to sniff rats around every corner whether they exist or not.
The school in question, Hollis F. Price, is a
public school located on the campus of LeMoyne-Owen University in downtown Memphis. The school, again, funded by taxpayers, opened in 2004 and offers a chance for selected kids to earn college level credits through a rigorous high school program. As a result, the school ranks pretty high on the school ranking websites.
It's part of a small group of schools nationwide participating in the "
Early College High School Initiative", others of which can be seen on
this page. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was involved in setting up the program.
In 2006 there were 101 students,
101 of whom were black. Not sure what the ratio is today or whether race is even a requirement. According to this site it's
not, yet it does clarify:
...designed for students who may be underrepresented in a traditional setting,
In this case '
underrepresented' means:
Its priority is to serve low-income young people, first-generation college goers, English language learners, and students of color, all of whom are statistically underrepresented in higher education and for whom society often has low aspirations for academic achievement.
So it all depends on how the deciders decide to interpret the word underrepresented. Again, this is a public school. That means it's funded by our property and sales taxes and probably means they cannot discriminate by race, creed or color or sexual preference, etc. There's no allegation they are, at least with admissions, just providing an FYI.
Want your kid to apply? Here's a link to the application
form, which includes the odd prerequisite of reading Langston Hughes' "Not Without Laughter" and being prepared to discuss it during the interview. What of Hughes? From his wiki
site:
Hughes, like many black writers and artists of his time, was drawn to the promise of Communism as an alternative to a segregated America. Many of his lesser-known political writings have been collected in two volumes published by the University of Missouri Press and reflect his attraction to Communism.
No, I'm not saying he was and furthermore am not pretending to be an expert on his life or struggles. For other perspectives try
this,
this, and
this. Interestingly, the
new pariah of the black left, Jeremiah Wright,
dropped Hughes' name in his speech at the National Press Club this past Monday. Not real surprising since Wright seems in many ways a man who became disillusioned living in the "land of the free", just like Hughes.
But let's cut to the chase--it certainly appears that kids wanting admittance to this school MUST read the book, which chronicles the black experience in small town America by a writer with communist leanings, to even be considered. Wonder how a child of Vietnamese or Taiwanese or Lebanese heritage would do on that interview? Or a poor white kid? Is the Tennessee Board of Regents involved in this?
I'm willing to be corrected on any of this if it's wrong, which I hope it is. What we seem to have is essentially a private school being operated by public funds with a selection process that appears discriminatory. That's not an attempt to tear down the potential benefits of the program for both students and society as a whole, rather, just meant to point out how our tax dollars are being used in a culture obsessed with fairness at every turn.
