When a student who won a scholarship for African-American students walked to the stage at a Riverside, Calif., high school to pick up his award, the audience laughed nervously. The student, Jeffrey Warren, was white.
Warren, 17, a recent graduate of Riverside's King High School, won a $1,000 scholarship sponsored by Riverside's Martin Luther King Senior Citizens Club. While a cover letter to guidance counselors indicated that the award was intended only for black students, the application merely "encourage[d] African-American students to apply," according to King High School Principal Darel Hansen.
The morning after the ceremony, Warren returned the money. Since then, his story has made national headlines.
Warren's father Rod, a language arts teacher at King High School, said he told his son to apply for every scholarship for which he might be eligible. Since the application did not explicitly rule out non-black applicants, the soon-to-be San Diego State freshman gave it a shot. Out of the 27 scholarships for which he applied, he won four, including the one he later gave up.
"The laughter was slight at the beginning, then it got louder," Rod Warren said. "You could tell the [award presenters] were surprised, but they shook his hand and gave it to him."
When the Warrens returned home from the ceremony, they concluded that returning the money was the right thing to do.
Etta Brown, the chairwoman of the MLK Senior Citizens Club's scholarships committee, said she was shocked when she realized the winner of her group's scholarship was a white student. Since the scholarship was created in 2005, it had never been awarded to a non-black student.
Warren's decision to return the award was "generous," she said. Since the application did not explicitly disqualify non-black students, she said the group would not have asked Warren to give it back, despite some internal debate.
In the future, the application will be worded more clearly, she said.
Rod Warren said his son reasoned that if he were ineligible for the scholarship, the issue would be resolved at the interview stage of the application process. The interview, however, was over the phone, and Brown said it never occurred to the reader who interviewed Warren that the interviewee might be white.
After news of Jeffrey's decision to decline the scholarship spread, Susan Jaggers, his former math teacher, launched a campaign to compensate him for the sacrifice. Circulating a framed picture of Warren to all the teachers whose classes he took at King High School, Jaggers has so far yielded $351.
"We didn't totally replace the money, but I knew many of [Warren's former teachers] would be willing to throw a few bones," Jaggers said. "All his teachers love him."
Warren's scholarship has been given to an African-American student who will be attending Cornell University in the fall. The second of the scholarship's two winners is a North High School student who will be attending Xavier University.
Wouldn't "the right thing to do" be to not apply in the first place? I'm side-eying this kid... hard.
I'm not. If the application he had only encouraged Black students to apply, with no other information about preference/requirement for race, I don't think the kid was wrong to apply. I think the guidance counselor who got the cover memo would be more at fault.
Wouldn't "the right thing to do" be to not apply in the first place? I'm side-eying this kid... hard.
Why? It was "encouraged" for black kids to apply, but apparently wasn't encouraged for ONLY black kids to apply. If it were me reading that, I'd have figured that it wasn't a black kids only scholarship, but rather some sort of, I don't know, suggestion to fight against the widening class divide? We have something called The Pittsburgh Promise here that's only for public school kids that I'd view the same way, if I didn't know from this article that this was just a tactfully worded scholarship for black kids.
Eh. He shouldn't have applied, but at his age, I feel like that is a mistake I can see any kid making, including one who is otherwise reasonable and responsible.
The important part was that he gave it back. Which was the right thing to do, but not necessarily something he should be lauded for. I don't agree with the fundraising campaign on his behalf.
I don't think that any scholarship can be outright labeled as something only xyz can apply for. In the fine print it always says, "xyz is encouraged" etc. You cannot discriminate.
However, knowingly applying for a scholarship which helps a disadvantaged segment of the population, when you do not, in fact, meet that criteria, is not "doing the right thing." It smacks of entitlement, and seeing how far you can push the boundaries. The public shaming this kid received when he received the scholarship was appropriate.
Oh, come on. You expect a 17 or 18 year old kid to really "get" white privilege? Rigoddamndiculous.
Actually, yes, they should. If not then, when should they understand that? 20? 30? 80? When do you stop making excuses?
Also, if he wasn't autonomous in his application for scholarships, why didn't his parents stop him? Obviously he is too young to be making these choices for himself, as your argument suggests.
Oh, come on. You expect a 17 or 18 year old kid to really "get" white privilege? Rigoddamndiculous.
Uh, yeah....I'm with you 100%.
So, if this same kid applied for a job that said "minorites and women encouraged to apply" he should have known the job was meant for a minority or a woman and shouldn't have applied?
I'm thinking if a scholarship is supposed to be for a specific group it should be clear that it is so.
Oh, come on. You expect a 17 or 18 year old kid to really "get" white privilege? Rigoddamndiculous.
Actually, yes, they should. If not then, when should they understand that? 20? 30? 80? When do you stop making excuses?
Also, if he wasn't autonomous in his application for scholarships, why didn't his parents stop him? Obviously he is too young to be making these choices for himself, as your argument suggests.
You honestly expect a teenager to get that hey, he might be the most qualified person, and he might even be at a greater economic disadvantage, and he might be even at a disadvantage when it comes to college acceptance due to pressure on schools to preferentially accept minorities, but actually he's the one who has all the advantages?
Post by charminglife on Jun 12, 2012 15:26:06 GMT -5
I'm really curious about the criteria for the scholarship other than race. And as a random tangent, this makes me think of the local HS that now has a white student as president of the Black Student Union. Would he not be worthy of this MLK scholarship?
I'm thinking if a scholarship is supposed to be for a specific group it should be clear that it is so.
While a cover letter to guidance counselors indicated that the award was intended only for black students
How much clearer does it need to get?
While there was no guarantee the kid read the same letter the guidance counselor had, perhaps it was incumbent upon them to say, "Hey, know what, let's find you another one to apply for." Or: Rod Warren said his son reasoned that if he were ineligible for the scholarship, the issue would be resolved at the interview stage of the application process. The interview, however, was over the phone, and Brown said it never occurred to the reader who interviewed Warren that the interviewee might be white.
But yes, let's blame the white kid no matter what. He's probably racist.
While a cover letter to guidance counselors indicated that the award was intended only for black students
How much clearer does it need to get?
I'm sorry..I missed the part where the student knew this? Why are you blaming this student?
He's the one that applied for the scholarship. It even stated in the application language that black students are encouraged to apply. How many flashing red lights does someone need before running into a moving train?
I'm blaming him, because I don't think for a minute that he didn't know what this scholarship was for, and applied for shits and giggles to see what would happen. He made a mockery of the scholarship and what it stood for.
But I could also be wrong, and he's an innocent little lamb too young to know any better.
While a cover letter to guidance counselors indicated that the award was intended only for black students
How much clearer does it need to get?
While there was no guarantee the kid read the same letter the guidance counselor had, perhaps it was incumbent upon them to say, "Hey, know what, let's find you another one to apply for." Or: Rod Warren said his son reasoned that if he were ineligible for the scholarship, the issue would be resolved at the interview stage of the application process. The interview, however, was over the phone, and Brown said it never occurred to the reader who interviewed Warren that the interviewee might be white.
But yes, let's blame the white kid no matter what. He's probably racist.
Post by UMaineTeach on Jun 12, 2012 15:32:36 GMT -5
I think you can specify pretty specifically who the money is for.
but please, point me to where I can read more, as I was recently surprised that housing can discriminate based on age, I just figured that the apartment complexes for 65+ just meant that was who was encouraged to live there, like this kid did with the black scholarship. But it turns out that age is not a protected class under housing law in my state.
I'm sorry..I missed the part where the student knew this? Why are you blaming this student?
He's the one that applied for the scholarship. It even stated in the application language that black students are encouraged to apply. How many flashing red lights does someone need before running into a moving train?
I'm blaming him, because I don't think for a minute that he didn't know what this scholarship was for, and applied for shits and giggles to see what would happen. He made a mockery of the scholarship and what it stood for.
But I could also be wrong, and he's an innocent little lamb too young to know any better.
Classism and racism are far too overlapping to be sure with this phrasing that this was intended for any and all black students rather than poorish students with bonus points if they're black.
I'm sorry..I missed the part where the student knew this? Why are you blaming this student?
He's the one that applied for the scholarship. It even stated in the application language that black students are encouraged to apply. How many flashing red lights does someone need before running into a moving train?
I'm blaming him, because I don't think for a minute that he didn't know what this scholarship was for, and applied for shits and giggles to see what would happen. He made a mockery of the scholarship and what it stood for.
But I could also be wrong, and he's an innocent little lamb too young to know any better.
So, I guess you would blame him too for applying for a job that "encourages minorities to apply".
I have all the books I could need, and what more could I need than books? I shall only engage in commerce if books are the coin. -- Catherynne M. Valente
That's exactly what I said, that and he probably has a confederate flag tattooed on him somewhere.
Personally, I'm leaning towards the little shit theory, not that he was racist.
Pixy, acknowledging we disagree a sheer tonnage of the time, I'm not getting where your assumptions are coming from as to this kid's frame of mind. Were he quite the little shit you think he must be, he'd have tralalala'd his way to college with the scholarship money in hand, don't you think? Are you assuming that only the peer pressure and "public shame" as he received the award are what prompted him to return the money?
Dude, if he was an uber douche who was trying to pull one over on the poor little old black folks who run the senior center, why would he have returned the scholarship?
Given that he did, I'm going to assume the lights weren't flashing as brightly as some are assuming.