Ethnic Balance on Scholar Teams

As a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, I was enraged when I read the article (May 15), “Schools Order Ethnic, Sex Balance on Scholar Teams”. The idea that teachers should be forced to select academic decathlon teams that “reflect the ethnic makeup” of the student body is absurd. Are we in the 1980s? Aren’t we supposed to be teaching our children about minority and women’s rights?

Giving students preference to any team, over more qualified people who are better prepared, because of sex or race instills a false sense of security to those students and promotes laziness, cheating and lying.

Later on, as adults, they will have a rude awakening. We are all equal, baby, and whatever we choose as a career we are going to have to fight for, and if someone else gets there ahead of us then we didn’t work hard enough or we just weren’t as qualified.

To Paul Possemato, director of the district’s senior high division, and school board member Rita Walters I say, “Wake up.” As teachers and coaches, who have a hard enough time picking our teams from the talented students who do try out, to be asked to consider signing up young adults because they are Asian, black, female, etc., is insulting.

Instead of teaching children to be proud of their backgrounds, to be proud of their sex, we are teaching them to be insecure, to doubt their existence, to wish they could be something they can’t change. The joke is on us (teachers and parents) because those kids know who the best person for the team they try out for is, when they get chosen because they are female and Indian. They learn a nice little lesson in how to use their race and sex to get ahead, how to cry “discrimination” when they aren’t hired, and what they don’t learn is how to think for themselves and study harder.

MOLLY WELSH

Los Angeles

Welsh is a physical education teacher at Southgate Junior High School.