African-American students are getting a raw deal because — in the name of diversity — the system is superficially propping up those students who are doing poorly, according to economist and conservative columnist Walter E. Williams.
“I am glad that I got all of my education — I received all of my education before it become fashionable for white people to like black people,” Williams said in an interview Wednesday on Tallahassee’s Morning Show with Preston Scott. He was recalling a comment about his education that he offered in the documentary “Suffer No Fools.”
Williams, who is 80 years old, explained, “when I got an ‘A’ it was an honest to God ‘A’ and when I got a ‘C’ it was an honest to God ‘C.’ They didn’t give a damn about my self-esteem.”
According to Williams, many colleges, in seeking to advance “diversity,” are recruiting African-American students to their campuses who are unprepared for the college curriculum. And, when those students arrive, they are not provided the right tools to survive in the real world.
He added that this is not just a problem for African-Americans, but for recent high school graduates in general. Williams said about 50 percent of newly arrived college students are unprepared, as, according to Williams, most colleges are finding many incoming freshmen need remedial English or Math classes.
“So what that’s saying is that high schools are issuing fraudulent diplomas. That is [the schools] are saying these kids are college-ready, but they really are not college-ready at all. But for black students it’s even worse. That is a large percentage of black students — maybe 60 percent of black students — are just unprepared for college,” he said, adding the percentage could be larger.
Williams argued that it is “cruel” for college administrators to admit students who are unprepared, unable to keep up, and as such, likely to feel out-of-place and alienated from their classmates.
“What many black college students now are demanding segregated housing on college campuses, segregated spaces so that they can feel more comfortable among themselves. And I think this is utter cruelty to these students,” he said.