Quote:
Originally Posted by BENZ-LGB
....The Great Society has been a great disappointment in so many ways.
I blame government for trying to shove things down peoples' throats. I can tell you that, form a personal POV, as an educated Hispanic male, Affirmative Action has been more of a burden than a benefit.
I got into a good college based on my good high school record. I got into a good law school based on my good college record. Still, I have to spend time and effort proving to others that I am "good" and not just a product of Affirmative Action!
Damn.
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As generalization I agree with you. And since I've worked in the gov for the past couple of decades my perspective is likely to be heavily skewed because prior to GS I worked in the oil industry. In most instances the oil industry is a highly competitive meritocracy. for example, I went from day laborer to running a survey crew in Argentina in 3 years. I worked my butt of from before daybreak to after dark 6 or 7 days a week. My employers rewarded me with more work and significant pay increases. At that time there were just a few African-Americans working in surveying and they were all laborers, like me. I was lucky for 2 reasons: First, that my superiors were looking for talent as their company expanded and second because I was white. There is no doubt in my mind that any man who worked hard could have gotten ahead at that time (it isn't always the case). My bosses made no secret of having a racial preference and I benefitted by it.
Had A.A. NOT been held as a threat over employers heads I have absolutely no doubt that most white supervisors would have preferentially hired and advanced whites. That was the way the world was back then and it sucked for minorities.
My final example is this. I had three Hispanic guys working for me, none of whom spoke English. They were smart and hard-working but poorly educated. But they were eager as heck to do anything I asked of them so I started teaching them trigonometry and drawing. They were ignorant and uneducated, not stupid. It was still slow going for them because of the language barrier and because of their lack of formal education passed I'd guess 5th grade math. But they were determined and I couldn't ask for better hands so we worked on it. I got transferred to Michigan from Wyoming. I asked the guys if they wanted to go with me or stay in Wyoming and I was gratified that they wanted to go with me. My company paid for the move and they drove some company vehicles.
We were in Michigan for several weeks and some union guy wanted us to organize. I wasn't interested, like most oilfield guys. Apparently nobody else did either. A short time later, maybe a week or so, we got visited by the INS and 2 of my guys were not citizens and they got deported. Ask me what I think of unions.
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