Word: kilson
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...only does Kilson's interpretation of the statistics do harm to every black student--those doing well and those doing poorly--but it misrepresents the character of Harvard's black student community. Black students are not anti-intellectual, anti-achievement, or in need of remedial attention. Indeed, their individual fights to "escape" to Harvard stand as proof of their desire to achieve...
Secondly, Kilson assumes, without reason, that lower test scores correlate with lower income. The remedy for academic malaise among blacks, according to Kilson, is to admit a higher percentage of middle income blacks--students who, like their white peers, are "born" to attend Harvard. But statistics from Harvard's Office of Tests indicate that minority students with low income backgrounds have higher grade averages than their middle-income class mates. If Kilson were not contradictory, he would advocate a decrease in the admission of middle income black students, and favor--for achievement's sake--the admission of the lower income...
...Kilson's inaccuracies were inevitable in light of his own misplaced emotionalism. As a black professor, he has an emotional commitment to black students, forcing him to act as a paternal adviser whenever he disagrees with the methods employed by black youth. Presently, Kilson and black students are involved in a debate over the issue of black solidarity. Black students have the option to adopt the predominate culture of the Harvard community or to preserve the Afro-American culture which they brought with them to Harvard. Kilson advocates acculturation, substituting Ivy League culture for the culture of Afro-America...
...Kilson is certainly mistaken in linking acculturation with academic success. Afro-American culture does not inherently reject academic achievement. Though any culture can be shaped to promote anti-intellectual and anti-achievement values, black students at Harvard have not promoted either. Their cultural activities are grounded in their commitment to maintain links between themselves, as future members of professional classes, and other rungs of black society...
THIS IS AN ISSUE which Kilson and older blacks have failed to confront. The black elitist has always positioned himself as far away from the remainder of the black community as he possibly could. Acculturation accomodated this lifestyle quite well. Younger blacks have realized that the aloof professional is of no service to the community. Black students' commitments have been reaffirmed as blacks have penetrated racist blockades by collective effort held together by cultural solidarity. The elite that Kilson envisions is an aloof group that does not fit contemporary needs and therefore offers no attraction for students...