Excuses, Hard Work and Racism

Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe (hat tip: Blue Site) has a good post on the recent decision by UMass (Boston) to select Dr. Michael Collins as Chancellor instead of J. Keith Motley, who would have been the first black person appointed to the position. As a result of this "racism," UMass has been getting lambasted for its actions and various groups have called for mass protests.

Jacoby compares this victim mentality with the cultural ethic of Asians at Quincy High School:

Who is more likely to succeed -- the child who grows up in a culture that tells him success depends on his own hard work, or the one who keeps hearing that until white prejudice is eradicated, minorities will never get a fair shake?

Asian kids don’t have a gene for calculus or getting into Yale. They have a culture that demands hard work, cares deeply about academic success, and rejects ‘‘racism’’ as an excuse for mediocrity. When the same can be said about black American culture -- or, for that matter, about white American culture -- the math club at Quincy High will look very different.