{"id":3278,"date":"2019-06-18T14:10:14","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T18:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/?p=3278"},"modified":"2019-06-18T14:10:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T18:10:14","slug":"diversity-is-not-the-name-of-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/18\/diversity-is-not-the-name-of-the-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Diversity is not the name of the Game!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Diversity is not the name of the game! Harvard has rejected a Parkland<\/a> school shooting victim, Kyle Kashuv because he made racist comments online as a teenager.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kashuv wrote on Twitter the following<\/a>, \u201cHarvard deciding that someone can’t grow, especially after a life-altering event like the shooting, is deeply concerning. If any institution should understand growth, it’s Harvard, which is looked to as the pinnacle of higher education despite its checkered past. Throughout its history, Harvard’s faculty has included slave owners, segregationists, bigots and antisemites. If Harvard is suggesting that growth isn’t possible and that our past defines our future, then Harvard is an inherently racist institution. But I don’t believe that.<\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While he is a conservative and I can safely assume that the majority of the committee is liberal, I do not think that his politics are the real problem. Kyle has offended Harvard by making a mistake while still a teenager who now has grown into an adult who has tried to mend his ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem is that it was done online for the world to see and thus the progressive liberals can not understand that people can grow and change, especially for a teen who has suffered a traumatic event. That is of course the shootings at Parkland. Surviving that would cause deep scars and it takes time to come to terms with that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Per WBUR<\/a>, \u201cSupreme Court Justice Powell described was not limited to a mix of ethnic backgrounds. He went on to\u00a0describe \u201cgenuine diversity\u201d as something that \u201cencompasses a far broader array of qualifications and characteristics, of which racial or ethnic origin is but a single, though important, element.\u201d<\/i>\u201d In other words Harvard now is not only looking at your genetic makeup, but also it is looking at your past. And that is what Kyle Kashuv has run into, a past that he he not proud of but this is not what he is today. What should be important is what type of person you are today. Growing as a human being is something that is very desirable and yet Harvard does not seem to see that. So much for repentance and forgiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diversity for diversity’s sake is not the goal that any institution should strive for or be forced to do. That leads to a fool’s errand and does not make the institution any better than it was. You can not just say I will admit you because of your race or ethnicity, there are many other desirable characteristics that should never be overlooked. One of them is showing the ability to grow, such as the case of Kashuv who threw off the mantle of hate and has admitted that he was wrong in the way he treated others before the shooting. Today he says that he has changed and I believe him, for an event so traumatic as he and his fellow survivors suffered can change people.<\/span><\/p>\n

To exclude Kyle and admit others based mostly on race or ethnicity is just plain wrong. After all two wrongs do make a right. So Harvard the ball is back in your court and stop acting like your institutional past is perfect when you go judge others on theirs.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike<\/span><\/p>\n