Posted on 05/18/2009 11:41:26 AM PDT by lewisglad
First lady Michelle Obama for the second time has talked about how alienated she was from the University of Chicago when she was growing up on the South Side.
Mrs. Obama commented about her relationship with the U. of C. in a commencement address she delivered Saturday at the University of California, Merced -- echoing remarks she made to children in March at a school here.
The context: Many of the UC Merced graduates were the first in their families to earn college degrees, and Mrs. Obama said, "By using what you have learned here, you can shorten the path perhaps for kids who may not see a path at all.
"I was once one of those kids. Most of you were once one of those kids," and then told the students how she grew up just a few miles from the University of Chicago.
"Yet that university never played a meaningful role in my academic development. The institution made no effort to reach out to me -- a bright and promising student in their midst -- and I had no reason to believe there was a place for me there.
"Therefore, when it came time for me to apply to college, I never ... considered the university in my own backyard as a viable option."
She went on to earn degrees from Princeton and Harvard Law.
Ironically, the U. of C. would become a focal point of her life: She was a high-level administrator at the school and medical center; President Obama taught at the law school for many years; their daughters attended the Lab School; their close friends are on U of C boards and were major presidential campaign fund-raisers and many members of the Obama White House have ties to the institution anchoring Hyde Park.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.suntimes.com ...
2009: “what can the country can do for me...”
It could be Michelle that you weren’t all that bright and promising.
Well golly gee, I was the first member in my family to go to college-a state college in MN-none of the IVIES reached out to me. But I did work hard and got accepted into a couple of good graduate schools-including of all places, the University of Chicago.
Talk about self-serving limelight. “Oh, Bambi, run for Prez so I can get back at all those nasties who didn’t beg for my attendance...” Too bad her union dad didn’t send out some goons to knee-cap the admissions staff...
Bitter woman, clinging to Marxism and her hate of America.
Michelle is a glass half full person.
And she failed the bar exam.
Affirmative action programs at Ivy League institutions are huge. A qualified white applicant got rejected for Michelle's "viable option" at Princeton, by her own admission.
I have never been a fan of the term “outreach”. The phrase “there isn’t enough of X group in Y field” always made my teeth itch. When I was an engineering student in the early nineties at UW, there was endless handwringing and endless spending about trying to get women and minorities into engineering. All I could say is “who the hell is stopping them?”. There were women and minorities in engineering, not a lot, but each and every one of them wanted to be there, were passionate about it, and made their own decision to be there. Those are the people you want building your bridges, not the ones who got recruited. I have read of new efforts to change and/or lower the standards and structure of engineering schools to accomodate diversity, this will do nothing but turn out ever more incompetant engineers who will do engineering as if its a buerocracy. I can see no reason to do this other than a systematic planned destruction of our industry. This is being promoted by the same fools as want to reinstate the draft.
I lived in Hyde Park many years ago - Michelle Obama is correct on this issue.
She admitted in two seperate speeches that she got AA.
****Michelle is a glass half full person.*****
Yes: and I can tell you what it’s full of too.
Show me the 3.8 GPA required to enter Harvard Law at that time.
I am not saying they are dumb people, but their “bump” came from AA.
If the Obamas had the grades, LSAT’s and activities required to enter Ivy League schools, don’t you think that would have been released, already?
I cannot stand either of them because they are Liberals; not because they are minorities.
What a monumental EGO!!!
HuThe institution made no effort to reach out to me -- a bright and promising student in their midst
Hubris is right, my friend. My son, who is totally blind, graduated 8th in his class of over 300. He was a leader in school, VP of the student council, and achieved much. The local college, only 5 doors away from us as we lived on a street adjoining the campus, never contacted him. Neither did Penn State which had an extension only 1 mile away. It was not an issue. We never felt he was overlooked. He went on to get into Swarthmore on several scholarships and then onto get his Master's Degree and no college reached out to him for that either.
Who does Michelle think she is? Certainly not better than my son. Should he complain too? What a pouting, bitter, angry ecomaniac she is.
These two in the WH are always bringing up their angry memories and seem to hold grudges on somethings that no one else is bothered by. Why? Just because she feels slighted because of her skin color? Then tell me why did her husband, who is half white, appeal to her if she detests whites so much? And why doesn't he claim to be what he really is...bi-racial, and not African/American. Because, it seems, they want to hold onto anger and create more friction.
Particularly when funded by public dollars allotted by her husband...but Katie Couric somehow missed that story...
Actually, one of the great aspects of attending Princeton (NJ) public schools is that the kids have access to the University. They can go and listen to lectures, presentations or whatever, but they have to get off their butts and do it. Was a real benefit for at least one of my kids!
Little secret . . . colleges don’t reach out unless you’ve proven your academic ability in some way. Our oldest never received anything from any colleges because she was homeschooled and took the GED. She never took the ACT nor SAT. She never made it on the radar screen of colleges. She is a college student because we pursued a local institution due to its location and academic offerings. Daughter #2 took the PSAT as a sophomore, and she receives mail and email on a daily basis from the best schools in the country. Her scores didn’t really matter this year. When she takes the test again as a junior, then it will mean something. Anywho, she had never received anything from a college prior to this year.
And the reason I am telling my anecdotal story follows. Our fourth child, a son, is in the seventh grade. When he was in the fifth grade, we moved to a new town, registered him for school, and his registration was botched. I believe I must have left the ‘racial preference’ section blank. The computer or person entering the data into the computer must have filled in ‘African American’ which has led to all sorts of interesting things. Son began receiving recruitment letters from our local university as a fifth grader. None of our other children receive these things. The status has been changed to Caucasian, but the letters to our African American child keep coming. It’s enlightening.
poor widdo shelley, they made an overture an she didn’t feew good aboud id waaaaaa
IOW—— GIMME, GIMME, GIMME
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