The National Association of Black Coaches has done it again.
Every time a black coach is fired, it becomes vividly clear in their minds that racism was the cause.
This happens time and time again behind the scenes, and I would not be surprised if it happened here at the University of Houston when Alvin Brooks was fired last month.
However, that is fine in my eyes. If you want to support one of your own "kind," then so be it. Far be it for me to say that I have never supported my own. I do it all the time at my local gas station when I buy a pack of gum from the Indian attendant just so I can show my support for his "American Dream". But there comes a point where you just have to say enough is enough. I am referring to the black coaches wanting to abolish Proposition 48 standards of minimum requirements on the Scholastic Assessment Test.
Currently, you must achieve at least a 700 on the SAT or a 17 on the ACT and have a passing average in your core high school curriculum.
The Black Coaches argue that this is an unfair standard by which young black kids should be judged because the test is racially biased. They say the test is geared for white suburban kids who go sailing after school and watch reruns of Wings. However, last time I checked, blacks at least speak English at home, just like whites, which comprises half of the SAT.
If anyone is to claim a bias it would have to be the German, Spanish, Asian, Indian and Middle Eastern high schoolers who mostly speak different languages at home and obviously are at a disadvantage. However, it is up to the individual to work at it and beat the system.
What about those kids who take the test from a foreign country? Are they claiming a bias against America or its unfair standards?
Standardized tests are part of the system one needs to overcome to be successful. Life is all about overcoming odds, and I do not mean overcoming an ankle injury to score the winning basket in a meaningless game. Let me point something else out to you. You get 200 points for each section of the SAT just for showing up that Saturday morning. That is 400 points of the total of 700 you need. Reason would tell you that if you get the easy questions right on the test you will achieve the minimum test score.
Last summer, radio station KILT 610 AM brought this topic up on its morning show with little thought as to the response it would receive. For two days, they were bombarded with phone calls with blacks and whites arguing over everything from slavery to inner city youths.
But most of the callers missed the point. The point is that these athletes are coming to college to get an education and they have to be able to do the work. If he cannot achieve a 700 on the test, what makes you think one of those athletes can do college level work?
Remember Dexter Manley, formerly of the Washington Redskins? He went through his entire life without learning to read. All along his educational life no one had a roadblock for him to pass through to find out if he could actually function in society.
Whose fault was that in regards to Manley? He is the one to blame. Anyone can do well on the SAT if they put in the effort. Its called studying and reading.
We must ask the high school athletes to raise their standards and do what all students do: make the grade.