Khadijah, cont.

Be sure to see A. Zarkov’s revealing insights about the homeless girl admitted to Harvard. For one thing, he points out that if, as reported, she was exceptionally smart (at least for her background) from a very young age and consistently pursued her studies despite her terrible environment, what that proves is that smart people will do well, regardless of their physical and cultural environment. The message is thus the exact opposite of what the liberals want us to believe it is, that socio-economically deprived blacks are generally capable of becoming Ivy League material, if only they work hard enough and get enough help from society. Khadijah’s success is the success of inborn intelligence (plus drive and conscientiousness), not of liberal amelioration. No inborn smarts, no Ivy League Khadijah.

After Mr. Z.’s comment, the discussion moves to the subject of how Harvard, though its substantive beliefs have changed radically since Colonial times, nevertheless still has the same function today that it had then: to train people to be ministers of the state religion. In the past that religion was Congregationalism; today it is liberalism.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 25, 2009 04:30 PM | Send