We need a News of Weird, Racism version

Sadly, I think I agree with you.

And Rand Rover, your beaver argument is more like this:

A tree falls in the forest in an area with a historically high concentration of beavers.

Monstro, you with the face, et al: “Those damn beavers! Always chewing on trees and knocking them down!”

Everyone else: “How do yo know it was beavers? Could have been loggers, or a lightning strike, or maybe the tree just rotted and died.”

M, ywtf, etc.: “Nope, it’s beavers. Look at the teeth marks on the trees, the traces of brown fur on scene, the other trees in the beaver dam. Lightning, loggers, and rot are all good points, but there’s no record of a thunderstorm, no sign of rot, and the area isn’t known for logging. Why are you denying that it was beavers when it’s so obvious? Beavers in the forest are a pervasive problem.”

EE: “Oh? Why do you think there is a pervasive beaver problem?”

M—: “Because trees are always faling in the forest, there is a long history of beaver activity in the area, overwhelming anecdotal and circumstantial evidence, and occasional clear-cut cases, of which we believe this is an example.”

EE: “And how do you know that beavers are responsible in those cases?”

M—: “Because of the pervasive beaver problem! There is ample evidence for this issue going back centuries! What are you, stupid or something?”

I’m not convinced this story has presented its “teeth marks on the trees and traces of brown fur at the scene,” at least not yet.

There are have been previous lawsuits very similar to this one that been successful, according to this article.

Please note that Walker is Wimberly’s lawyer in this case. The suit being made on her behalf includes an allegation that black students at Wimberly’s school were discouraged from taking AP classes in a manner that was discriminatory, thereby allowing whites to have an unfair academic advantage over them.

I wish I had a pervasive beaver problem. Just sayin’.

One of you folks should contact the district court in Arkansas to let them know it was definitely racism. Then they won’t have to waste all that time and taxpayer money on pointless things like, oh, hearing all the facts of the case.

Hey, there’s always rot.

I don’t think anyone is saying it must be racism to the exclusion of all other causes, just that, given the facts as presented and the general cultural background, racism is far more likely than any other cause. (I may have exaggerated wrt traces of beaver fur at the scene.) It may well be something else, but the counterargument needs to be stronger than a less likely scenario resulting from wild speculation.

Hey, can we extend this appeal to both sides of the debate? We have some folks in here actually defending the school’s decision purely on the basis of her being a teen mom. (Which is pretty damn incredible if you think about it. Teen mothers don’t deserve to have their grades publically recognized now? Really? People really believe that?)

I’m actually leaning towards this possibly being a case in which Wimberly and the other kid got the same grades on everything, but the other kid took half a credit more. But I have my doubts that this neatly explains the whole situation simply for the fact the lawyer in this case has dealt with these situations before, and likely wouldn’t blow his wad on something that would take all of 2 seconds to invalidate.

Your obvious mistake was to expect logical and decent behavior from school administration.

The odds of that are almost as low as a school board doing the right thing.

A valedictorian had a B in something? I’ve never heard of this.

Where I went to HS (small town) and where my sons do/did (large city) the fight is among people who have never made anything less than an A, but the GPA is weighted so that the A in band counts less (but not a lot less) than the A in AP physics.

A friend of mine was tearing out her hair because in her sophomore year she got a B in gym, thereby ruining her chances of being valedictorian. (It did, too. She came in 3rd in overall GPA.)

I would also like to point out that 38 years ago is not now. Although it sounds like this might be a town that hasn’t quite gotten the message yet. I hope the people who wanted to avoid “a big mess” are hiding under their desks.

Exactly. Dr. Drake, what specific facts in this situation do you think are equivalet to brown fur and teeth marks?

And the fact that there was a beaver problem in the past says nothing about whether there is a beaver problem now.

Fact #1: A student was recognized as valedictorian, and then secondarily told she would be co-valedictorian.
Fact #2: Her co-valedictorian has a different GPA and is white.
Fact #3: There is a historic imbalance of power between blacks and whites.
Fact #4: There is some tension in this part of the world between blacks and whites.

Now, I grant there could easily be a scenario that takes all these facts into account but where racism is not the deciding factor. To date, though, no alternative theory is very strong. It could be sexism, pure incompetence, or any combination of the above. I just think that the facts point to racism first and other theories second, barring further evidence.

(For instance, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ms. Wimberly was in fact #2 and, rather than apologize for the error and explain the calculations, this was a ham-handed way to make everyone happy. But I still suspect that the awareness of black girl vs. white boy was a factor.)

Our school did not weight the AP courses, which meant that I was one of nine co-valedictorians, that being how many kids had 4.0s. They didn’t count PE grades, though, or I wouldn’t have made it. (In fact, I also had a B in AP History, but that teacher had a policy of going back and retroactively changing the grade to an A for anyone who got a 5 on the AP exam.)

I think we need to put this in the context of the 21st century and the little snowflakes that have fallen into our high schools.

You see, I suspect the parents of that white kid with the slightly-lower GPA who had a half credit more found out that their precious child would not be named valedictorian. They went to the principal and lo-and-behold they are now co-valedictorian.

Yes, but decided not to respond in light of the entirely valid warning for Rand’s behavior.

I don’t want to believe this, with a black president… But yeah. I think this is true.

See above- I used to live in the country, and you won’t realize how much racism there is, 'specially if there isn’t variation around to trigger the discussion…

Spot on, lad!

Beind directly involved with the school board which somehow managed to get behind ‘Ebonics’, I had to respond… It is amazing how the conglomeration of little issues get you to a point where the absurd seems normal…

Ain’t them school boards wacky?!

OK, ignorance fought, and, if not defeated, at least driven into retreat.

Perhaps, in this case. In theory, I see no problem with a school instituting standards for naming a valedictorian in addition to having a high G.P.A. One might argue whether “not getting pregnant in high school” is an appropriate such standard, but I don’t see it as a matter of right or discrimination.

Those facts are not fur and teeth marks–ie, direct evidence of racism.

Also we have several alternative theories. Here they are in order of plausibility (grom greatest to least):

  1. Two students had a reasonable claim to the top spot, and the school awarded it to both of them. (Unfortunately, the white student’s claim came only after the black student was told she had the highest grades, thus making some people believe the school had a problem with the val’s race.)

  2. The school didn’t want the sole val to be a teen mother.

  3. The school didn’t want the sole val to be a school staff member’s kid.

Yes, these are possibilities, but racism is the more likely culprit. Not sure how you don’t see that. Have you been to AK? It’s not exactly a progressive place.

Pointless nitpick department: Arkansas is AR; AK is Alaska.