BILL GATES SCHOLARSHIPS
The Bill Gates Scholarship, flawed as it may be, throws billions of dollars into scholarship coffers and, if nothing else, should buy Mr. Gates a speed train ticket to heaven.
One would hope that if we had all those billions we would put a chunk of it toward trying to make the world a better place, as Mr. Gates has done, instead of just buying a private island with its own water slide.
Of course Bill Gates could probably do both. He is one of the richest men in the world as the co-founder of software giant Microsoft. In a way the Bill Gates Scholarship was as inevitable as it is inconsequential.
While there can be no argument that filthy rich guys can do some good if they throw their money in the right direction it can be argued what is the common good to sending more students to college on the Bill Gates Scholarship. Is more better?
If, as the Bill Gates Scholarship people argue, there are approximately 500,000 qualified students who don’t go to college every year is it a worthy goal to get them all to college? Was everybody meant to go to college? Are the colleges not already putting out an inferior product when the average American college graduate can’t tell you in what century we fought the Civil War? Not what years—what century!
And the Bill Gates Scholarship is aimed primarily at minority and women students. He has earmarked $1.37 billion directly for the United Negro College Fund. This cannot be a bad thing. Can it?
The larger question is whether these scholarships serve their intended purpose. Funds from the United Negro College Fund have certainly increased the number of African-American college graduates. Are African-Americans better off for it?
The debate is open, but “educated” blacks have been going back to their communities and robbing other African-Americans for decades. They are most often disguised as Senators and Congressmen and they usually argue for the kind of money for education and welfare that the Bill Gates Scholarship provides.
The end result has been to make a handful of race-baiting politicians—usually those in the Congressional Black Caucus—rich beyond belief. And generations of blacks have grown up with their initiative taken away believing that they cannot achieve because of a racist society.
Bill Gates and his ilk contribute to this legacy.
There can be no mistaking the detrimental effect multicultural education has had on society. Americans have not quite grasped it fully yet. Europe, however, is in full revolt. Germany, England, France and the Netherlands in particular are starting to see and talk about the harm this type of thinking has done over the course of a generation.
Still, if you are a good student and consider yourself a minority you should take advantage of the money being offered by the Bill Gates Foundation. They are especially generous with graduate students studying public health, education, sciences, engineering, math and library science.
It is true that minority students drop out of college at a higher rate than other students. The Bill Gates Foundation has recognized this problem and is trying to fix it. That is a noble goal and should be applauded.