By: atlascollapsed on 11/20/09
A new catchword. Underrepresented! Apparently in the age of equality the phrases disadvantaged, less fortunate and minority have worn out their welcome. I don't mean to imply these folks dont deserve an opportunity to educate themselves but it seems to be another case of the govt putting a higher value( in both opinion and dollars apparently) on one persons opportunity over anothers.

A little disheartening that our govt, educational system and society writ large has classified us as subgroups as oppsed to individuals. When everyone seems to be doing it, it's no wonder it happens among high school students too. Maybe we aren't as a whole the shining examples we're supposed to be.

By: twocents on 11/21/09
I agree Atlas. Our educators, officials, and reporters are probably wondering how events like at OHS can happen when they set the example to always squash us into some neat and tidy category. That way when they don't like something they can say, look, it was "one of those" and we can't be expected to handle them because they are not "like us". I wish we could get past referring to people by their race, social, or income status. We are all human beings aren't we? Or are there some aliens among us?

By: secretsquirrel on 11/21/09
ATTN: JARHEADS!
AC has come up wit a new version of the PFT... We now have the Political Fitness Thread.
AC is has set the standard for a 1st Class PFT. ;) Seems he has been waiting for me at the finish line all week. Well said AC. The new term "underrepresented" is enough to make me queasy.
"MnSCU officials credit the increase in underrepresented enrollment to improved recruitment and retention efforts, as well as an initiative called “Access, Opportunity and Success,” which began in the fall of 2007. For the initiative, the Board of Trustees allocated $11 million a year, providing funds to every institution in order to expand programs and services." This is business, not a social program. The tax dollars spent ('invested?') simply generate an entire class of people who will suck up even more tax money through the course of their academic careers. In the end, all major companies will be staffed and run by the formerly "underrepresented" and the new "underrepresented" will be the former "overrepresented" and require more tax money and "initiatives" to swing the pendulum the other way. How asinine.
Now the underrepesented include poor people and people whose parents did not go to college...?
Is this implying that one day the government will come up with a (tax) social program to ensure that everyone has a doctorate's degree at taxpayer expense?
By eliminating class in a society, the result will be highly educated janitors and ditch diggers because the logical result will be the same as it is now:
We STILL need laborers and we STILL need engineers. Doctors need nurses. Automotive engineers still need people to assemble what they design (and actually point out that the tail lights do NOT go on the dashboard - lol).
I wish there was a way to keep government out of government, that might solve most of our social AND governmental problems. Maybe set aside a play area for bureaucrats and keep them busy with Lincoln logs and Tonka toys so they are too preoccupied to mess things up further?

By: TheHelp on 11/25/09
These "minorities" are anyone that fits a non-leading demographic.
If you're 55+, you're a minority. Please don't automatically stereotype a "minority" as being racial or religious just because of recent events here in Owatonna.

Having a diverse student body is VERY important in the education industry. Please do your research if you don't understand why this is important.
Defining people into groups is the only way to conduct research for purposes such as this. It's ridiculous to think otherwise.

This is NOT to say that the educators don't take their schooling and students very seriously. Much of my best education came from RCC and it was because of the amount of individualized attention.

They conduct this research to determine where they need to aim the recruiting and retention focuses. If you see a trend that low-income are coming to school but stop attending, that is now where you need to focus retention efforts. I sometimes cannot believe the ignorance and short-sightedness of some of these comments. Please, people: do you research.