Stan writes: The success bar is set lower for black men, as Tom Wolfe noted in The Bonfire of the Vanities:<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Actually, I\u2019m calling to inquire about one of your students, a young Mr. Henry Lamb.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Henry Lamb. Doesn\u2019t ring a bell. What\u2019s he done?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Oh, he hasn\u2019t done anything. He\u2019s been seriously injured.\u2019\u2019 He proceeded to lay out the facts of the case, stacking them rather heavily toward the Albert Vogel-Reverend Bacon theory of the incident. \u2018\u2018I was told he was a student in your English class.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Who told you that?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018His mother. I had quite a long talk with her. She\u2019s a very nice woman and very upset, as you can imagine.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Henry Lamb \u2026 Oh yes, I know who you mean. Well, that\u2019s too bad.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018What I would like to find out, Mr. Rifkind, is what kind of student Henry Lamb is.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018What kindl\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Well, would you say he was an outstanding student?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Where are you from, Mr.\u2014I\u2019m sorry, tell me your name again?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Fallow.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Mr. Fallow. I gather you\u2019re not from New York.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018That\u2019s true.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Then there\u2019s no reason why you should know anything about Colonel Jacob Ruppert High School in the Bronx. At Ruppert we use comparative terms, but outstanding isn\u2019t one of them. The range runs more from cooperative to life-threatening.\u2019\u2019 Mr. Rifkind began to chuckle. \u2018\u2018F\u2019r Chrissake, don\u2019t say I said that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Well, how would you describe Henry Lamb?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Cooperative. He\u2019s a nice fellow. Never gives me any trouble.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Would you describe him as a good student?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Good doesn\u2019t work too well at Ruppert, either. It\u2019s more \u2018Does he attend class or doesn\u2019t he?\u2019 \u2018\u2018<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Did Henry Lamb attend class?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018As I recall, yes. He\u2019s usually there. He\u2019s very dependable. He\u2019s a nice kid, as nice as they come.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Was there any part of the curriculum he was particularly good\u2014or, let me say, adept at, anything he did better than anything else?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Not particularly.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018No?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It\u2019s difficult to explain, Mr. Fallow. As the saying goes, \u2018Ex nihilo nihil fit.\u2019 There\u2019s not a great range of activities in these classes, and so it\u2019s hard to compare performances. These boys and girls\u2014sometimes their minds are in the classroom, and sometimes they\u2019re not.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018What about Henry Lamb?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018He\u2019s a nice fellow. He\u2019s polite, he pays attention, he doesn\u2019t give me any trouble. He tries to learn.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Well, he must have some abilities. His mother told me he was considering going to college.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018That may well be. She\u2019s probably talking about C.C.N.Y. That\u2019s the City College of New York.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I believe Mrs. Lamb did mention that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018City College has an open-admissions policy. If you live in New York City and you\u2019re a high-school graduate and you want to go to City College, you can go.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Will Henry Lamb graduate, or would he have?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018As far as I know. As I say, he has a very good attendance record.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018How do you think he would have fared as a college student?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
A sigh. \u2018\u2018I don\u2019t know. I can\u2019t imagine what happens with these kids when they enter City College.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Well, Mr. Rifkind, can you tell me anything at all about Henry Lamb\u2019s performance or his aptitude, anything at all?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018You have to understand that they give me about sixty-five students in each class when the year starts, because they know it\u2019ll be down to forty by mid-year and thirty by the end of the year. Even thirty\u2019s too many, but that\u2019s what I get. It\u2019s not exactly what you\u2019d call a tutorial system. Henry Lamb\u2019s a nice young man who applies himself and wants an education. What more can I tell you?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Let me ask you this. How does he do on his written work?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Mr. Rifkind let out a whoop. \u2018\u2018Written work? There hasn\u2019t been any written work at Ruppert High for fifteen years! Maybe twenty! They take multiple-choice tests. Reading comprehension, that\u2019s the big thing. That\u2019s all the Board of Education cares about.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018How was Henry Lamb\u2019s reading comprehension?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I\u2019d have to look it up. Not bad, if I had to guess.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Better than most? Or about average? Or what would you say?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Well \u2026 I know it must be difficult for you to understand, Mr. Fallow, being from England. Am I right? You\u2019re British?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Yes, I am.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Naturally\u2014or I guess it\u2019s natural\u2014you\u2019re used to levels of excellence and so forth. But these kids haven\u2019t reached the level where it\u2019s worth emphasizing the kind of comparisons you\u2019re talking about. We\u2019re just trying to get them up to a certain level and then keep them from falling back. You\u2019re thinking about \u2018honor students\u2019 and \u2018higher achievers\u2019 and all that, and that\u2019s natural enough, as I say. But at Colonel Jacob Ruppert High School, an honor student is somebody who attends class, isn\u2019t disruptive, tries to learn, and does all right at reading and arithmetic.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Well, let\u2019s use that standard. By that standard, is Henry Lamb an honor student?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018By that standard, yes.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Thank you very much, Mr. Rifkind.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018That\u2019s okay. I\u2019m sorry to hear about all this. Seems like a nice boy. We\u2019re not supposed to call them boys, but that\u2019s what they are, poor sad confused boys with a whole lotta problems. Don\u2019t quote me, for Christ\u2019s sake, or I\u2019ll have a whole lotta problems. Hey, listen. You sure you couldn\u2019t use a 1981 Thunderbird?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stan writes: The success bar is set lower for black men, as Tom Wolfe noted in The Bonfire of the Vanities: \u2018\u2018Actually, I\u2019m calling to inquire about one of your students, a young Mr. Henry Lamb.\u2019\u2019 \u2018\u2018Henry Lamb. Doesn\u2019t ring … Continue reading