Originally Posted by
Onfinal
CE750
As far as disadvantaged youth, I couldn't agree with you more, however I don't think that that is the reason for the limited number of minorities we see in the profession. The Black and Hispanic middle class is much larger than many people think. I think it has more to do with the lack of career guidance, inside assistance, and yes still some racism that makes it difficult to reach the goal. The typical black or hispanic person middle class or poor has no outlet ( no uncle, neighbor, friend of a friend of a friend) to assist them in even beginning to know how to become an airline pilot. And certainly no one to guide them through the pitfalls along the way. I believe that the internet has made it much easier in the last 10 years to have access to the guidance that is needed in the profession, hence websites like this one.
I used to work for ASA in Atlanta and my wife was a Teacher in a "poor" part of town in a 99% Black school (Riverside Elementary), and I used to come in at her request as a volunanteer on career day in my crappy ASA pilots uniform and hat to give talks (along with the fireman, police, and other professions from dental assistant to Doctor). The saddest things I observed were two things.
- I noticed a dramatic difference between the K-2nd graders and the 3-5th grader in terms of behavior and willingness to learn, listen, and engage in constructive questions... and no! it wasn't the little ones that were hecklers.. sadly it was the older kids who almost all seemed destined for failure with their attitudes.
-Something even more sad was that 99% of those kids didn't even know what my uniform was... they would say Limo driver, or Police man... didn't ever see a pilot or an airplane..
I grew up from infancy to my early teens flying on jets with my family and seeing pilots and wishing I could fly the plane, visiting the cockpit (Back when you could), etc... Yet these kids were TRULY disadvantaged, and by the time they were 8 or 9, were on their way to being at the bottom of the wrung due to a number of factors we will not get into here.
I subsequently began to support OBAP even though I'm not Afro-American because it broke my heart to see these kids with so much potential at their formative years, then turn into borderline thugs and jokers by such a young age as 8.. Most OBAP members I met didn't come from the inner city however, though some likely did; but themselves were usually from middle class families that had instilled the value of school and achievement into them. SO..
I SAY AGAIN; THE PROBLEM LIES IN THE FORMATIVE YEARS... NOT IN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BEING NEEDED. This is my view. AA is more of a re-payment for 80 years of discrimination if you want to accept it's existence, and does nothing to solve the problem for all of those kids "in the pipe line" for the grown up world.
Anyway.. TonyC, good lawyer work... I'm impressed.