Thomas Sowell Just Destroys the Grade = Race Theory with One Story

A great example of how sometimes a single anecdotal story can cut through theory (data) to deliver a message better than theory alone.

Watch the video above to hear from Sowell himself.

Thomas Sowell has always found ways to get his points across. Often, it takes less than 100 pages of data for a single anecdote to do the trick.

In an older C-SPAN clip that surfaced again this week, Sowell recalled something from his years of being in the classroom, watching and studying higher education. According to Sowell, a black law student had been cautioned by fellow classmates that there was a professor they knew of that would give no Black student a grade higher than a C. The warning was intended as a heads-up for the potential grade; in essence, an excuse in anticipation for a grade that had not occurred yet.

The student chose to ignore that warning and put forth the effort. The end result was a B+.

What makes that story relevant today -- after all these decades have passed since it took place? It eliminates the assumption, which exists within so much contemporary commentary about education today, that a grade lower than an A indicates bias against the student receiving such a grade.

Again, Sowell was never suggesting racism in academia does not exist. He stated in that same interview that predicting failure for someone prior to that failure occurring, solely based on assumed prejudice of the professor grading the paper, can create its own form of barrier. That student refused to buy into that predicted failure, and ultimately performed beyond the original expectation.

Sowell continued down this road, and warned that things have actually worsened over time -- not improved. In that same interview, he also expressed concern that racial tensions on many college campuses today are significantly greater than those existing in the broader community outside those campuses’ walls. He directed that concern directly at parents whose college experiences are vastly different from those their children are experiencing today.

Sowell advised parents not to believe that a positive experience their child will have on a college campus (decades after their own college experience), guarantees that the same experience will occur for their children today. The overall environment on campus has changed (and not necessarily for the better). As Sowell described, a campus that may have provided a sense of welcome to generations past, can provide an entirely different environment for current students -- shaped by tensions that did not exist when their own parents were the students.

There are two main concepts presented here -- both part of one interview. Grades do not prove bias. Nostalgia is not a good indicator for understanding a rapidly evolving campus culture.

Sowell never asked audiences to deny the existence of racism in America today. Instead, he consistently asked people to recognize when they are making assumptions about every uncomfortable outcome being evidence of racism -- especially when there is another explanation available (effort, preparation, etc.) as well.