In two days, students hoping to begin an education in one of
America?s most noble professions will submit their admission
applications. The University of Wisconsin School of Education?s
admissions deadline for the elementary education program is March
1.

Sadly, many likely qualified students who want to become an
elementary school teacher will not even apply for admission because
they have already been told they will not get into the program.

The reason: these students are white.

The undergraduate admissions office believes the playing field
is not level when students apply for undergraduate admission to the
university as a whole, so they take race into account in their
admissions decisions. The School of Education believes the playing
field is still not level, so again race is taken into account, but
more than most applicants are aware.

Applicants are told cumulative GPA (or the students? GPA for
their last 60 credits, whichever is higher) will account for 35
percent of the admissions criteria and the Pre-Professional Skills
Test (PPST) will account for 25 percent of the criteria (8 1/3
percent for each section — math, reading and writing). The
remaining 40 percent of the admissions criteria is split up evenly
between the students? Student Staff Representative Ration (SSRR)
and ?non-academic factors,? which is an essay.

For admission to the Elementary Education program for the Fall
2003 term, the average GPA for admitted white students was 3.53 and
for admitted applicants of color was 3.18.

For those of you who are fighting desperately to raise your GPA
to a 3.5 like I am, you understand what a huge difference in GPA
that is for a student.

The next criterion is the PPST. On average, admitted white
students scored 2.4 points higher on reading, 3.4 points higher on
math and 2.0 points higher on writing than admitted applicants of
color.

Again, the average admitted white student had to have scores
significantly higher than applicants of color. It should be noted,
though, that the average grades and test scores of both applicant
pools were significantly higher than the required minimums set by
the school and state.

This leaves us to examine the SSRR and essay. The SSRR ?reflects
the extent which members of specific ethnic groups are over- or
under-represented in the professional staff of Wisconsin schools
relative to pupils from that ethnic group,? according to the
admission packet. This results in Asian students receiving the
greatest benefit, though at least one School of Education official
notes they are generally the group who needs the least help in
admissions. American Indians, Hispanics and blacks, respectively,
receive the most assistance through the SSRR after Asian Americans.
White students do not receive any assistance through the SSRR
because they are considered over represented in Wisconsin public
schools — 89.04 percent of teachers are white, while only 80.11
percent of the students are white.

While our society has said it is unfair to penalize someone
because of their skin color, school officials argue it is necessary
because the Wisconsin public schools need more diverse teachers to
teach the increasing number of students of color growing up in
Wisconsin.

Essentially this means the School of Education and the Wisconsin
Department of Public Instruction are making the judgment that white
teachers cannot relate to or effectively teach students of color. I
find this disingenuous. Being a successful elementary school
teacher is not about skin color; it is about being compassionate
and caring, having patience and the willingness and desire to help
children work toward a bright future.

The remaining factor in the admissions decision is the essay,
accounting for 20 percent. The essay is also skewed to advantage
applicants of color. The question for the past several semesters
asks the applicants to describe how their background and
experiences will help them be effective teachers to the diverse
culture, language, background, socioeconomic status, abilities,
gender and ethnicity of elementary school students.

The question is skewed towards applicants of color, and School
of Education administrators are aware of this. The essay scores
indicate a clear bias. Applicants of color on average have scores
four-and-a-half times higher than white applicants. That is an
astounding difference, even if a complete analysis cannot be done
without having the standard of deviation of each group.

Applicants of color essentially have a 40 percent head start to
white applicants. This accounts for why the difference in GPA and
PPST scores are so significant.

The School of Education and the elementary education program at
UW-Madison is one of the best in the country. The world-class
faculty should be applauded, and the goals of the university
respected, but research has not come close to conclusively saying
that elementary school students benefit more if their teachers are
of the same race as they are.

The university should seek to produce the best teachers possible
based on performance, not skin color. The current admissions
procedure is a detriment to students of color who would still be
admitted at the higher standard. The policy is also a detriment to
those qualified white students who pay for tuition at this
university but cannot study in the field of their choice simply
because of their skin color.

Discrimination is discrimination, and it is wrong. This should
be one of the first lessons teachers should be teaching kids. It is
unlikely this will occur if discrimination is the reason that
teacher is in the classroom.

Matt Modell ([email protected]) is a senior
majoring in journalism and political science.