A front-page article in today's New York Times reports on the desire of the president of the University of California, Richard Atkinson, to end the use of the SAT in admissions. The article reports, "Like other school officials around the country Dr. Atkinson has sought to balance the values of diversity and academic quality." What is the Times suggesting here? That "diversity" -- presumably racial diversity, since that is what the preceding sentence in the Times refers to -- and "quality" are somehow competing or contradictory values that need to be balanced? Sounds like what George W. Bush would call the soft bigotry of low expectations.
Can't Spell: The lead, front-page article in this morning's New York Times, about the air strike on Iraq, refers to "Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, a Republican from Texas." The correct spelling of the senator's last name is "Hutchison," without an "n."
Prestige Problem: A front-page article in today's New York Times about Fashion Week declares, "the perception that the New York shows are slipping in prestige -- so much so that many designers and journalists say that the atmosphere in the tents resembles a trade show -- comes at a critical time in the industry." First of all, these fashion shows essentially are a trade show. It's odd that anyone not wrapped in delusions of glory would find this remarkable. Second, what is so un-prestigious, in the Times' view, about a trade show? Many hardworking Americans -- and many professionals in fields such as psychology, law, the newspaper industry, finance, high technology -- attend trade shows. The Times sentence has a haughty tone to it, as if the newspaper somehow believes that people who attend fashion shows are superior to those who attend Comdex or the annual meeting of the American Bar Association.
The Market: This is from an article in the metro section of today's New York Times about office space in Harlem: "Plans call for a second phase to include a 10-story office tower, and perhaps a hotel, but so far no office leases have been signed. Brokers say that because of construction costs, space in the high-rise building would cost $40 a square foot a year, compared with an average of $60 in Midtown, but still less than the market will bear. 'Trying to get commercial tenants and/or a hotel has been very difficult,' said Karen A. Phillips, the chief executive of the Abyssinian Development Corporation." If no office leases have been signed and trying to get commercial tenants has been "very difficult," wouldn't that suggest that the rent is not "less" than the market will bear, but more?