The erasure of Malia Obama, or why we question the accomplishments of a 17-year-old

[gollygee]

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/erasure-malia-obama

As I write this article, it is May 7, 2016. We are seven years, three months, and 17 days into the presidency of a certain Barack Obama. And still the United States refuses to believe in the concept of black excellence.

Case in point: many Americans refuse to believe Malia Obama earned her admission to Harvard. Pick a random article from the publication of your choice about Malia's matriculation to Harvard and check the comments section. Chances are high you'll see someone attempting to qualify her accomplishment, saying she was admitted solely because she is the daughter of the president or a double legacy or, more generally, the daughter of two Ivy League educated lawyers. (Both Barack and Michelle graduated from Harvard Law School; they earned their bachelor's degrees from Columbia and Princeton, respectively.)

I could systematically and thoroughly invalidate each of those objections with multiple examples, but I don't feel particularly obliged to do so. However, I will say this: Malia is not the first child of a president who went to a selective institution that followed in their father's (and perhaps mother's in six months) footsteps. In the specific case of Ivy League colleges, both Kennedy children, Chelsea Clinton (B.A. from Stanford, M.P.H. from Columbia, Ph.D. from Oxford), and Barbara Bush all followed in their parents' footsteps. On the point of finances: the Kennedys, Clintons, and Bushes were all wealthier than the Obamas. On being a legacy: John F. Kennedy graduated from Harvard and Caroline went to Radcliffe; George W. Bush and Barbara Bush went to Yale. And I went through all of this without mentioning George W. Bush, who went to the same school as his father (Yale, albeit before Bush the senior became president) and benefited from his father's wealth.

(Snip)

What's happening here is this: the public is questioning Malia's achievements the same way they did those of her father. When Obama was first elected in 2008, many people said it was solely because he was black. When he was reelected in 2012, those same people raised the same objections. Some conspiracy theorists believe Obama never actually attended Columbia University. (Look that up yourself; I'm not giving legitimacy to those rumors by linking to them.) When has a president's educational background credentials ever been questioned like that?

[TipTok]

1. Sounds like someone with a solution in search of a problem...

[Egnever]

2. If you are judging society by the comments section

You are doing it wrong

[lostnfound]

3. She has a very intelligent thoughtful look about her

People who say anything else about it are Neanderthals

[Doctor_J]

4. Actually lots of people questioned George w Bush's admission to Yale and Harvard

and the white house. So this blogger's premise is flawed.

[Chakab]

13. Yeah, because Bush speaks English on a fifth grade level. There's nothing

about the way that he presented himself that would have indicated that he was educated at some of the most prestigious post-secondary institutions in the world.

People are making the same assumptions about Obama's daughter without any evidence to indicate that she's not on par with the average Harvard admit.


That being said, writing articles based on what people post in online comments sections is totally asinine.

[certainot]

23. the premise isn't flawed when you've got 1200 radio stations proposing

it's pure privilege, and that after years of those same radio stations suggesting that the obama's were elitist for not sending their heavily guarded children to public schools. and the only reason he won was reverse racism and white guilt.

those weren't the people questioning bush's 'accomplishments', but they were the same ones getting dan rather kicked off tv for suggesting bush was a AWOL deserter rather than a great commander in chief.

my logic is often flawed but in that context is the premise still flawed?

[FLPanhandle]

5. Wrong

To this day I don't believe George W Bush earned his way into Yale.

Being from rich, powerful, and famous families is a definite plus. To pretend otherwise is stupid and naive.

[Raine1967]

9. Can you explain this?

Both Barack and Michelle graduated from Harvard Law School; they earned their bachelor's degrees from Columbia and Princeton, respectively

Barack and Michelle were not from rich and powerful families.

It is my opinion that they both have raised their children with that mindset as well. Case in point:

“I don’t want her to be that kid who is 15 or 16, and [she’s saying], ‘Oh, I don’t know how to do laundry.’ I would cringe if she became that kid,” Michelle Obama told Oprah Winfrey last year. “We have real discussions about responsibility, not taking things for granted. And not having a bunch of grown-ups doing stuff for you when you’re completely capable of doing it yourself, and being able to take care of your own business. And you’re not living in the White House forever — you’re going to college. .?.?. We have those discussions.”

[FLPanhandle]

11. Come on.

The Obamas right now are rich and powerful that's all that matters.

Would a child with similar grades and test scores made it in? We don't know, but we do know being the child of the President and a child of Ivy league parents is a tremendous boost to her chances. It's naive to deny otherwise.

[Raine1967]

15. The Obamas were not rich when they got into those schools.

I'm not naive.

I am also not ignoring the parenting style of Michelle and Barack. Forget the money and give a little credit to the kids they are raising.

Those Ivy League parents you are talking about came from some seriously working class backgrounds. They worked damn hard to get where they are.

Nothing was handed to them.

I have no problem with their daughter going to Harvard.

It's pretty damn awesome. The Obama's came from the middle class. I would never deny their daughter a chance for an education at Harvard.

This is a good thing. Success is a good thing, isn't it?

[FLPanhandle]

17. Who's denying their daughter?

Last edited Fri May 13, 2016, 07:35 AM - Edit history (1)

I'm sure their daughter is hard working and intelligent.

However, thousands of hard working, intelligent kids get turned down by Harvard each year.

Does it help that dad is POTUS? Well, doesn't hurt.

Connections and being alumni also help.

There is no way George W Bush got into Yale on his own accomplishments, so we have to also acknowledge that money, power, and connections could also have come into play.

Anyway, no one knows her grades/test scores/etc and how she ranked in the applicants. Some will believe she earned her way in, some will believe she didn't. No one really knows. Might as well argue how many angels can dance on the head of pin.

[AngryAmish]

43. Please define the concept of "regression to the mean".

Show your work and use robust examples .

[pnwmom]

6. Even here. DUers were questioning why she had gotten in, and insisting it happened

because of her father -- rather than being based on her own merits.

[Raine1967]

7. Right here in this thread, to be more precise.

It's sad.

[ProfessorGAC]

30. That's Far Too Binary

I don't think the concepts are mutually exclusive.

One can believe she is a bright, ambitious, and studious young woman and still believe that even if she weren't she could have gotten into an Ivy League school. That's how those schools operate.

I don't understand how being convinced of the latter makes thinking the former impossible. Thinking the latter doesn't mean that she's not qualified. It's just two facts connected to the same young woman, and both can be true.

[Ned_Devine]

8. The Obama kids are no doubt hard workers...like their parents

Heck, even one of W's daughters is pretty intelligent. Is there a preference given to the children of our heads of state by the elite universities? Of effing course there is. But I have no doubt that the Obama kids bust their butts on homework and earn whatever they get.

[Raine1967]

10. +1

I really appreciate what you said.

[Jerry442]

12. Yeah, you can hold both ideas in your head.

1. Malia Obama is a talented young woman.

2. Any university would love to have the daughter of the President as a student.

There's no contradiction there.

[X_Digger]

40. Not to mention 'legacy' students. (Or double 'legacy' in this case.)

That's why all college apps ask if a family member has attended previously.

[raging moderate]

44. The Obama girls both seem highly intelligent to me.

And Barack and Michelle Obama obviously have taken great pains to be excellent parents. I have no doubt that they would see to it that Malia really deserved to go to Harvard. And the same for Sasha, when her turn comes.

[X_Digger]

45. No doubt, but to deny the role that politics and legacy status plays in college admissions..

.. is to be intentionally naive. And by 'politics' I don't mean just politicians. Famous, rich, well-connected; sometimes it really is who you know, or who daddy knows, or how much money or influence you have.

[raging moderate]

14. Many white people have no insight into themselves.

Where I lived before, in the church I attended, we had a rummage sale. Basically, there was garbage for sale, and we knew we would have to haul most of it to the Salvation Army. When three Black kids came in, two teenagers brought by their little brother, looking for something for their new born sibling, suddenly the other women converged on me. I was trying not to say anything, honest I was, trying not to be smug liberal of the day. But there must have been that look in my eye. "Um, we all agreed," they said nervously, "if these kids want anything for free, we will say no, right?" they urged me. I looked around at the garbage sale and said, "okay." I thought, well, if worst comes to worst, I can secretly pay the quarter or the buck. Like I did that time the homeless guy came into the restaurant where I was a waitress. Of course the kids did not ask to get something for free, and of course they left pretty soon. Gee, I wonder why.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

18. I agree and if anyone wants to pretend Sanders support..

...doesn't stem from that same wellspring of white entitlement, imagining that minorities and women can't ever actually earn things on their own, this right here shows it.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[zeemike]

22. Well there you go.

Another opportunity to accuse Sanders supporters of racism and misogyny not wasted..

[gollygee]

26. Hmm well I'm a Sanders supporter. N/t

[raging moderate]

39. The people who thought those kids could not pay were NOT Sanders supporters!

And they never would have been. Their bias against those Black kids would also prevent them from supporting Bernie Sanders. I was the one who figured the kids would expect to pay, and I am the Bernie Sanders supporter.

[raging moderate]

42. I was only going to help them if worst came to worst, no matter what!

I was not going to let those other people humiliate these sweet kids! If you had been there, and seen their sweet faces, and the way they were with their little brother! And he was so sweet, too, thinking of their baby sister! My only point was that, of all the people who came in that day, it was only those Black kids who triggered the thought in those other people that somebody might be about to try to get away with something.

Long ago, I was a poor kid, much poorer than the other kids in the neighborhood. I will never forget being hauled into the principal's office because somebody thought I had stolen something. I hadn't, and there was no evidence. There is a group of white people who trust their "hunches" (prejudices) too much.Anybody the least bit different is instantly the target of suspicion. It's a real herd mindset, and unfortunately they have been subconsciously trained to glom onto Black people especially.

And they are adamantly opposed to the policies of Bernie Sanders, in civil rights, education, unions, fair trade, progressive taxation, and health care.

[bluestateguy]

16. We don't know what her grades and test scores are

or AP credits; because of that whole FERPA thing.

We do know that she is coming out of Sidwell Friends, which has a very advanced and college prep oriented curriculum.

[Ilsa]

19. Reasonable people might think that the children of non-legacy

Ivy League parents might themselves be smart enough to gain admittance to prestigious schools. The other considerations are petty, IMO.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

25. What about: Maybe she's just fucking smart and qualified.

[Ilsa]

29. Yeah, that's what I'm saying -- she's

smart like her parents. They were smart enough to get in as non-legacy students. Genetics and good discipline play a role.

[StevieM]

20. Malia Obama is not a legacy admission. Neither of her parents went to Harvard College.

And having a parent who went to grad school at that university does not make you a legacy.

[oberliner]

21. This article is idiotic

Obviously being the daughter of the POTUS gives you an advantage in the college admissions process. Pointing that out does not have anything to do with not believing in "the concept of black excellence". I think it would've been a lot more exciting if she had chosen to go to a school that wasn't "Ivy League" to help promote the idea that one can get a phenomenal education without going for one of the prestige name schools, but that's another discussion. I just hate this Ivy League or bust notion that is prevalent especially among the wealthy.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

24. Because Racist America cannot bring itself to admit that black people are intelligent human beings.

[Nye Bevan]

27. Any university in the country will accept a child of the president,

Last edited Fri May 13, 2016, 06:57 AM - Edit history (1)

regardless of GPA, essay, or extracurriculars. Had she not been the president's daughter Malia might have been admitted to Harvard on her own merits, but we'll never know for sure.

[1StrongBlackMan]

28. Posted to for later.

[Iggo]

31. We?

[dembotoz]

32. like a school is going to turn down the child of a sitting president.....well maybe the morons at

liberty...but who wants to go there

i am SURE she is qualified

this should not even be a topic for discussion......

[Democat]

33. In this one case, a lot of people suddenly don't believe privilege exists

Some of the arguments sound like right wingers arguing against the existence of privilege.

You can't complain about the Bushes and Clinton having privilege and deny that privilege exists with the Obamas.

[Blue_Tires]

34. kick for truth...

[JEB]

35. I am glad she's getting to attend Harvard.

What upsets me is the vast amount of undeveloped potential that is simply ignored, pushed down or priced out that this country just pours down the drain.

[hfojvt]

36. still looks like there is something to hide

when pains are taken to hide something

"The Los Angeles Times reports that her grades and test scores have "been a closely guarded secret," though as the newspaper reports, Obama has said she is a "hard worker.""

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/01/476359624/malia-obama-will-attend-harvard-white-house-says

Given her parents and her private schooling, I would expect her to have very good test scores. GPA might be tougher in a private school.

So why hide them?

Of course, a good GPA would not convince her detractors. They'd probably just say that "she only got good grades because she is the President's daughter."

When Clinton was President, SNL did a skit with the premise that Chelsea's college classmates were scared of her because she could have them killed by the Secret Service.

I thought that was pretty unfunny.

[ismnotwasm]

37. K&R

Very Disappointed and not one bit surprised by some of the comments in this thread

[wildeyed]

38. The thing is, many who are qualified to go to elite universities

based on GPA, test scores, etc. don't because there are not many spots. Getting in becomes a bit of a lottery. Malia is a double-legacy, gifted and attended an elite prep school. Assuming her grades and test scores were good, she probably would have been in without the President part. But why on earth would anyone think that she was not qualified?

People are so weird and jealous about school admissions. A friend of mine was moaning that her adopted Chinese daughter was unfairly DENIED a spot at an elite uni because of her race when it was damn well obvious that the kid is sweet, smart, hardworking, but not brilliant. And then my friend asked another parent in the thread where her Asian kid got in, and it was Stanford You could cut the green envy with a KNIFE.

[struggle4progress]

41. Wear it like a loose robe, Malia: what's inside is all that counts