I found the website for the National Achievement Scholarship Program (NASP) and learned that the NASP is "is an academic competition established in 1964 to provide recognition for outstanding Black American high school students". Interestingly, the National Merit Program was created 9 years earlier in 1955. Something even MORE interesting is the fact that the Civil Rights Act was established in 1964, the same year as the NASP test! The Civil Rights Act outlawed racial segregation in schools, public place, and employment.
I think that the elimination of segregation in education (wow lots of rhyming) prompted the creation of the NASP. What do you think? Any ideas or opinions on founding of the NASP or its existence in general?
P.S. In one of the practice tests in the PSAT student guide there is a question that mentions Frederick Douglass!
I also took the PSAT today and I found the NASP "bubble" a little strange. It seems to me that if your goal is to eliminate segregation in education that you would not find ways to differentiate black students. I understand that some black students have fewer opportunities than some white students, but the separate scholarship fund seems to tell black students "you might not qualify for the merit scholarship, so here is another one that you can try for".
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it is wrong to be angry with something like this on principle, or if the extra scholarship money it provides gives students the extra push they need to make it in college.