Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Sun Editorial Line Opposes Merit Scholarships

I was able to go to UF and get my undergraduate degree thanks to the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship. Were it not for that scholarship, earned through my hard work, I might not have been able to afford to go to college. My family, despite being very poor, wasn't quite poor enough for me to qualify for any of the need-based scholarships that the Gainesville Sun seems to think are superior to the Bright Futures merit-based scholarship.

Need-based scholarships are in no way, shape, or form superior to merit-based scholarships. Anyone can get a merit-based scholarship; they just need to be willing to work hard.

I have news for the Gainesville Sun, the people you think are so deserving of these scholarships already have the opportunity for free education. It's called the public school system. Despite its problems, you can still get a lot out of it if you are willing to put a lot into it. I took advantage of the opportunities to excel in my studies. I earned my place at UF and the scholarship I got to be there. Why do you think that I shouldn't be allowed to get a scholarship to go to a university? And don't kid yourself; a lot of poor people aren't quite poor enough for these lauded need-based scholarships you like so much.

I know it's rude to speak bluntly about uncomfortable truths but the fact is, these students you (the Sun) think should get scholarships instead of me had no less than 10 years to get their sorry acts together before becoming irrevocably ineligible for the Bright Futures scholarship. And if they couldn't hack it in high school, what on Earth makes you think that they would be able to make anything of themselves in college?

It's crap like that that caused me to cancel my subscription to the Sun. You guys really need to take a cue from the Wall Street Journal -- they don't let a misplaced sense of artificial social guilt cloud their reason.

Merit scholarships hardly encourage economic diversity at UF.



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