Thursday, March 6, 1997
AAP:
Sympathy toward affirmative action helps but is not only
criterionBy Raffi Merjanian
Over the last year or so, I have read article after article
accusing AAP tutoring of being an elite organization which hires
only minority, pro-affirmative action tutors. Nothing could be
further from the truth. So for all you students who feel otherwise
(I’ll refer to you as anti-AAPers from now on), I suppose you can
stop reading right now and go back to thinking up ways of making
AAP look bad (you clearly have nothing better to do with your
time).
I’d like to start this article with a short, personal story. I
am a white, middle-class American male who (all you anti-AAPers who
boldly decided to read on better sit down for this one) worked as
an AAP tutor last year. How can this be? After all that I have
read, even I have begun to believe that there is no way I could
have been hired.
Time after time, I have run through my interview, trying to
understand what happened. How did AAP slip up and hire me? I know
this sounds like a long shot, but I think my interviewer might have
been blind. I know, I know  that’s silly, but I am being
honest. She never really looked me straight in the eye and she did
tend to wear sunglasses quite a bit.
But wait, what about the questions? Ah yes, the questions. You
know about the questions: What does AAP stand for? What are your
feelings toward affirmative action? Yes, I was asked what AAP
stands for and yes, I was asked about affirmative action. Now, I
must be honest. Overall, I am pro-affirmative action but by no
means do I think the current programs in the United States are
perfect. Much can  and should  be changed. So where was
I? Oh yes. So I told my interviewer what I thought about
affirmative action, and she hired me. How can this be? After all,
at no point did I stand up and shout that Regent Connerly must die
now!
OK, back to my point. Believe it or not, I know many tutors who
expressed neutral or even slightly negative opinions toward
affirmative action  yet they were hired. I even know someone
who did not know what AAP stood for, and she got hired. So
basically, if someone has the many skills needed to be a great
tutor, unless they stand up for 10 minutes and scream about how
much they hate affirmative action and everything AAP stands for, I
have a feeling they’d get hired.
And what about this last case? Should the screaming student be
hired? In my opinion (and this is my opinion alone), I don’t think
so. I have two questions: Why would someone with reservations or
strong doubts about affirmative action want to work for AAP in the
first place? And why would you want someone who is vehemently
opposed to an organization to work for it? Imagine you worked for
the CIA and you were interviewing a new applicant. You ask the
person,"So what are your feelings toward the United States?" The
applicant responds,"I hate this country. There is nothing I’d
rather see than the complete collapse of democracy!" Now, do you
(A) Hire the applicant or (B) Not hire the applicant? Evidently,
all you anti-AAPers out there think the answer should be A.
Oh well. I’d like to end on a serious note. The reason I wrote
this article and the reason I am so angry is because my experience
as an AAP tutor was easily one of the best of my life. The tutors
are all truly incredible and I was constantly amazed by their
ability and dedication to the job. Even more important, the
students are all wonderful to work with. I was a South Campus
tutor, and I’m sure most of you will agree that South Campus
students can be less than cooperative and helpful toward one
another in discussions and labs. It was just so amazing seeing my
students working together, helping each other learn. And I don’t
just mean Iranian students helping Iranian students, Chicano
students helping Chicano students or African American students
helping African American students. I mean African American students
helping Caucasian students and Chicano students helping Asian
students.
I truly feel sorry for all of you who want to get rid of AAP
tutoring. I don’t really think you understand what you are
doing.
The reason I am so angry is because my experience as an AAP
tutor was easily one of the best of my life.