South L.A.'s Kashawn Campbell Struggles at Cal Berkeley

I meant to write about this story the other day, but was put off with so many emotions.

See, "South L.A. student finds a different world at Cal."

And from the letters to the editor, "Letters: Hard lessons":

Re “Struggling at the crossroads,” Column One, Aug. 16

My heart aches for Kashawn Campbell, but let's be real: Does anyone who read this article really believe he belongs at UC Berkeley? He's completely lost in his college writing course; does anyone really believe he'll graduate?

Shame on the utterly dysfunctional school system that confers perfect GPAs on kids who, as your article said, do one hour of homework a night and turn in one-page essays. And double shame on the defenders of affirmative action quotas who would create tens of thousands of academically doomed Kashawn Campbells just for the sake of appearances.

E.G. Rice
Marina del Rey

My thoughts exactly, but hey, affirmative action!

More from the mailbag, "UC Berkeley struggles: Readers weigh lessons of Kashawn Campbell."