UT Professor: Some Blacks, Latinos Perform Worse Than Whites Academically Because They Are Raised By Poor, Uneducated, Single Women

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Does upbringing have an impact on your success in education? University of Texas Law professor Lino Graglia certainly thinks so.

The professor has angered some by claiming black and Hispanic students are "failing academically because they have been raised in single parent homes, usually by females" with modest financial resources, the Daily Mail notes. Professor Graglia was speaking with the BBC last week for a radio interview when the topic of affirmative action was brought up.

Graglia, a Hispanic American, noted that even after segregation ended "very few blacks got into the University of Texas."  The professor noted that this was because they could not pass the admission standards and also said that the average black performance on SAT test is "200 points lower" than that for the average white student.

(University of Texas)

Gary Younge, the radio show host, then asked why "black people were performing badly at school" and struggling scholastically.

The professor replied, "I sure don't know" but then noted that nearly three quarters of black children are now "born outside of marriage." Graglia went on to say he could "hardly imagine a less beneficial or more deleterious experience than to be raised by a single parent, usually female, uneducated and without a lot of money."

Younge then pointed out that he was black and raised in a single parent family himself and asked if that makes him likely to be "not as smart as a white person of the same age?"

Professor Graglia laughed and said the host might be "more smart" than whites based on his accomplishments. He continued to state that minority children do "less well" in subjects like math and reading but reiterated  that "admitting them into selective schools with large gaps in qualification is not the answer."

The Daily Mail offers some more background on the University of Texas:

The University of Texas is currently fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court with a white student who claims she was forced to go to a second-rate college as a result of the School's affirmative action program.

According to a story from 2007 on DiverseEduction.com, Graglia has come under fire before: "Graglia recently told a group of students that Blacks and Latinos

cannot compete with Whites because their cultures do not look upon 'failure with disgrace.'”

Listen to the controversial comments below: