Diversity

Two of the functions of the University of California system have been to give young people from working-class families like mine a chance to attend a good school. And to provide students with the experience of diversity. 

My roommates at UCLA included a former pilot in the Japanese air force during World War Two (Makoto Kawasugi) and the black tailback on UCLA's undefeated football team (Sam "First Down" Brown).  

Berkeley is currently rated among the top ten universities in the nation, and UCLA is ranked second to Berkeley among all American public universities.  (Back in the Dark Ages I graduated from UCLA when tuition was free and student fees came to less than $40 a semester.)

I read in the newspaper yesterday morning that this spring the UC system admitted almost 120,000 new students, plus about 28,000 transfers from community colleges like Santa Rosa J. C.  36% of the new students will be Hispanics, 35% will be Asians, 21% will be white and 5% will be black (black people make up 6% of the population of the California). 

Many Hispanics are white, black or Asian, of course.

I learned that in California about 43% of the residents speak a language other than English in their homes.