Apologies to Flinn and National Merit Scholars

I did not make myself entirely clear in my March 29 letter regarding Flinn and National Merit scholars. I did not intend to suggest that Flinn Scholars were "elitist or participated in academic or financial snobbery." I know several Flinn scholars, and I respect each of them in their own right as great people and strong assets to the university.

My intention in writing the letter was to point out the fallacy of reductionism - that is, recruiting students based on awards that may or may not measure their ability. I also wanted to point out some possible oddities about the nature of these awards, and possible negative consequences of recruiting based solely on them.

I would like to apologize to the National Merit and Flinn Scholars for what may have seemed like a personal attack, but was actually intended to point out potential problems with our honors center.

Zachary Neal
Philosophy and Latin sophomore