In my current position, I get to work with all of the colleges in greater New Orleans.   One thing I have noticed is that the five private colleges in the city have done much better in recovering from Katrina than have the three state schools.  Tulane, Loyola, Our Lady of Holy Cross, and Xavier are, for all intents and purposes, operating in full pre-Katrina mode.  Wandering around any of these campuses you'd never know the extent of the devastation right after the storm.  Dillard University is not quite there yet...but is substantially on the road to recovery.

The state schools on the other hand, still show the effects of Katrina.  Southern University at New Orleans is still completely located in trailers, the Student Union at the University of New Orleans is still mostly closed due to roof damage, the bottom floor of the engineering building is still bare concrete.  Even the Health Sciences Center of Louisiana State University (the LSU medical school) is operating without a first floor.

Why the difference?  One would be tempted to say money explains it all.  But they would be mistaken.  Neither Xavier nor Holy Cross is a rich school, and LSUHSC is a well funded medical school.

More racial bias?  Tulane and Loyola are disproportionately white...but Dillard and Xavier are both Historically Black Colleges.

What then?  The answer is simple.  Responsibility.

Scott Cowen, the president of Tulane University said in remarks that he realized that Tulane was responsible for Tulane and that if they waited on outside help, the school might not survive.  The state schools are still waiting for FEMA to come to the rescue.

Now...in the immortal words of Bill Cosby, I told you that so I could tell you this...In the real world we are responsible for the consequences of our actions and for results.  There are zero points for trying. 

I cannot count the number of times in the last 15 years I have had someone who did poorly on a test, a paper or an exam tell me "but I tried as hard as I could."  Leaving aside for a moment, that this statement is usually demonstrably false....it is immaterial.   In January, I would venture to say that Ohio State's football team "tried as hard as they could".  They lost.  No one cares how hard you try when you lose.  We want the baby, not the labor.

I place the blame for this squarely on our public school system.  For at least the past 25 years, we have celebrated effort over achievement.  As long as a student is "working as hard as they can," they will usually do well, even if they have no grasp of the content area.

The generations that started this way are moving into levels of responsibility and style over substance is trying to take over.  We have to remind them that when you look at the scoreboard at the end of the game, there are still no points for trying (except in rugby).