No discrimination at Sumac school

In the letter "Feminism at Sumac" June 25, a reader bemoans the fact that all four essays selected to be read at the Sumac School graduation were written by girl students, despite scholastic awards indicating that the boys are on average equally intelligent.

He finds it "difficult to believe that not one male student had the ability to write an acceptable essay for presentation." I think that, before jumping to accusations of gender discrimination, a little consideration of mathematical probability is in order.

No one ever suggested that every single male student was incapable of writing an acceptable essay, only that their essays did not happen to be among the top four. Assuming a complete absence of any gender discrimination, the probability of all four essays being written by students of the same gender is just one in eight. There is really nothing remarkable about such an occurrence—it may be unlikely, but it is only slightly unlikely.

I believe that many people find such occurrences surprising, despite the rather modest odds against them, because they have gotten accustomed to the use of discrimination to force a more even balance.

In other situations where judges may have selected four essays all by girls, based purely on the merit of the essays, someone else might have changed that selection by objecting that "You can't pick only girls' essays! Go back and replace one of them with a boy's essay, even if it's not as good." That, of course, would have been an act of gender discrimination against the girl whose essay was de-selected.

The fact that this did not happen at Sumac may very well be an indication of an absence of discrimination.

Our society has gotten so hypersensitive to discrimination that many are ready to sling accusations at the slightest suggestion of it. Please, could we exercise a little self-restraint, and wait until there is some evidence? Bradley Bobbs Calabasas