Often, when the media report on this phenomenon, known as undermatching, the focus is on the motivations of the students. Maybe low-income students think these schools are out of their league. In many cases, they fail to apply in the first place.
But a new report from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation takes a more pointed look at the other side of the table: the admissions policies of selective and elite colleges. (Note: The foundation is a supporter of NPR Ed.)
"Although neutral on its face," the report concludes, "the admissions process as it is implemented is actually skewed dramatically against the poor."
Among the examples cited in the report are:
1. Legacy preferences. At some colleges, if your father or grandmother went there, you are automatically advanced to the second round of admissions. The authors say this amounts to "affirmative action for the rich."
8 comments:
Poor kids aren't squeezed out they are given privileged treatment.
What about Colin Powell and Thomas Sowell? Though it was a different time period, their challenges were far greater as they didn't have the Civil Rights laws to shield and aid them when applying to schools?
Dr. Thomas Sowell, raised in Harlem, went to college after his tour of service in Korea, got his BA from Harvard, then Columbia for his MA and University of Chicago for his PhD. He went on to become a leading expert in economics, advised several US Presidents and became a prolific author, penning many books on our governance and economics foils.
General Colin Powell ended up at the going to City College of NY but after going his second tour in Vietnam, got an MBA from George Washington University. He went on to become a Four-Star General after also raised in Harlem.
Were they mere exceptions to the rule?
If anything, after Affirmative Action (which Sowell detests) and other minority driven programs, college is more accessible now than ever. I would leery to believe this study as it sounds like racial pot stirring.
Unless they're white.
Affirmative action is racist.
How about Obama? Oh that's right, no college records on him.
6:57PM, White people of economic challenges are more discriminated than minorities of the same economic situation. Don't placate yourself with the race card on this one.
713 you got that right.
Poor people can't pay tuition the same way they can't pay home loans.
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