Colleges really should be accepting more URM and low income students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Currently elite colleges are far more attainable to low income families than middle class. Does anyone anywhere give a shit about the middle class?

Sadly, the answer is often "not much." When I was coming of age, the Dem. Party was the party of the working class/middle calls and the Republicans were the upper middle class/affluent. What has happened on the left is a conscious focus on downplaying the importance of class relative to the importance of racial, ethnic, LGBQT, etc. identity. Focusing on class undermines the effort to form political blocks based on identity.

There is overall too much emphasis on elite colleges. While they do offer unique advantages, the typical first generation kid doesn't need it and may not even be able to take full advantage of it. I pointed out flaws in the study in an earlier post, but here is another potentially: did any of the studies compare majors of the students? My own family experience suggests that at State schools more first generation, low income and URM kids are studying engineering, economics, applied math, etc. If schools ever released statistics, my bet is that at the ivy league those students are disproportionately majoring in "softer" majors - American Studies, Afro-American Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, etc. If you want to raise up yourself and your family for generations, study something that leads to a solid paying job and for that state schools are perfectly adequate.

First of all, the Democratic Party is the party of the working class. Just not the *white* working class. Second, studies show that FGLI kids derive the most marginal benefit from attending elites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Currently elite colleges are far more attainable to low income families than middle class. Does anyone anywhere give a shit about the middle class?

Sadly, the answer is often "not much." When I was coming of age, the Dem. Party was the party of the working class/middle calls and the Republicans were the upper middle class/affluent. What has happened on the left is a conscious focus on downplaying the importance of class relative to the importance of racial, ethnic, LGBQT, etc. identity. Focusing on class undermines the effort to form political blocks based on identity.

There is overall too much emphasis on elite colleges. While they do offer unique advantages, the typical first generation kid doesn't need it and may not even be able to take full advantage of it. I pointed out flaws in the study in an earlier post, but here is another potentially: did any of the studies compare majors of the students? My own family experience suggests that at State schools more first generation, low income and URM kids are studying engineering, economics, applied math, etc. If schools ever released statistics, my bet is that at the ivy league those students are disproportionately majoring in "softer" majors - American Studies, Afro-American Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, etc. If you want to raise up yourself and your family for generations, study something that leads to a solid paying job and for that state schools are perfectly adequate.

Why are they perfectly adequate for those people's kids, but not yours?