Reply to America's Top Colleges Have a Rich-Kid Problem

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "America's Top Colleges Have a Rich-Kid Problem"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]In response to those who have suggested that "poor" students (not sure how they're defining this term) aren't going to make it at highly- selective colleges, I'll trust that your concern is coming from the right place, but I don't think the answer is to keep the barriers to entry up.  My son just completed his freshman year at a highly-ranked university with a demanding curriculum and stringent grading.  He graduated from a local independent school and was very well-prepared, having written 5 or 6 research papers during high school.  In contrast. he observed that some of his friends who had gone to inner-city schools or regional high schools in rural areas faced a real challenge in making the transition to college.  A couple of these students had never written a research paper and had done very few essays beyond the formulaic AP requirements.  What those kids did, though, was to get help when they needed it.  The most selective schools have high graduation rates for a reason -- they offer support services, particularly with respect to writing, for students who enter with less preparation.  Keep in mind, too, that those kids generally aren't frail flowers prone to wilting; rather, they survive and flourish.  For one example, take a look at Justice Sotomayor's autobiography, My Beloved World, and her account of her experience at Princeton after coming out of an urban parochial school background.  I'd say she didn't do too badly in the long run.           [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics