Does It Matter Where You Go to College? Merit and Race |
Room For Debate: Does It Matter Where You Go to College? Merit and Race
New York Times
2010-11-30
Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, Professor of Law and Harry T. Ice Faculty Fellow
Indiana University
What sensible and ambitious students should keep in mind about where they go to school.
Notwithstanding our commitment to egalitarian norms, where one chooses to go to college continues to matter, greatly. Intuitively, for most people, matriculation at an elite institution is a no brainer: the better the school, the higher the payoff for its graduates. The research supports this intuition. Attendance at elite colleges and universities has a positive effect on the likelihood that a student will graduate; on future earnings; on the likelihood that a student will attend graduate school; and even to lower divorce rates and better health…
…The calculations are relatively the same for many minority applicants with some added considerations. I have two particular issues in mind.
The first is an extension of the debate over affirmative action in higher education, and particularly the notion of “critical mass.” This is the concern, largely unexpressed yet often at the forefront of our consciousness, of being a racial minority at a predominantly white institution. This point raises the question of who is a racial minority worthy of special consideration. For example, fewer and fewer historically disadvantaged African-American students are being admitted to elite colleges. Increasingly, elite colleges are admitting biracial students and first- or second-generation black students from the Caribbean and from Africa. Historically disadvantaged African-American students are being left behind in the elite college lottery. This is a tragedy. This also underscores the remaining importance of our historically black colleges and universities…
Read the entire article here.
Tags: Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, The New York Times