4 ms·

Making Top Colleges Less Aristocratic and More Meritocratic

• gmu3 12y ago
  Making colleges more meritocratic while preaching about affirmative action seems somewhat at odds.
  • dragonwriter 12y ago
    > Making colleges more meritocratic while preaching about affirmative action seems somewhat at odds. Affirmative Action, by definition, is active action taken to address factors what might seem to be superficially meritocratic policies (before considering the relevant factors of the social context in which they are applied) being in-effect discriminatory on axes other than merit, so it is consistent with seeking to make things more meritocratic overall -- that's, in fact, the whole point of Affirmative Action.
• deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
• rhino369 12y ago
  The problem is three fold. Cost. private schools are too expensive to make sense for average students. Government shouldn't be expectd to make up the difference because it's a gross misuse of funds compared to funding state schools. It's up to private schools to make up the difference. Richer students get preparation to make them better applicants. Their education advantage k-12 gives them better test scores and intangibles. This is hardest to solve. A lot of private schools use intangible factors like playing instruments, volunteering, art etc etc. These factors are very biased towards upper middle class and upoet class northeast culture. This also ties in with the last point cause richer people can afford to game th system by hiring piano, painting, 17th century joisting tutors etc.