Links
Archives
Monday, September 20, 2004
|
September 20, 2004
To my fellow Ollies [for background, see UD, 13 September 04, etc.] From Gwyneth Not that I'd be caught dead reading USA Today, but my eating coach showed me this article [LOW-INCOME STUDENTS SCARCE AT ELITE COLLEGES], and I gather this is the sort of thing we're supposed to share with each other. The article reprises the tiresome tirade of Mr. Edwards against legacy admissions (so far only Texas A&M -- not at the tippytop of my college list -- has rescinded the policy), and worries that "the class divide is going to hinder" the experience of poor students at places that former Princeton president William Bowen calls, in a neat new turn of phrase, "bastions of privilege." Such places must "create an infrastructure" within which lower-income students can "survive and thrive." Yet what might this mean in practice? Piped in Dolly Parton while we dine? NASCAR madrigals? Will I be made to sit astride a Harley and feign an orgasm? When my new roommate rushes up to me all pumped about the free Pontiac Oprah Winfrey just gave her Uncle Wayne, how, precisely, am I to respond? I don't of course see this as an immediate problem - statistically, we're still well-ensconced, as the article notes - but it's something to ponder... |