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College Admissions in an Election Year
If you're like most of the country and even halfway plugged into the media coverage of the 2016 election cycle, you've probably got a few strong opinions. Presidential campaigns have the capacity for exposing both the most honorable and vilest sides of human nature.
Worst of all? Everyone's an expert.
Know where else this happens, all year long? In most discussions about college admissions. Some of them even get traction in mainstream social media outlets. Heard about Guillermo Pomarillo? He's a first-generation Latino student who recently got accepted at Stanford and was belittled for his accomplishment by an apparently classist and racist dentist.
The gist? That the spot wasn't earned, because Pomarillo is Latino. That qualified white students are edged out when universities hand out admissions to under-qualified minorities. Fortunately, Pomarillo's letter, lashing out at the dentist has gone viral with mostly positive support. The entire exchange, however, is reflective of our country's overall conversation about class and race.
There is a sizeable chunk of the population that believes people of color enjoying success haven't actually earned it. That white people have been passed over while progressives trip over themselves to give a hand-up to the undeserving. Speculation is built not upon evidence, but upon complex layers of speculation and misunderstanding.
Don't believe me? Read ANY comments thread on affirmative action in college admissions. I recently scanned an article by a young, can i buy prednisone over the counter white female student writing merely about expectations and disappointment in the college admissions process. The comments section was peppered with suggestions that the schools that did not admit her probably took a less qualified minority student instead.
This idea-that people are cutting in front of us in line-is a crucial motivator for social tensions. These play out in many arenas. Political theater draws them to the forefront. In the sense that a college degree is seen as an escalator towards success, it serves as a microcosm of a much broader social ill.
This year, we have one political candidate promising to work towards affordable and even free college tuition. The other says simply that he wants the federal government to stop profiting from higher education. Sadly, the real ailments of this society may run much deeper than that.
Labels: College Admissions in an Election Year
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