Education and Poverty
Sairan Amedi
Professor Singletary
English 2010
15 April 2014
How College Admissions Favor Wealthy Students Over Underprivileged Minorities
The growing debate over whether college admissions are partial by overstressing standardized tests and GPA has become a very controversial topic in the realm of education. Numerous students argue that the admission process is unfair in placing a greater emphasis on certain stressed requirements, such as the ACT/SAT, while neglecting to examine the whole applicant. Those who argue against the admission policy believe that each student in the United States comes from a very diverse background, and each application should be looked into with intricacy, rather than regarding just their requirements. Although those requirements are generally what the admission people look for in what they perceive as a quality student, those who argue against it feel that it is best not to overlook a student who overcame tremendous adversity, but just may have needed a point or two to get admitted.
The central argument against college admissions has to do with whether challenging life conditions outside of school, for a student who is economically disadvantaged, should be weighted more than the slightly higher grade of a student with a different socioeconomic background in college admissions. In some cases, high school students must work full-time in order to support their families. If a college had to choose between a student who did not need to support his or her family and got a 33 on his or her ACT, and another student with a 29 on their ACT who worked almost full-time to support a family, which would be more likely to get accepted into an Ivy League college if both students had the same 4.0 GPA, classes, and amount of important clubs, etc.? Odds are, the one with the higher ACT will get selected, and those who debate the issue feel that this is where it becomes inequitable. Students argue that working over thirty hours per week while
Professor Singletary
English 2010
15 April 2014
How College Admissions Favor Wealthy Students Over Underprivileged Minorities
The growing debate over whether college admissions are partial by overstressing standardized tests and GPA has become a very controversial topic in the realm of education. Numerous students argue that the admission process is unfair in placing a greater emphasis on certain stressed requirements, such as the ACT/SAT, while neglecting to examine the whole applicant. Those who argue against the admission policy believe that each student in the United States comes from a very diverse background, and each application should be looked into with intricacy, rather than regarding just their requirements. Although those requirements are generally what the admission people look for in what they perceive as a quality student, those who argue against it feel that it is best not to overlook a student who overcame tremendous adversity, but just may have needed a point or two to get admitted.
The central argument against college admissions has to do with whether challenging life conditions outside of school, for a student who is economically disadvantaged, should be weighted more than the slightly higher grade of a student with a different socioeconomic background in college admissions. In some cases, high school students must work full-time in order to support their families. If a college had to choose between a student who did not need to support his or her family and got a 33 on his or her ACT, and another student with a 29 on their ACT who worked almost full-time to support a family, which would be more likely to get accepted into an Ivy League college if both students had the same 4.0 GPA, classes, and amount of important clubs, etc.? Odds are, the one with the higher ACT will get selected, and those who debate the issue feel that this is where it becomes inequitable. Students argue that working over thirty hours per week while
Cited: Amedy, Amad. Personal Interview. 5 April 2014. Collins, Haleigh. “SAT Racial Bias Proves Standardized Tests Are Geared Toward White Students”. PolicyMic. 12 September 2011. Web. 1 April 2014. Demonbreun, Benjamin. Personal Interview. 5 April 2014. Freedle, Roy. Interview. 1 April 2014. Jensen, Eric. Teaching With Poverty In Mind. 2009. EBook’s (10-11), Web. 8 April 2014. Polese, Mario. The Wealth And Poverty Of Regions: Why Cities Matter. 2009. EBook’s (3). Web. 13 April 2014.