Equity a factor of Excellence
It has been debated whether an increase in educational equity in Universities would lead to the reduction of the overall quality. Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education by Bowen et al addresses this issue in depth and they come to the conclusion that equity is essential for excellence. Bowen considers the current underrepresentation of lower socio-economic status students at elite schools to be a problem that could be fixed by giving disadvantaged students a thumb on the scale. The authors described this to mean that during admission the school would apply a “class based affirmative action”(178). This weight would be similar to legacy consideration and athletic recruitment. This increase in consideration would raise the acceptance of underrepresented students by 6 percent. Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education presents the argument that equity is essential to excellence in an almost convincing manner that still manages to provoke a need for action.
There are several reasons for equity in higher education according to Bowen et …show more content…
SAT scores for lower income students are consistently lower than students from the top income quartile. In fact top income students whose parents did not attend college were 6 times more likely to score above a 1200than low income students. (80) The average verbal SAT 1 scores for African Americans was 431 compared to529 for white students. These score gaps are indicative of a larger problem in primary and secondary education. “The elementary schools that blacks attend are less satisfactory than those attended by whites on measures of safety, incidence of poverty among the families of students, discipline, and parental involvement.” (83) In addition to these inequalities minority students often have to deal with issues of identity in relation to
It has been debated whether an increase in educational equity in Universities would lead to the reduction of the overall quality. Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education by Bowen et al addresses this issue in depth and they come to the conclusion that equity is essential for excellence. Bowen considers the current underrepresentation of lower socio-economic status students at elite schools to be a problem that could be fixed by giving disadvantaged students a thumb on the scale. The authors described this to mean that during admission the school would apply a “class based affirmative action”(178). This weight would be similar to legacy consideration and athletic recruitment. This increase in consideration would raise the acceptance of underrepresented students by 6 percent. Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education presents the argument that equity is essential to excellence in an almost convincing manner that still manages to provoke a need for action.
There are several reasons for equity in higher education according to Bowen et …show more content…
SAT scores for lower income students are consistently lower than students from the top income quartile. In fact top income students whose parents did not attend college were 6 times more likely to score above a 1200than low income students. (80) The average verbal SAT 1 scores for African Americans was 431 compared to529 for white students. These score gaps are indicative of a larger problem in primary and secondary education. “The elementary schools that blacks attend are less satisfactory than those attended by whites on measures of safety, incidence of poverty among the families of students, discipline, and parental involvement.” (83) In addition to these inequalities minority students often have to deal with issues of identity in relation to