College Overhaul

From as early as middle school the educational system begins to ingrain how important going to college is for each individual, whether they attend a trade school, community college, or university. Students take tests that suggest where they are more knowledgeable, what they are more interested in, what field they are more likely to succeed in. This sets up each individual to discover their interests and hone the necessary skills to ultimately get accepted into the college of their choice. For some this requires a lot more work than others. In “Why Elite-College Admissions Need an Overhaul” composed by Jonathan R. Cole, the John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University of Columbia and author of Toward a More Perfect University, explains …show more content…
Throughout the article, he uses words such as, “talented,” “gifted, and “interesting” to describe the incoming students, while he describes the admission system as “broken” and employed with “often-dreaded” admission officers who lack the significant abilities incoming students have. Placing the students and admission system on opposite sides of the spectrum, heightens the importance of an admission reform at superior colleges. He continues to add to his emotional appeal by introducing a sensitive topic. Cole suggests filling diversity quotas for the school year inhibits the potential of many students to succeed in prestigious colleges. These students, who were the brightest minds of their class, were turned down in favor of more ordinary students who were from a substandard part of town, or of certain race, gender, or ethnicity. He counters this point, by explaining the students whose admissions were declined, still went on to do great things at less prestigious colleges. But to Cole, he knows that’s not the answer and I believe this point really grabs the attention of his readers. Finally, he turns to the “high-stakes-testing mania.” Standardized testing often places inadequate labels on children, but people don’t realize the impact this has on children as they age. Cole explains society has gotten too …show more content…
Throughout the article he describes everything wrong with the college admission system from the admission officers to standardized testing, but fails to express the ideas of the other side. His ideas are biased, his research is limited, and his word choice is often dismissive. Because of his one-sided view, he fails to persuade me and possibly his other readers. Instead of listing reason after reason on why elite college admissions need a renovation, Cole could have offered a solution. In “Top Colleges Should Select Randomly From a Pool of ‘Good Enough’,” Barry Schwartz, a professor of psychology at the University of Swarthmore College proposes a rather interesting solution. After sharing similar thoughts as Cole towards the elite college admission process, Schwartz takes it one step further and offers an answer to the admission woes. He advocates, colleges to incorporate a lottery system when accepting