THE MERIT MYTH

A vigorous argument against the entrenchment of elite interests in the nation’s higher-education system.

Colleges and universities are supposed to serve as levelers of the playing field, giving members of ethnic and economic minorities a chance at success. As it is, write Georgetown University scholars Carnevale and Strohl and education journalist Schmidt, the elite, “using selective colleges as gatekeepers,” has taken deliberate steps to limit access to power and wealth to its own members. “Instead of being havens of diversity,” they observe, “where Americans of all walks of life can learn from one another, many of our colleges and universities have become isolated communities, where students and faculty largely interact with those who are like them.” Although higher education is broadly accessible, it has also become highly stratified, with top-tier schools increasingly out of reach for students of limited means. Even when minority students do get into places such as Yale, the authors note, the dropout rate tends to be higher than that of white students because of a lack of support in the form of counselors, faculty advisers, and faculty who themselves are minority members. While the graduation rate at elite schools is 82%, it is only 49% at two- and four-year schools with large minority populations. (The minority graduation rate for black and Latino students at elite schools is 81%.) The authors attribute the country-club quality of elite schools in part to academic tracking that is growing ever stronger within K-12 schools, by means of which “low-income and racial-minority children have the odds stacked against them even before they enter kindergarten.” Against all this, they propose a number of correctives, including class-based affirmative action, noting that family-need measures are broadly popular even as ethnically based programs are not.

A strong argument for educational reform at every level in order to make schooling truly equitable.