Back To School
In an earlier post, My Education In Going to College, I commented:
what was done most recently by some wonderfully-over-funded people in an effort to get their children into a Tier one school certainly did not have to happen in the manner it did. They could have just approached school authorities and with a “Thornton Mellon’s” (Back to School’s – Rodney Dangerfield) audacity, offered to pay full ride and make a sizeable donation to the school. Maybe I am wrong; but, I do not know of many schools who would turn down a half a $million donation or so and a student who is willing to pay full price at the same time. Schools are short of funding. I am pretty sure this is going on today with little being said about the donations. Perhaps, others here would disagree with me?
It appears my comment is more correct than wishful thinking as detailed in The Atlantic’s “Elite Colleges Constantly Tell Low-Income Students That They Do Not Belong.”
The Atlantic article explores Anthony Jack’s “The Privileged Poor” and gets into the detail of the prevailing wealth at top-tier schools. For instance, it is no secret, many of the students come from elite origins. For example:
“Led by the Harvard economist Raj Chetty a team of researchers found students coming from families in the top 1 percent of household incomes (those who make more than $630,000 a year) are 77 times more likely to be admitted to and attend an Ivy League school than students coming from families who make less than $30,000 a year.” I do not consider this to be a new discovery. Most people go to where they can and to what they can afford. And many end up at for-profits with a hope of achieving some type of equivalency and a chance to succeed.
“The study found that 38 elite colleges have more students who come from families in the top 1 percent than students who come from the bottom 60 percent or families making less than $65,000 a year.” Granted those 1 percenters are not the “real” rich in income as the 1 tenth of 1 percent comprising 115,000 households but, they do have enough money available to influence a school. They do count in the scheme of influencing outcomes.
14% of all the students at the elite colleges such as Stanford, Princeton, or Columbia come from the bottom half of the US income distribution. Before I go on, the author (Jack) details what he identifies as the privileged-poor and the doubly-disadvantaged. Privileged poor students come from low-income backgrounds and more than likely attended wealthy private high schools which gives them familiarity with and an acquired access to the social and cultural capital making people successful at elite universities. In other words, they know the ropes and how to get about. Doubly disadvantaged students arrive at these top institutions from neighborhood public schools many of which are overcrowded and underfunded. These students have excelled, however they are ill-equipped and lack the sociocultural tools necessary to understand the nuances of how these elite colleges operate. The doubly disadvantaged lack the social capital many students the 77-percenters and the privileged poor, the faculty, and the administrators have taken for granted. There are few mentors, councilors, or whatever you want to call them to guide them.
The advantage of the 77-percenters have is in the exposure to better schools, neighborhoods, and economics. For all intents and purposes their parents buy their way into the elite schools through private-school tuition, test prep, donations to colleges, and a myriad of other advantages which opened doors and prepared them to compete. They also rarely experience the same level of skepticism as to whether they have ‘earned’ their place as would those who enter the elite schools as a privileged poor of doubly disadvantaged.
Back to the controversy . . . rather than buy their way into the university with full price tuition and “Thorton Mellon-like” donations, these parents tried a cheaper route to getting their children admitted. Historically, the elite have used wealth to get their kids into top colleges via legal and widely recognized means—legacy, athletic admissions favoring the wealthy, and the use of test preparation to gain an advantage. Some followed the route of Thornton Mellon from “Back To School” and made or offered some nice donations meant to influence the school regardless of whether it paid for a new School of Business building or a revamped sports field.
The parents caught up in the illegal bribery opted instead for a different scheme of conspiracy and bribes. These bribes were cheaper than a building, less costly than paying for years of student preparation, going to sports games and having your child coached, and personally guiding and working with your children. Many were the vacations we took focused around soccer tournaments and many were the meetings we had with teachers and colleges.
Upfront here is the deal; a $million plus full tuition or meet me tonight at such and such place for $500,000 and full tuition. The only difference is how the bribe is made as the thumb is still on the admissions scale of yea or nay.
What is the difference? A bribe is a bribe and while one is illegal, I would say both face a test of morality.
There’s the bribery and there’s the cultural code. Even relatively well off blue collar workers have trouble dealing with the white collar code. There’s an interesting book on this, ‘Limbo’, by the son of a unionized brick layer in NYC. His father only got as far as high school, but he made a decent living. The author was the first generation in his family to go to college, and he did rather well, but he never really got comfortable with the unspoken code and the assumptions of his white collar peers at school or at work. Even if you don’t read the book, go over to Amazon and read the comments. They’re touching.
In some ways, the children of immigrants have it easier. Their parents grew up in a totally different culture, so they and their children expect to have to learn and master a new code of behavior and a new set of assumptions. It’s the blue collar American natives who find themselves unexpectedly facing an invisible barrier.
Then there is the money angle. I suppose admissions departments could look for the most efficient prospects by dividing the weighted GPA and SAT by the estimated cost of the applicant’s education. There’s nothing like money to grease the wheels, especially at liberal arts colleges. I went to MIT which is an elite school with no athletic or legacy preferences. It has a relatively large number of less well off students, and it guarantees whatever financial aid it takes if one is accepted. Buying a slot at MIT, or any STEM school, just doesn’t work. Even if you don’t flunk freshman calculus, you’ll fail Physics for Poets, you know, the version without as much vector calculus.
Kalesberg:
Thank you for your comment. I am not sure if you ever commented to my posts before. I was happy to read your words. A little history.
My mom graduated high school in the forties and my dad went to work in the factories and never finished grade school. Why she picked him after he left the Navy in 45 surprises me. Pretty first generation Italian lady marrying an upstate New Yorker whose forefathers landed at the rock. She stood out amongst his family. My dad was a 5’6″ bricklayer – tuck pointer and I was 6’1″. He was thrilled my brothers and I were all taller than he was. I learned his trade and can splice rope and rig scaffolds . . . nineteen.
I understand “Limbo” as I was the same and never quite understood the cultural differences till years later. I still relate to the background we came from which my mother and father provided. From that marriage came 4 advanced degrees at reputable universities (Loyola – Chicago being mine). My education was mostly paid for by the VA and state scholarships. I do not have the right answers to this dilemma in getting a higher education. I have some degree of sympathy for the children. I also know they will learn the hard way and mine have surpassed them already.
Kalesburg, I know what MIT is. I wanted to be an architect/engineer (Galt) and go to IIT. Two years of calculus. Life plays tricks on you and I went a different route. Still I am recognized in my field of endeavor.
Education is expensive . PGL points to Baumol Cost Disease which makes sense to me.
One other thing, I should not write when I am tired. edited . . .
Kaleberg:
Let me answer your concerns in the other part of your commentary. It is not about migrants learning a new code of behavior. It is about their being allowed to become a part of the culture to which they are being exposed. Just finished up an article in The Atlantic and an interesting piece, “White Nationalism’s Deep American Roots.” It is still very prevalent in the US. Madison Grant “The Nordics are, all over the world, a race of soldiers, sailors, adventurers, and explorers, but above all, of rulers, organizers, and aristocrats in sharp contrast to the essentially peasant character of the Alpines. Chivalry and knighthood, and their still surviving but greatly impaired counterparts, are peculiarly Nordic traits, and feudalism, class distinctions, and race pride among Europeans are traceable for the most part to the north.” We still have the Bannons, the Millers, and the Trumps running around hoping to slam the doors shut on fortress America to keep the brown people out. Much of America supports this ideology.
I do not believe migrants have it easier in the US and the blue collar are played off against them. John Adams had a quote, lets see if I can find it, found it.
And then me: For the poor white man in the 19th century, poverty added the injury of being socially invisible when compared to a man of wealth or prominence. Society not acknowledging their presence created a class of insignificance effectively shamed into oblivion as a class not worthy of notice. Adams did not speak of the black man and Slavery took it one step further creating a stigma worst than that of poverty and more shame inducing.
Dr. James Gilligan wrote “Violence: Reflections On A National Epidemic.” Have you ever been in prisons? I used to chase and I have been in different levels as high as a 4. What Adams was talking about is expressed in the last two words “shame inducing.” To be overlooked is intolerable and shame inducing. Gilligan will tell you prisons are full of people who did violent things due to shame. It is a short book and not so easy read and comes recommended by a judge I knew.
My point to this would be there are always a lower class and the next level up which could conceivably be blue collar will indeed look down on migrants till such time as they assimilate n the next generation or two into society. (“300 Million and Counting” Joel Garreau 2006 still relevant). It keeps the next (2nd) lowest class of society complacent.
Lets get to your “stem” comment. I am not a “stem” person although I have my 2 years of Calculus under my belt, 3 months of classes to get my LSS Black Belt, and multiple years of drafting through high school well before CAD. I cost model plastic, metal, and rubber components. I also do throughput analysis for manufacturing plants. You know looking at the flows of product and components in manufacturing. Places like Catapillar, Dana, Miami Industries, Aro Tool, etc. My years are in plants and planning and purchasing. I also was given the responsibility of understanding and rewriting the Engineers reports as given to me by my boss a Doctorate out of Rensselaer. They were great at engineering but sucked at writing.
We were talking about liberal arts versus stem schools? Apparently you do not believe an average student who has a basic knowledge in math and other technical studies can make it at Stanford, a stem school? There are always average people and we do learn. They also like to go to those schools and their parents do have money to get them in and in the same manner. Stem schools can be bought too and are.
Enjoyed reading the autobiographies. I could add some similar stories on my mom’s side, but won’t.
The fact is that the latest bribery scandal has everything to do with bragging rights, not education. While narratives about culture and higher education are interesting, they have nothing to do with this latest scandal.
It is a triumph of branding that elite colleges have become like elite watches and handbags. Owning and flaunting them have become an end.
which was the point of the post.