Posted on May 2, 2008 at 9:47 am by Liam Julian
Getting to college
Naomi Schaefer Riley writes in the Wall Street Journal about obstacles beyond lousy instruction in the classroom that often prevent students in urban public schools from attending college: Letters of recommendation that are poorly written (when they’re written), guidance counselors who can’t be bothered to turn in on time their students’ applications, and reams of confusing paperwork.
The article’s title, “Not by Tuition Breaks Alone,” is apt. Getting more low-income pupils into college obviously requires more than legislation.
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May 3rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
While I was not a low-income student, I went to a school with a low college-going rate (and far fewer going anywhere other than a state school), and I now teach at a fancy prep school (the sort whose alumni include several senators, regional newsmakers, etc.). And it’s just astonishing (and sometimes infuriating) to me the difference in preparation. My students get to workshop their application essays in English. The guidance counselor runs mandatory classes in how to prepare your application and how to interview well, in addition to reminding everyone of deadlines and orchestrating all the paperwork and recommendations. And, of course, the counselor has extensive knowledge of the schools our students typically apply to, how good your chances are at them, and which would be a good fit (and can make a few phone calls if necessary). None of this applied at my school — I didn’t even know there was such a thing as SAT prep or college guidebooks, and guidance told me I was pretty much on my own if I wanted to go anywhere out of state.
Something I think a lot of people from affluent, college-going backgrounds forget is that applying to college is not easy. Even if you’re a great student there’s all this stuff you weren’t born knowing, like “the classes called ‘college prep’ are not actually the ones you want to take if you want to go to a top college” and “there are things you have to do months in advance of the application deadlines, like register for certain tests”. In affluent areas people absorb this osmotically from friends and older siblings, and get force-fed it by adults. The rest of us are on our own.
And I think this means people forget, too, that you don’t have to be as good, in terms of innate talent and drive, to make it into college (any college, and certainly top ones) if you go to a college-focused school. Energy that other people are spending decoding the process, you can spend building a resume for it. And I’m just talking here about the difference between very privileged kids and people from my high school, which wasn’t college-oriented but at least was safe and had AP classes. Crazy.