Better Colleges Failing to Lure Talented Poor

Interesting you say that. My daughter is interning this summer at a program called Reach Prep, which identifies and selects the best students among low- to moderate-income public school kids (primarily African Americans and Latinos) at the 6th grade level and puts them through intensive summer school training, plus Saturdays during the school year, for two years before placing them in top prep schools with scholarships. The workload is incredible but it provides wonderful opportunities for these kids. Ninety-five percent of these kids end up going to elite colleges and universities.

I also take issue with the term "failing schools," as if it's a product of public schooling in and of itself rather than a combination of parents failing their own children and us failing the system by underfunding and understaffing it. Public schools are set up to fail in many places.

 

Yeah. I'm for that.

It isn't happening.

 

Love it.

And, it does take preparations for these kids to succeed in college.

The last thing you need to do is take a bright, but unprepared kid, and put him in a position where he/she will fail.

 

Guess what, people- we have economic levels and classes in the United States. Students going to poorer schools are going to have teachers and counselors who went to state colleges for teachers. To expect a 16-year-old to have an understanding of what it means to get into a top college is not realistic.

Maybe someone whose parents aren't wealthy won't have to pay to attend Harvard, but they are going to compete which students who go to elite prep schools which are feeder systems for Ivy League-level colleges (Hello, Mitt Romney).

I had a professor tell a class I was enrolled in that there were people on a college admission committee who raised questions about admitting someone who finished second in her high school class at a weak urban high school to a local state university.

Recent political developments and efforts make it difficult for students to go to college. The fact is that a significant portion of elected officials don't give a damn about students from poorer and even lower-middle class schools.

 

Dingdingdingdingding!

This post truly says it all.

I met a wide, wide variety of ethnicities and races at college. I only once met someone who even, really, thought twice about money or how to pay for things. Not trying to imply anything, just stating facts.

And, yeah, when the endowment is XXX billion, I do just throw those fundraising letters away. Boo hoo, I guess I'm a crappy alum.

 

So don't give them the opportunity?

And I think you are making college out to be a lot harder than it actually is.

And if you get a 3.0 or higher at the community college level, you can open the door to almost every school in your state as a junior.

 

This is exactly right. One or two exceptional kids are not going to elevate the masses, nor should they be expected to try.
Poor kids go to poor schools, and aren't taught that there is more to life than getting all A's. Kids at good schools go to science fairs, camps, play on chess teams, academic teams, etc. All other things being equal, which kid is going to be more college ready? Underperforming schools are failing these kids.

 

I don't think anyone is saying poor kids can't get into state schools. They aren't getting into elite schools.

 

UVA, Michigan, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and others are not elite enough?

Jesus Christ, let's get them into college first. They can go to Harvard for graduate school.

Some people will go at any length to prove a school is failing.

 

And, to further clarify, the story that prompted all this is about poor kids who aren't even applying to elite schools.

 

From the original link:

"If they make it to top colleges, high-achieving, low-income students tend to thrive there, the paper found. Based on the most recent data, 89 percent of such students at selective colleges had graduated or were on pace to do so, compared with only 50 percent of top low-income students at nonselective colleges. "

 

Devil, I think you're completely misreading YF's post. He's supporting the work cran's daughter is doing in identifying smart students and supporting them with extra prep before they head to good high schools and then, presumably, good colleges.