WINTER 2012 - National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and ...

Blue-Collar Teaching
One may argue that cost is reflective of academic competitiveness and
quality. But that is not necessarily the case. Take Harvard, for example. Several
studies recount how legacies—children of parents who previously attended
Harvard—appear to have a greater chance of securing admission than those
whose parents did not attend the school (Gamerman, 2007; Golden, 2003).
Legacy admissions at Harvard are near 30%, nearly four times the rate for the
general population (Worland, 2011). For supposedly the most selective school
in the country, the legacy applicant pool is not as competitive. Additionally,
applicants who attend a select number of preparatory schools also seem to benefit
in terms of admissions. Children whose parents can afford to send them to the
Harvard-Westlake School and Phillips Academy as well as other private schools
experience significantly better chances of securing admission to the Ivy League
schools than those attending public high schools (Chung, 2011). Finally, as
Douthat (2005) discusses in his aptly titled Privilege, those attending Harvard do
so with a sense of entitlement and are rewarded with connections and networks
that replicate themselves well beyond school. Overall, students from lower
socioeconomic backgrounds face difficulty getting into good high schools that
serve as a feeder to elite colleges. Once a parent has attended an elite institution,
his or her child has an advantage in being admitted as a legacy. Now one may
contend that in fact these children represent the best and the brightest, and that
is why they enjoy these advantages. However, given the declining social mobility
in America, many students from blue-collar families never have the opportunity
to compete fairly—they are economically restricted in their ability to compete.
Two personal stories give face to these facts. First, as a junior in college I
was lucky to have been selected an undergraduate teaching assistant along with
two other students for a philosophy of law class. Both my peers were seniors
applying to law school. Both took the LSATs and scored in the top 2%. Both
had grade point averages of nearly 4.0 (straight A’s). Both applied to nearly the
same schools. There was one difference. One friend came from a blue-collar
background like me and had gone to a community college for 2 years. He had
a 4.0 GPA there. He attended the school to stay home and save money. The
other student came from parents who had finished college, and he went to a fouryear
school the entire time. All the Ivys rejected the blue-collar student, and he
eventually attended SUNY Buffalo Law School. The other got accepted to most
Ivys and went to Columbia. Buffalo is a good school, and my friend was successful,
but there was no question his community college attendance hurt him. He was
told that by admissions offices, who said he did not look as competitive because
he went there. Community colleges are being touted as the alternative to more
expensive private or four-year schools, but my friend’s experience taught me we
are condemning many first-generation students to limited opportunities when it
comes to access to graduate and professional school.
Journal of Public Affairs Education 77