New Rankings: College Economic Diversity

Ed of VA:

Measurements of economic diversity descibe the economic composition of the student body, not projections of income for its graduates. It is a calculation unlikely to matter to you (a prospective student), unless you value a diverse academic and social environment in which to gain your education. Unfortunately, too many students (as with their counterparts elsewhere in society) cringe at, and recoil from, difference and seek social, residential, educational and occupational spaces in which to isolate themselves with similarity.

However, the greatest value of indexing economic diversity may be its indication of the degree to which we as a society are (not) adequately educating people of lower socioeconomic status. When we combine a recognition of a) the determinative power of education as a gateway to financial & economic stability b) the fact that institutions of higher education remain largely preserves of the relatively affluent, a very troubling truth is revealed. The prevalent public rhetoric suggesting that higher education is a universal mode of social mobility services our American meritocratic mythology while evading entirely the truth of economic privilege. Until the quality of, and access to, education available for those in most need approaches equality with those of sufficient means, the system higher education will continue to reproduce and further entrench present social inequality.

Steven of MD 3:46AM September 13, 2009