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Class Action
September 2008 E-news:
Class and Education
In this Issue
1. Out and About
2. Class and Education
3. Book of the Month: Race and Class Matters at an Elite College
4. Related Articles on Education
5. Education Resources
6. Action of the Month
7. Take our Survey
8. Help Bring Class into the Classroom
1. Out and About
Class Action is gearing up for a busy fall and winter! Look for our workshops in New York City, Boston, the Pioneer Valley, and San Francisco, as well as our house parties throughout New England. Details are in the sidebar to the left!
2. Class and Education
Traditionally, higher education has provided an access channel for upward mobility in the U.S. However, many recent publications have decried the shrinking of that access channel. At the same time, prestigious colleges and universities in the United States have become concerned that the students they are educating come disproportionately from upper-income families. The top colleges draw 75% of their students from the wealthiest quarter of families in America, and only 3% of students from the poorest quarter (Marx 2004). Lower-income white students, in particular, are underrepresented at highly selective colleges and universities with only 1% of white graduates coming from families with incomes below $22,000 and two parents who did not attend college (Bowen & Bok 1998). Even among colleges who have recognized this problem, the focus has been on admissions and resource needs, rather than on the culture shock experienced by first-generation college students, and related issues of retention.
In addition to offering consultation and training to faculty and staff at campuses throughout the country, Class Action is currently participating in a three-year campus-wide initiative on class issues at Dartmouth College. Inspired by this work, we are designing our own comprehensive, multi-year campus initiative with several stages and tiers. We are in discussions to develop this initiative in partnership with both elite colleges and community colleges with the goal of creating a national model for higher education. By helping these colleges make changes at the institutional level, our work will have systemic and sustained impact on thousands of students, and the faculty, staff, and trustees who are entrusted with educating them.
3. Book of the Month: Race and Class Matters at an Elite College
by Elizabeth Aries
Aries urges us to think about how we can best create diverse communities of students that foster cross- class/cross-race relationships that carry into the real world after graduation. An institution of higher education can diversify its student body, but if the campus culture encourages people to stay within their heterogeneous groups, then great opportunities for ongoing change will be lost. Read More..
4. Related Articles on Education
Elite Colleges Must Give Low-Income Students the Tools to Succeed
By Julio Alves
Elite colleges and universities need to make up their minds about how they want to conceptualize low-income students. Are they burdens or assets? Deficient or eager learners? I have doubts about whether elite liberal-arts colleges and universities are willing to do what it takes to enable all students to succeed, and do it quickly enough. Read More...
Look To Class: A Solution For Affirmative Action
by Matthew Schwieger
The lack of low-income students enrolled at select institutions of higher education is scandalous. But with a solution there's a duty to take the next step, one that realizes the promise of class based affirmative action by instituting it as policy. Read More...
High Cost of Driving Ignites Online Classes Boom
by Sam Dillon
Once an incidental expense, fuel for commuting to campus now costs some students half of what they pay for tuition, in some cases more. Read More...
With No Frills or Tuition, a College Draws Notice
by Tamar Lewin
Berea College, founded 150 years ago to educate freed slaves and “poor white mountaineers,” accepts only applicants from low-income families, and it charges no tuition. Read More...
The Next Kind of Integration
by Emily Bazelon
In June of last year, a conservative majority of the Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 decision, declared the racial-integration efforts of two school districts unconstitutional. Read More...
Elite Colleges Open New Door to Low-Income Youths
by Sara Rimer
The discussion in the States of Poverty seminar here at Amherst College was getting a little theoretical. Then Anthony Abraham Jack, a junior from Miami, asked pointedly, “Has anyone here ever actually seen a food stamp?” Read More...
To read more articles on Class and Higher Education, click HERE.
5. Education Resources:
Blog:
Education and Class
Exploring the intersections of social class, education and identity
Organizations:
A Better Chance is the preeminent resource for identifying, recruiting and developing leaders among young people of color in the United States.
Posse Foundation identifies, recruits, and trains incredible youth leaders from urban public high schools and sends these groups as "Posses" to top colleges and universities in this country.
Liberty Tree :Foundation for the Democratic Revolution
Its Democratizing Education Program works to unite student associations, labor unions, faculty organizations, and grassroots student, parent, and community groups in a national movement against the corporatization of education, and for the democratization of schools, colleges, and universities.
Videos:
College Costs Hit Working Class Hard: This online video features a working class high school student and her concerns about applying for college. The video also offers some interesting facts and numbers that relate to the financial struggles of paying for college tuition.
Student Debt: Denying the American Dream: The decrease in federal funding for college tuition is highlighted in this online video. Students discuss their busy work schedules and the large number of student loans they will have to pay after college.
More Articles: Class Action has compiled an impressive list of articles concerning class and higher education here.
6. Action of the Month: Educate yourself about Education!
Public education can only truly serve the public if the public is aware of the challenges and issues it faces. On its website, the National Education Association (NEA) keeps an updated list of all current bills being considered by Congress and offers many ways for citizens to voice their opinions and concerns.
Go to our Action of the Month page to find out more....
7. Take our Survey
Do you think that colleges and universities should use class-based affirmative action in order to increase diversity?
Submit a response here. Read other survey responses here.
8. Help Bring Class into the Classroom
Class Action is developing “Class in the Classroom,” a new toolkit for secondary school teachers. Your gift of $15 or $25 or $100 can help make these materials accessible to teachers and students who crave meaningful opportunities to talk about this taboo topic. Please consider making your gift today!
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