First, I want to note that Hoxby & Avery's "Working Paper" may
be available through one's college library. Check if the library
carries "Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic
Research)". It'll save you five bucks and the paper is worth
reading. There is much more analysis reported since the authors
used the self-reported data collected at the time of SAT/ACT
test taking (e.g., such as parent educational level). They also
suggest potential interventions.
On Sun, 17 Mar 2013 08:32:24 -0700, Christopher Green wrote:
I was surprised that anyone was surprised by this. Although it is
always worth having solid numbers, the conclusion struck me as
completely obvious. "Belongingness" at elite institutions is only
about "talent" to a limited degree. It is at least as much about a
raft of social and class assumptions that can make such places
extremely uncomfortable for people who have come from the
"wrong" stratum. (Captured crudely, but pointedly, I thought,
in the movie "The Social Network.")
Although this seems to have some face validity, Hoxby & Avery
reach somewhat different conclusions:
|8 Conclusions
|
|We demonstrate that the majority of high-achieving, low-income
|students do not apply to any selective colleges despite apparently
|being well-qualified for admission. These students exhibit behavior
|that is typical of students of their income rather than typical of students
|of their achievement. There are, however, high-achieving, low-income
|students who apply in much the same way as their high-income
|counterparts. These "achievement-typical" students also enroll and
|persist in college like their high-income counterparts. We demonstrate
|that achievement-typical students come disproportionately from the
|central cities of large urban areas where they are likely to attend
|selective, magnet, or other high schools with a critical mass of high
|achievers.
|
|We note that the majority of achievement-typical students are drawn
|from only fifteen urban areas, in each of which there is at least one and
|often several selective colleges. We believe that this phenomenon occurs
|because many colleges are "searching under the lamp-post." That is, many
|colleges look for low-income students where the college is instead of
|looking for low-income students where the students are. The students
|"under the lamp-post" are already more likely to apply to and attend
|selective colleges.(page 29)
So, talented poor urban students behave more like talented upper income
students when applying to colleges and this is because of an "urban effect",
that is, they live in big cities that have selective high schools and
accessible
selective colleges which have recruiters looking for them. It is the
talented
poor students outside of large urban centers that avoid the selective
colleges
and who, for the most part, have not been sought by selective colleges.
The consequences are not only about what graduate school the student is
eventually accepted into, but about the kind of undergraduate training they
get, what they come to accept as "successful" work, the level of work that
they
come to view as adequate, etc. That is, what is described as "talent" isn't
"pure." It is conditioned by the kind of training one has received over a
period of years. It affects one's entire "world view."
Perhaps, but I am not convinced of this point.
I have seen this happen from time to time when a talented student arrives
into
a somewhat weaker-than-normal cohort of students, and consequently
develops a poorer work ethic that s/he should and is satisfied with work
that is not reflective of his/her full abilities because his/her sense of
these
things is gauged against one's immediate social and intellectual context.
I don't know. Nerds attract nerds and they compete against each other.
And sometimes talented but poor students have an intellectual curiosity
that won't be denied even if it has to be cultivated and nurtured by the
individual.
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
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