|
Showing 1 - 2 of
2 matches in All Departments
It has long been assumed that college admission should be a simple
matter of sorting students according to merit, with the best
heading off to the Ivy League and highly ranked liberal arts
colleges and the rest falling naturally into their rightful places.
Admission to selective institutions, where extremely fine
distinctions are made, is characterized by heated public debates
about whether standardized exams, high school transcripts, essays,
recommendation letters, or interviews best indicate which
prospective students are "worthy."And then there is college for
everyone else. But what goes into less-selective college admissions
in an era when everyone feels compelled to go, regardless of
preparation or life goals? "Ravenwood College," where Alex
Posecznick spent a year doing ethnographic research, was a small,
private, nonprofit institution dedicated to social justice and
serving traditionally underprepared students from underrepresented
minority groups. To survive in the higher education marketplace,
the college had to operate like a business and negotiate complex
categories of merit while painting a hopeful picture of the future
for its applicants. Selling Hope and College is a snapshot of a
particular type of institution as it goes about the business of
producing itself and justifying its place in the market. Admissions
staff members were burdened by low enrollments and worked
tirelessly to fill empty seats, even as they held on to the
institution's special spirit. Posecznick documents what it takes to
keep a "mediocre" institution open and running, and the struggles,
tensions, and battles that members of the community tangle with
daily as they carefully walk the line between empowering
marginalized students and exploiting them.
It has long been assumed that college admission should be a simple
matter of sorting students according to merit, with the best
heading off to the Ivy League and highly ranked liberal arts
colleges and the rest falling naturally into their rightful places.
Admission to selective institutions, where extremely fine
distinctions are made, is characterized by heated public debates
about whether standardized exams, high school transcripts, essays,
recommendation letters, or interviews best indicate which
prospective students are "worthy."And then there is college for
everyone else. But what goes into less-selective college admissions
in an era when everyone feels compelled to go, regardless of
preparation or life goals? "Ravenwood College," where Alex
Posecznick spent a year doing ethnographic research, was a small,
private, nonprofit institution dedicated to social justice and
serving traditionally underprepared students from underrepresented
minority groups. To survive in the higher education marketplace,
the college had to operate like a business and negotiate complex
categories of merit while painting a hopeful picture of the future
for its applicants. Selling Hope and College is a snapshot of a
particular type of institution as it goes about the business of
producing itself and justifying its place in the market. Admissions
staff members were burdened by low enrollments and worked
tirelessly to fill empty seats, even as they held on to the
institution's special spirit. Posecznick documents what it takes to
keep a "mediocre" institution open and running, and the struggles,
tensions, and battles that members of the community tangle with
daily as they carefully walk the line between empowering
marginalized students and exploiting them.
|
|