Bwrk?

interesteddad
Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:39:20 +0000

The earliest references I have found to the rejection of “well-rounded” in favor of a collection of “niche” applicants dates back to the mid-1970s.

The trend has obviously taken on steam since then. IMO, it is the intellectual justification for race-based “slotted” admissions. In other words, college administrators are uncomfortable admitting that they admit “x” number of applicants based on their race or ethnicity. So, the “intellectual justification” is that they admit ALL of their students to meet some carefully constructed mix of diverse attributes. Thus, race-based quota slots are the same as oboe-based quota slots or speedy wide receiver based quota slots.

There is no way to back off from this model at this point, because the colleges have sold it to the Supreme Court in order to preserve the legality of affirmative action.

Of course, the loser IS the bright, well-rounded, kid. The odds of acceptance to an elite college without an a narrowly-drawn “identity” is, indeed, difficult.

I think there is a second factor that has driven admissions in this direction. After the intellectually stimulating campus activisim of the 1960’s and 70’s, college administrators grew frustrated with the increasing blandness and conformity of the college students of the 1980s and beyond. The “I’ve gotten straight A’s, edited my school newspaper, and want to get into a good law school to land a top job with a corportate mergers firm” is not a pitch that has much appeal to academics rooted in their own college experiences during more activist times.