<p>Shelby Steele, one of today’s foremost African-American conservative writers, had a great op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal. Particularly liked this comment - " At home the values that made us exceptional have been smeared with derision…Talk of “merit” or “a competition of excellence” in the admissions office of any Ivy League university today, and then stand by for the howls of incredulous laughter".</p>
<p>Had to look through my WSJ 3 times to find this OpEd piece. I mistakenly assumed that the article had something to do with college admissions. Other than that single sentence quoted by the OP, the article has nothing to do with colleges, college prep, high school, the Ivy League, financial aid…</p>
<p>Not to mention the fact that the sentence itself is ludicrous.</p>
<p>as if Shelby Steele has an “inside source” in Ivy League Admissions offices, snort…</p>
<p>yeah right…</p>
<p>Anything in the editorial pages of the WSJ has to be taken with a bushel of salt.</p>
<p>Well, here’s the great thing - no one is forced to apply to Ivy League schools, so if one feels that these schools don’t reward the “right” things in admission, one is free to apply wherever one likes.</p>
<p>My reading of the op-ed is that what is happening in college admissions is a very good example of what is happening in our society in general. Being academically exceptional, intellectually curious, scoring high on advanced tests just don’t matter as much as they used to. We are in apology mode in this country at the moment.</p>
<p>Can you explain the sentence, since it is out of context. I am not getting the message here. Are you saying that the implication is that merit/excellence is no longer a criterion for Ivy admissions? And how does this related to the “apology” mode you refer to (and maybe you could explain that also). Thanks!</p>
<p>I’d like to know from the OP why he/she felt it was important to note Shelby Steele’s ethnic background. I can’t see a context for it, thus far. Is Steele’s opinion in the newspaper today more or less important because he’s an African-American? Enlighten me.</p>
<p>I think OP felt it was necessary to mention race because this article was by a black man and is largely an attack on our black president–and as such is a relative rarity because most black Americans still support the President. </p>
<p>The gist of the piece was that Obama is a post-60s liberal who hates American greatness and the line about colleges was thrown in as an example of how this antipathy to American exceptionalism, based on hard work and merit, is washing over contemporary society. </p>
<p>I think it’s a bunch of crap all the way around. But this is the Wall Street Journal, which is notorious for its highly ideological right-wing views. Only this one doesnt’ even come close to reality.</p>
<p>“Being academically exceptional, intellectually curious,”</p>
<p>are very much under attack today.</p>
<p>Though more often than not from the folks who arent inclined to apologize for anything.</p>
<p>Heres a nice response to Mr Steele</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/94475/shelby-steeles-latest-embarrassment[/url]”>http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/94475/shelby-steeles-latest-embarrassment</a></p>
<p>"Hi! My dad is a famous conservative intellectual with some well known books to his credit.</p>
<p>He says Ivy league admissions are no longer about competitions of excellence.</p>
<p>I think this means I get in with a 3.5 weighted GPA and a 1800 SATs, with 3 APs (but I got a 5 on of them) </p>
<p>Is this in fact the case? "</p>
<p>"And how does this related to the “apology” mode you refer to (and maybe you could explain that also). "</p>
<p>It means Stanford apologizes for having anything to do with the Hoover Institution. </p>
<p>Just kidding. Unfortunately.</p>
<p>
I think this is, to put it as delicately as possible, a lie.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>With respect to super selective schools, the problem is not that this does not matter, it is that the usual measuring tools visible to and trusted by admissions committees for these types of characteristics (e.g. high school grades, standardized tests, and the like) are effectively maxed out for a number of applicants greater than the admission class at these schools.</p>
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<p>Boy, you really haven’t read many posts in the Ivy League threads of CC, have you? </p>
<p>Your view is so divorced from reality that it literally boggles the mind.</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>Merit is not relevant. Every elite could probably fill its seats with kids from india and china that have better stats than us kids.</p>
<p>It’s always amazes me that people deride the Ivy League by insinuating that there’s little ‘merit’ there, especially when he comes to ‘stats’, and yet when you look at least at some of the numbers, it’s still a very impressive group of institutions. 25% of Harvard’s students score 800 on the Critical Reading and Writing portions of the SAT, and 75% are in the top 6% for each of the three sections.</p>
<p>There is such endless debates about what counts as excellence and merit at these institutions, especially on this forum. And yet, it’s not like the overwhelming majority at Harvard do simply ‘average’ on the test.</p>
<p>The other part of this argument, whether it’s explicit or implicit, is that there used to be a time, in the past, when ‘merit’ and ‘competition for excellence’ were rewarded, and that now we don’t reward those attributes. Ivy League admissions is just one example of this. And now, our economic and military woes are a consequence of this lack of reward for merit, etc. </p>
<p>Yet, if the posts here on CC are accurate, there was a time, in that past, when there was a Jewish quota at certain Ivy League institutions. And certainly if you were an excellent candidate but happended to be a woman, you were out of luck. So was there ever a time when merit and competition for excellence alone garnered admission to the Ivy League? Is our current condition merely because we have gotten ‘too soft’ and now we need to ‘buck up’??? Is it really that simple?</p>
<p>skrlvr, excellent point. In fact there was a time when the majority of students at H & Y, to name 2 notable examples, were graduates of the “right” prep schools. People got into those prep schools at that time largely because they were from the “right” families and could afford the fees. Although some of them were academically superior, it certainly wasn’t necessary. Reportedly the headmasters of the schools would sit down with the admissions deans at the colleges and they would decide who would go where. Competitive applications were not required of those students. </p>
<p>The reality is that today’s Ivy attendees, as a group, far outstrip the attendees of that mythical past. Yes, there were always some kids from public schools with great records and no pull. But they were comparatively rare in the “good old days.”</p>
<p>mom2, every elite could probably fill its seats with kids from the US with more uniformly excellent test scores. But test scores do not tell the whole tale when it comes to “merit.”</p>