For Fall 2013: Who gains — and who loses — in the admissions process at Trinity College and other elite institutions? Which racial diversity and/or financial aid policies might meet our desired goals? How do undergraduates experience racial and social class differences on campus? What can we learn from Trinity’s own history to recommend meaningful changes? In this seminar, students will role-play a college admissions committee, conduct interviews for a campus research project, and enhance their research and writing skills. Given our controversial topic, participants should be prepared to listen to alternative viewpoints, challenge (and be challenged) on opinions and evidence, and get involved in making change.
Required readings:
Peter Schmidt, Color and Money: How Rich White Kids Are Winning the War Over College Affirmative Action. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Mitchell Stevens, Creating a Class: College Admissions and the Education of Elites. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2007.
Beverly Daniel Tatum, “Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and Other Conversations about Race, revised edition. New York: Basic Books, 2003.
Stacey Lee, Unraveling the “Model Minority” Stereotype: Listening to Asian American Youth. New York: Teachers College Press, 1996.
Andrew Roberts. The Thinking Student’s Guide to College: 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education. University Of Chicago Press, 2010.
Additional readings will be made available in seminar.
About the instructor: Jack Dougherty is an associate professor of educational studies, who specializes in the history and policy of education in the metropolitan United States. Trinity students affiliated with the Cities, Suburbs, and Schools Project have worked with him to explore education, housing, and civil rights in the Hartford region, and their research appears in a freely accessible web-book, On The Line.
