Analysis Of The Article ' Great Doesn 't Good Enough ' Essay

The population in Texas has changed miraculously over the years. The population in 1850 was almost eighty percent white, about twenty five percent African Americans, and Latinos percentage was a

In his essay “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s”, Brent Staples argues that many colleges have less vigorous grading rubrics than in years past because of the increase in student-consumers. Consequently, this “new” grading policy has led to an increase in A’s that are awarded to students. A few factors have led to this unfair distribution. Firstly, students who earn high grades in poorly attended classes assure that these classes will remain viable in the future. Secondly, high grades guarantee the presence of student consumers at a college {REWORD}. Additionally, the tenure status or salary of a professor may be affect if (s)he does not give out high grades to students, leading to disapproving evaluations.

On March 8, 1998 an article entitled “Why Colleges Shower Their Students With A’s” written by Brent Staples was published in The New York Times. In his article, Staples discusses his belief that colleges are now rewarding more A’s than ever before and why he believes this is occurring all across the nation. Staples argues that more and more college students are given A’s as a way to encourage high attendance in classes and good evaluations for professors as well as decrease the number of students lost to other universities. While his title catches the attention of readers and his article may look reliable on the outside, a closer look reveals Staples is not capable of proving his argument that students are showered with A’s

In December 2014, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education published “Rethinking the Admission Process.” This article was written by Frank DiMaria, who takes a look at the research of the former president of the University of Wyoming, Robert Sternberg. DiMaria explains Sternberg’s stance against the current admissions process. Sternberg has research that depicts, “GPA, standardized tests, and essays do not successfully measure the true talent of a college applicant.” He believes that the policies need to change. Sternberg offers an alternative to the current process. Sternberg has been a part of a new admissions policy testing students not just on their memorization and analytical skills, but on their creative, practical, and wisdom-based skills as well. Sternberg’s ideas stem from his experience with disadvantaged youth and their ability to adapt and overcome obstacles. Sternberg claims that students who grow up in the upper middle class tend to have an environment which better values the analytical skills that the current tests measure. He argues that, because of this, colleges may not be getting the most creative and adaptable students. He shows that some of these less privileged students are capable of handling a college workload even though they may not have been able to score as high on the SAT or other tests. DiMaria believes that through Sternberg’s Kaleidoscope policy may be a solution. The Kaleidoscope way of admissions administers tests which ask open ended

The Texas population consists of people with a variety of different cultural and racial background. The Texas population seems to be very young with an approximate 27.3 percent of the population being under the age of 18, and about 11.5 percent being over the age of 65 (U.S. Census Bureau, “Texas.”). Factors that increase the Texas population include higher birthrates, lower death rates, as well as immigration from other countries and states. The population is changing from a primarily white population as recorded during the 1990s to a projected primarily Latino population by 2050. However, Latinos were not a considered a separate ethnic group until the 1990s but were counted to the white population which consisted of European whites and the Latinos. The African- American population decreased from over 20 percent during the 1850s to below 20 percent population as of 2015. Asian- Americans are considered the smallest population in Texas at 4.5 percent (The Asian Population,” 2010 Census Briefs). Due to the changing economy and

Affirmative Action. For many Texas high school students, these two words haunt them. Their future, or at least their future at the University of Texas, depends on these words. For Abigail Noel Fisher, a 2008 graduate from Sugar Land, Texas, affirmative action and its race bias policies allegedly ruined her chances of getting into this prestigious state university. Fisher argues that race should not be a factor in college admissions processes, Fisher argues for equality. Equality in respect to race is in our constitution; it surrounds us everyday. In theory, race should be irrelevant in this day and age. Humanity has established that one race is not superior to another, so why should race matter at all in the college admissions process? Why should the University of Texas, or any other university, have that “check your race” box on their applications? Abigail Fisher, and every other person applying to the university, deserves as much opportunity as every other student of any race. When it comes to college, intelligence and character should be key to admission- not the color of the applicant’s skin. The University of Texas’ current affirmative action policy is an unfair college admissions process that the Supreme Court should ban so that admissions are based on intellectual ability in high school, national testing scores, extracurricular activities, and community service; this should be changed so that every person,

Although the Top 10 Percent Law has only been in effect for approximately two decades, the law signifies historical cases behind it. In short, Texas House Bill 588 was an immediate response to a 1996 federal court case (Barr). In 1991, the law school of University of Texas (UT) initiated a controversial admission strategy, which required distinct standards for white students versus minority students, in order to boost diverse enrollment at the school (Barr). Consequently, this affirmative action was soon criticized as unjust reverse discrimination to Anglo students (Barr). In 1996, rejected applicants filed a lawsuit against the UT – Law school, in which

Texas is currently dominated by the Republican culture with a popular belief in conservatism that has lasted for many years. Democratic and Liberal groups are also present in the Texas but play as the minorities. Although demographics through the years show that a change in the dominant party could very well be eminent, Texas remains a red state for the time being. Currently the population is estimated at 24.5 million and is dominantly Anglo with minorities including African American, and Hispanic. In the coming years though, it is estimated to change where as the Hispanic population will surpass become the new majority.

The State of Texas, there are “79.4 % White, 12.8% Black or African American, 1.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 4.8% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 1.9% Two or More Race, and 38.1% Hispanic or Latino: (Bureau, U.C. (2017)). In the United States the data is “79.9% White, 13.3 % Black, 1.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 5.7% Asian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 2.6% Two or More Races, and 17.8% Hispanic or Latino” (Bureau, U.C. 2017).

UT made the holistic review, based on the decisions in Bakke and Grutter v. Bollinger. Those decisions establish that; universities may consider race-when in need or have interest in student body diversity. The Fifth Circuit emphasized, that UT was not looking to consider ‘race’ as a search, but a search for unique talents and backgrounds who could increase the diversity of the student body. UT needed more diversity in its campus, so they might have helped a few

America’s education system has been in a state of distress for the past decade, but garnished headlines recently as the student loan debt crisis reached over a trillion dollars. In conjunction with that, tuition is no longer the only obstacle a student faces when considering their future. As generations come and go, universities have slowly, but surely, been angling their education in a way to favor profit over knowledge. Because of the new direction higher education models are taking, Magdalena Kay questions her readers, “is there a problem with students, with teachers, with administrators, or maybe

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, as of fall 2015 Boston University’s student body consisted of nearly 50 percent White, 20 percent International, 13 percent Asian, 10 percent Hispanic, and 14 percent other ethnicities. In November 2013, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that out

When producing an incoming class that resulted from most selective admissions process ever, UC Berkeley has power over its students. Since UC Berkeley has created a selection process that is designed to admit the most academically qualified students, it shows that UC Berkeley has many resources at its disposal. In this case, the resources are the students, because not only do they provide the school with future tuition money and possible alumni donations, but they also provide potential intellectual skills that may be essential for their research operations and their high level of success in high school is an indicator of high performance in college and in the workforce. In other words, assuming that UC Berkeley either maintains the same number

In the beginning, Kohn starts his investigation by implementing the standard guidelines for the collection of supportive data that will assist academic conservatives who argue that higher grades are undeserved. This action has allowed sides to part ways, and allows lines to drawn in the sand. Dividing those who

The author points this out in a statement made by Richard R. Beeman, a historian and former dean at the University of Pennsylvania, “The very idea that universities with very different institutional cultures and program priorities can be compared, and that the resulting ranking can be useful to students, is highly problematic.” One of Leonhard’s weak ethos claims regarding the credibility of rankings emerges in his stating, "Measuring how well students learn is incredibly difficult, but there are some worthy efforts being made.” However, the citing he makes of researchers at Indiana Universities further clouds the objectivity needed for unbiased ranking, because students are asked “how they spend their time and how engaged they are in their education, while another group is measuring whether students become better writes and problem solvers during their college years.” Here Leonhardt artistically uses persuasion and logical reasoning to point out that the measuring tools are subjective, hardly noteworthy of credible rankings for colleges.