This is very compelling story about a fellow senior about to graduate from Amherst College. I picked this article because it seems to tackle the bigger issue of low-income kids getting into elite colleges. The issue of affirmative action has been a very hot topic in Michigan for the past couple of years, so I thought that this article would be somewhat relevant to our class.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/education/27grad.html?hp. Basically Mr. Jack is a great success story about how a low-income African American kid was able to attend a great private school. Mr. Jack’s mother, who works as a school security guard making less than $26,000 a year, talks about how Anthony Jack was always so self-motivated. Jack enlightens the reader about how coming from a very poor background makes things that much harder when attending an extremely prestigious, rich, and white school.
Another reason why I picked this article is because of the piece that Meagan Brooks is doing for her final piece. In her piece she talks a lot about diversity at K, or lack thereof. When I learned that there are only six African American students in the entire class I was really shocked. I couldn’t believe it. Not only was I able to name each black student, but I am pretty good friends with all of them. For god sakes, I have shared with a room with 1/3 of black population in my graduating class. Anyway, I just thought that this article tied in really well with Megan’s piece, admission standards, and graduation.
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6 comments:
Charlie, Thanks so much for posting this wonderful article. For the last four years, I've been upset about the lack of diversity at K, especially in terms of economic diversity. A friend of mine told me she asked someone where the financial aid office was during orientation, and the person responded "I don't need to know where the financial aid office is." I always thought my family was plenty wealthy as part of the middle class before I came to K, but as soon as I started meeting my peers I felt poorer and poorer.
I really enjoyed this article. The structure and quotation were tight and the author added an ideal amount of factoids to inform the reader. I hope K follows in the footsteps of Amherst and adds socioeconomic status to its admission worksheet.
I thought it was a good pick. It told a clear story of Anthony Jack's success. It definitely is relevant to K and many other universities.
Too much of the emotional content of the story was banking on his race and his low-income family. I feel that so many articles have been written on success stories like this one, by now it should be a reality. I would love to read an article that seek and question the sources that create obstacles like Mr. Jack overcame.
As I posted in my response, I really liked this article as well. I agree with Kim in that I have been disappointed in the lack of diversity (in general) on campus, period. Like Charlie, I didn't really stop to think about it, though, until I read this. What an eye opener.
I enjoyed the sweet, tight writing too and not only learned some new information, but I also cared that I learned it. I've already passed it on to some friends and colleagues!
I agree with the above comments. A great read. I particularly liked the quote selection (though we all know by now, that's one of my favorite parts of journalism). The quote from the Dean of Admissions about the New Yorker on the coffee table, really struck me, as did the kicker quote. My only critique is that I believe the article may have brushed over the racial element a bit. I know the piece attempted to focus on socio-economic factors for college decision-making, I felt that anecdote about being stopped by security proved poignant and it wasn't give much time in the piece. Overall, though, really great, interesting stuff.
Great choice, Charlie. Wonderful details--can you imagine how the reporter got them all? Terrific narrative elements. This is so clearly a piece about something larger than the profile subject itself.
I also talked about this piece in my blog- I really liked it. Socioeconomic status could potentially BE on admissions sheets, but I see as more important how schools are turning loans into grants and recruiting these students.
I could also relate to this article which makes reading it easy. I’ve always known that my family is not from the wealthier SESs (socioeconomic status), but it really came out at K. Honestly, the financial aid officer called me into her office at the beginning of Freshman year to tell me that I couldn’t afford to be here. But I made it (with a lot of help).
I do wish we heard from more people as Tami mentioned, but overall enjoyed reading this piece. Thanks Charlie!
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