The
Power of Privilege by Joseph Soares, 2007, Excerpts
As Yale admissions dean during the 1960s, Howe
repeatedly explained to alumni that Yale was an upper-class liberal-arts college
for the education of future leaders. Admission decisions at Yale had to take
its social composition and special mission into account. Yale was looked to by
families in the upper-class for social reproduction. In an alumni convocation
speech Howe explained:
“To those who have enjoyed the privileges of
cultural opportunities, wealth, and social standing, there is no stronger
desire than to preserve the same for their children, and admission to Yale is
one of the best ways to do it. To those less privileged, identification with a
prestige-laden institution is probably the most effective vehicle for upward
mobility. But those who are experiencing such mobility should, we are
constantly reminded, have unusual reserves of intelligence and stamina to overcome
the frequently painful, disturbing aspects of the process. Most of us have a
natural, genuine sympathy for the underdog, and yet it is when sympathy rules
reason that we make our worst admission errors. There is a very thin line
indeed, between creating opportunity and causing injury.”
The upwardly mobile were suitable for
vocational subjects at state universities, after which they could be
technicians or accountants, but America
Howe feared that the upwardly mobile, at a
place like Yale, would fall in with a fast, hard-drinking set, to the detriment
of their studies and meager bank account.
Ivy colleges as a tool of upward mobility were like a sharp hook that
harms as it hoists the underprivileged; youths from lower social classes would
not be well matched to the college culture.
Artist:
Eric Drooker
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