Education Without Representation
Are Whites more over-represented (relative to their portion of the population) in universities now than they were 30 years ago?
What story does this data tell?
Why do you think that is?
What is one consequence of this?
Is this good news?
Based on the data from the chart would you say that regarding education, American is becoming more equal?
How will this personally effect you?
In what way will the coronavirus impact the numbers in the chart?
How likely is it that face-to-face college will reopen in the fall?
Which group in this chart is most underrepresented and which is most over represented?
Based on the data in the chart, if you could chose your race (you can't, by the way) so that you'd have the most success at getting into college, what race would you chose?
Race is not the only demographic factor influencing college attendance. How do the following demographic factors influence likelihood of college attendance: socioeconomic status, gender, religion.
Explain whether you believe universities should try to roughly mirror the demographics of our country?
Legacies (kids of alumni) are very over-represented in colleges. Why is that, and what should be done about it?
In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King writes: “History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.” How does this quote relate to the chart and do you agree with Dr. King’s claim about privilege?
What would the following people say about the data in this chart: Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Colin Kaepernick, the average American Libertarian, a typical American Conservative, Taylor Swift, your run of the mill American Liberal, your parents, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., you.
Explain whether you believe college admissions should be race-blind? (in other words, students would not list their race on their application).
Explain whether our country as a whole would be better off if our schools more accurately represented our demographics?
Which of the schools in our bonus chart* does the best and the worst job on admissions? (Yes, you have to define "best"!)
Imagine you were upset by this data and wanted to do something about this inequality. What could a citizen do about this?
What is one thing the following branches of government could do about this:
Legislative
Executive
Judicial
Learning Extension
Read the whole darned NYTimes article and check out their fancy interactive charts about race and college in America.
Action Extension
Complete the Dr. King Quotes assignment and share your answers in class or online.
Question Extension
You do know that the 2020 AP exam consists of only 2 Free Response Questions, right?
