The Inequality Machine

How College Divides Us

Paul Tough

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9780358362050
• eBook ISBN:
  9780544944367
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Higher Education
• Index: Social Sciences

First published as  The Years That Matter Most
From best-selling author Paul Tough, an indelible and explosive book on the glaring injustices of higher education, including unfair admissions tests, entrenched racial barriers, and crushing student debt. Now updated and expanded for the pandemic era.
When higher education works the way it's supposed to, there is no better tool for social mobility—for lifting young people out of challenging circumstances and into the middle class and beyond. In reality, though, American colleges and universities have become the ultimate tool of social  immobility—a system that secures a comfortable future for the children of the wealthy while throwing roadblocks in the way of students from struggling families.
 
Combining vivid and powerful personal stories with deep, authoritative reporting, Paul Tough explains how we got into this mess and explores the innovative reforms that might get us out. Tough examines the systemic racism that pervades American higher education, shows exactly how the SATs give an unfair advantage to wealthy students, and guides readers from Ivy League seminar rooms to the welding shop at a rural community college. At every stop, he introduces us to young Americans yearning for a better life—and praying that a college education might help them get there.
 
With a new preface and afterword by the author exposing how the coronavirus pandemic has shaken the higher education system anew.?

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

academic advisers

in college, 220, 232, 235

CollegePoint, 65–70

Laude, on graduation rates, 213, 215

uninformed advice, 219

academic success

Arrupe College, 236–40

strategies for, 215–17

study groups, 279, 291–92, 298–301, 303–4

test-optional admissions, 175–76, 195

See also grades; graduation rates; test prep

acceptance rates, 7, 20

achievement-typical, 45, 54, 64

ACT (test)

Ariel (test prep student), 29–31

college selection process, 38–39

coronavirus pandemic, 332, 334–35

vs. diversity, 170

earnings, 34

as predictor of success, 195

preparation for, 24, 64

vs. SAT, 71–73, 75–76, 97

social stratification, 107

value of, 172–76

ACT Inc. (company)

CollegePoint program participation, 65–66

Harvard Financial Aid Initiative, 44

identity threat and, 27–28

packets, to low-income high achievers, 50

perception of, 75

state contracts, 75–76, 95–96, 177

test-optional admissions, 176–77

on value of ACT, 172–73

adaptive software, 85, 93

admission-industrial complex, 158

admissions, 153–99

backdoor admissions, 163–66

challenges in, 159–63

enrollment management origin, 156–58

enrollment management process, 188–94

rigging, 24–25

staff and pressure, 153–55

stress, student, 23–24

test-optional admissions, 167–81, 309–11 , 332–36

Top 10 Percent Rule, 207–8

Trinity College, 182–88, 194–99

advanced degrees, 257

Advanced Placement (AP), 48, 71

See also AP Calculus

advantages

...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Preface
• I. Wanting In
• II. Getting In
• III. Fixing the Test
• IV. Fitting In
• V. Letting In
• VI. Staying In
• VII. Hanging On
• VIII. Getting an A
• IX. After the War
• Afterword
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author
• Connect with HMH