The College Admissions Squeeze

Abstract

I HAVE been asked to discuss the &dquo;College Admissions Squeeze,&dquo; a subject much favored for attention by the press during the past several years. The consequence of so much public notice has been general alarm, considerable pressure upon schools to diverge from their usual practices, and innumerable meetings of school boards, college trustees, guidance counselors, administrators, and even occasionally of faculties in both schools and college. We are having a perfect rash of talent searchesmost of which find talent that was never lost-and we have even had &dquo;guidance&dquo; prominently connected with national defense in Federal legislation.Two assumptions are now fashionable: (1) that many students cannot get into college; and (2) either the secondary schools are not &dquo;pre-paring&dquo; students properly, or college admissions officers are venal. A corollary, which I will not discuss, states that (therefore) the Russians are about to get us.The first assumption-that significant numbers of students are barred, or soon will be barred, from college-deserves comment only because it is so widely believed. I have a standard offer which I repeat here: If there are not financial problems, I will undertake to place in an accredited four-year college any student who holds a high-school diploma and