Repost: Week 4: Prompt 2: I Can Go to Havard… No You Can’t… But Really, Yes, You Can

Prompt: Read " 5 Myths about Who Gets into College"

Answer the question - Is this information convincing? Why or why not?

Be sure to use quotations from the article.

Richard D. Kahlenburg writes an article entitled “5 Myths About Who Gets into College.”  The title itself does not clearly describe what the article is about.  At first glance, one might think it is about getting into any college, but, he is writing about getting to a selective college.

The first question is: What is a selective college?  Kahlenburg does not clearly define what this is.  He gives you suggestions about what it is, but he does not state it plainly.  After reading the article, it can be determined that a selective college is a top college, such as Harvard, Caltech, Texas A&M, and University of Georgia, all of which he mentions in the article.

So, Kahlenburg needs to rename his article in my opinion to make it clearer.  The article is about the myths about who gets into selective colleges.  He makes his point, but he often seems to contradict himself, which is the point I think.

He states that there are perceived impediments for low-income students to get into selective colleges, which is true, but it is not as hard to get into these colleges as it once was.  While going about it in a round about way, Kahlenburg gets his point across.  If your desire is to go to a top tier school, do your best, make good grades, learn all that you can, and make sure you know what you need to do to get into college.

He says, “With more students going to college, we're closer to the goal of equal opportunity.” (448).

So, now, you can go to Harvard, but you just have to know how to maneuver through the system.

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Works Cited

Kahlenberg, Richard D. "5 Myths about Who Gets into College." Read, Write, Reason, Edited by Dorothy U. Selyler, McGraw-Hill Education, 2015. 446-448. e-file.