Sunday, December 23, 2012
Higher education College a high bar for poor students; Nate Bell would make it harder
Posted by Max Brantley on Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 6:38 AM
The New York Times leads off today with a story on the widening gap between rich and poor in education.
Poor students have long trailed affluent peers in school performance, but from grade-school tests to college completion, the gaps are growing. With school success and earning prospects ever more entwined, the consequences carry far: education, a force meant to erode class barriers, appears to be fortifying them.... The growing role of class in academic success has taken experts by surprise since it follows decades of equal opportunity efforts and counters racial trends, where differences have narrowed. It adds to fears over recent evidence suggesting that low-income Americans have lower chances of upward mobility than counterparts in Canada and Western Europe.
Thirty years ago, there was a 31 percentage point difference between the share of prosperous and poor Americans who earned bachelor’s degrees, according to Martha J. Bailey and Susan M. Dynarski of the University of Michigan. Now the gap is 45 points.
While both groups improved their odds of finishing college, the affluent improved much more, widening their sizable lead.
Now the Arkansas wackjob. We've long known that financial impediments are the biggest reason students don't enter college or drop out after they do enter. But Republican Rep. Nate Bell has recently floated the idea of making college dropouts repay lottery scholarships if they don't graduate unless they have an ironclad excuse of some sort. The general imperative of making ends meet, avoiding starvation or accepting an economic betterment route for short-term family reasons wouldn't qualify. Faced with this potential punishment, it's a sure bet many students wouldn't take the money and enter college in the first place. This is another bit of wing nuttery that shouldn't go very far, but with the Tea Party crowd, you just never know.
Speaking of...
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UPDATE: State college scholarship cuts run deep
May 15, 2013Earlier, I mentioned an on-line petition by a father unhappy to learn recently his child might not receive the expected state aid to enroll next fall in the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. /more/
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The terrible 10 of the 89th Arkansas General Assembly
May 9, 2013They're the worst of the worst. /more/
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Diamonds in the manure of the Arkansas legislature
May 9, 2013Some legislators and legislation shone. /more/
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'Powder, lead, walnut, brass and steel': Nate Bell's tribute to weapons
May 7, 2013Kind of a nicely written narrative from Rep. Nate Bell of Mena on what he says was a formative episode of his youth, when, he says, a 30-30 rifle gave him the backing he needed to scare a would-be intruder away from his Alabama home. /more/
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More Bell bashing
May 2, 2013I am a resident of Massachusetts and the aunt of Lauren Rousseau. You might recognize her name; her body was blown apart by some of the 154 shots of the Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle that Adam Lanza used in his massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. There were 20 innocent children and 5 other adults also murdered that day. /more/
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Room in the middle for Arkansas politicians?
April 25, 2013Recent events recommend former U.S. Rep. Mike Ross' plan to emulate Gov. Mike Beebe as a middle-of-the-road Democrat. Moderation is appealing. /more/
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Dumb Bell, etc.
April 25, 2013Arkansans put feet in mouth, then fire. /more/
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Open letters to Nate Bell
April 25, 2013I read your comments about Boston yesterday. YOU ARE A MORON. I'm a gun owning conservative. That did not spare me when the bombs went off in Copley Square. I wasn't home cowering when I read your comments. I was in a hospital bed at Mass General. /more/
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Lyons: Nate Bell doesn't know Boston
April 25, 2013For what it's worth, almost everybody in Arkansas who can find Massachusetts on a road map was appalled by state Rep. Nate Bell's grotesquely inappropriate Twitter post. /more/
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Better thing
April 25, 2013One can easily sympathize with the members of the state House of Representatives who'd like to eject Nate Bell from the chamber. /more/
- More »
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