At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, construction plans for a library were influenced by an unusual consideration: the shadow the building might cast. Established in 1876, the Morrow Plots are the longest continuous agricultural demonstration plots in the world. Since it would have been unfortunate to interfere with their sunlight, the UIUC library was built adjacent to them but out of the way–underground.
Archive for January, 2008
Priorities
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008Principled Resignations?
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008One of many disappointments I’ve had during the current administration is the dearth of principled resignations. No small number of Bush appointees have left their posts, but most have wanted “more time with their families” rather than a fire of vitriol.
Two examples are particularly obvious. Christine Todd Whitman was sidelined at EPA, reduced from Republican moderate stardom to whining “it’s my party, too” after playing chief apologist for anti-environment crusades. And Colin Powell’s four years as Secretary of State were an extended exercise in quietly suffering humiliation.
Would that they and others departed with flourish, perhaps even with the words of this brilliant, unsigned Time magazine piece from the pre-Watergate Nixon era channeling Nathan Hale: “I am sorry that I have only one job to give for my country.”
A Missing Uproar at Oxford
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008Statistics on undergraduate admission rates at the University of Oxford ought to be a scandal. First, examine Table 5. The racial groups designated White or White&Other represent 84.2+0.4+0.3+2.2 = 87.1% of applicants. Despite this overwhelming share (comparable to the share in the general population), the combined admissions rate for these groups substantially exceeds the admissions rate for the combined pool of non-white applicants.
Table 6 implies the even more astonishing fact that gender disparities are also exacerbated by the Oxford admissions process. Even though 2% more men apply than women, the overall acceptance rate for men exceeds the acceptance rate for women by 2.3%. In the sciences, where the applicant pool is nearly 3/5 male, the acceptance rate gap is even larger, 3.1%.
Likewise, only 5 out of the 30 colleges listed in Table 8a have higher three-year average admission rates than application rates from “maintained” high schools (ie, the equivalent of “public schools” in the US, which are maintained by the state).
I am not claiming that these statistics imply Oxford admissions officers practice discrimination. Despite the numbers, it could be the case that the marginal racial minority, female, and maintained school applicant is less distinguished than the marginal white, male, prep school applicant.
However, these numbers imply that disparities in applications expand during the Oxford admissions decision process, contrary to diversity’s recognized essentiality for education in a modern, interconnected world. Oxford should lead the way in extending opportunity to underrepresented groups, and consequently the Oxford admissions statistics should be a scandal. The central administration may only partially be to blame, since admissions decisions are made by individual colleges. Non-discrimination rules may be applied in the UK in the way that opponents of affirmative action would interpret the equal protection doctrine in the US. Nevertheless, I hope to see fast action to raise application rates of qualified members of underrepresented groups, and equally fast rises to statistical parity in acceptance rates.
Hop on Pop
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008… throughout Africa, says a wise former teacher in The Gambia, would make a world of difference. Why not flood schools with Dr. Seuss?