CUNY Open Admissions

            

            I am having a hard time understanding how an “open admission” academy is defined. The author argued that CUNY was open admission from 1969-1999. The article stated that during the open admission period the schools charged tuition and had admission criteria.  Therefore, it appears that the only change from the open admission period to the current state was an increase of the admission criteria.

The author’s issue with the change of admission criteria is a valid point, however one may argue that an increase of admission criteria was necessary. The author didn’t mention why admission criteria were increased (aside from influence by Mayor Giuliani). It is plausible that an increasing NYC population created problems for the academy because the number of applicants that met the open admissions criteria was greater than the number of student positions available. In turn, the admission criteria were increased (open admission was abolished) to equate the ratio of appropriate applicants to accepted students for the size of the academy.

Based on the above scenario, one may argue the increase of admission criteria as appropriate. Furthermore, one may argue that any admission criteria do stratify the student population. The open admission period had admission criteria, therefore undoubtedly there were students who were unable to attend school. One may argue that the increase of admission criteria might be a good thing for society. Anytime restrictions are put on society there are persons excluded, and eventually the majority of society will adapt/conform. I would argue that society needs increased admission criteria to further improve societies knowledge base. The problem seems to be how society will meet new admission criteria.

I agree with the author that much of the burden (persons who do not meet the four-year academy admission criteria) will be given to the community colleges. Additionally, I think substantial burden is put on the secondary education system. Judging by the number of four year schools to community colleges, it appears that most students go directly from secondary school to a four year school. Therefore, one may suggest that the necessity of attending a community college with intention to transfer credits to a four year school is the fault of the secondary school system. Nevertheless, the community college system must be in line the with four year academy if primary intent is to prepare the students for further education.

Comments

[Mehmet]

I think that there was a kind of public pressure to eliminate open admission because there seems to be a general belief that open admission translates into a low quality of education. These attitudes hardened into policies to change CUNY after some "scandals" in the 1980s that were largely unrelated to the open admissions matter. I remember one such scandal taking place over some comments made by a professor of African-American studies. His comments became associated with the generally perceived "low-standards" at CUNY.