Higher Education and the "Wealth Gap"

George Leef

The relationship between our higher ed system and the purportedly increasing wealth gap in society is the subject of my Clarion Call piece today.

Egalitarians and collectivists -- which is to say, most of America's "liberals" -- bemoan the widening gap between the very rich (those 1 percenters) and the rest of us. Some pin the blame, at least in part, on higher education, which has been accused of cementing in place the class divisions that supposedly keep the rich rich and the poor poor. I don't buy it and argue that higher ed is guilty of fomenting the credential mania that does limit opportunity for some poorer people, but not of the general charge of increasing social stratification.

  • Share

Most Commented

May 7, 2024

1.

Creating Students, Not Activists

The mobs desecrating the American flag, smashing windows, chanting genocidal slogans—this always was the end game of the advocates of the right to protest, action civics, student activ......

March 9, 2024

2.

A Portrait of Claireve Grandjouan

Claireve Grandjouan, when I knew her, was Head of the Classics Department at Hunter College, and that year gave a three-hour Friday evening class in Egyptian archaeology....

April 20, 2024

3.

The Academic's Roadmap

By all means, pursue your noble dream of improving the condition of humanity through your research and teaching. Could I do it all again, I would, but I would do things very differently....

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

October 12, 2010

2.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...

September 21, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What Does YHWH Elohim Mean?

A reader asks, "If Elohim refers to multiple 'gods,' then Yhwh Elohim really means Lord of Gods...the one of many, right?" A Hebrew expert answers....