{"id":132151,"date":"2024-09-29T15:41:52","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T19:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=132151"},"modified":"2024-10-04T15:56:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T19:56:41","slug":"higher-education-and-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Higher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How has the history of college admissions<\/a> shaped our current educational landscape? Why do conservative politicians deride higher education?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ijeoma Oluo’s exploration of higher education and race reveals a complex history of exclusion and change. In her book Mediocre<\/em>, she examines how American universities were initially designed for wealthy white men and how this legacy continues to impact our educational system today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading for Oluo’s analysis of race and American educational institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Higher Education and Race<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In her book, Oluo shares an interesting angle on the intersection of higher education and race. She asserts that one way white male supremacy<\/a> reacts to social change is by disavowing institutions that were once (but are no longer) the exclusive domain of white men<\/strong>. Oluo says that American higher education was initially formed for the benefit of white men from wealthy backgrounds. She notes that these institutions made explicit efforts to exclude women as well as racial and religious minorities\u2014efforts that extended into the 20th century until civil rights gains and affirmative action policies<\/a> in the 1960s forced colleges to integrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Oluo highlights that many schools discriminated against or outright excluded applicants from racial, religious, and other minority groups. But some universities went beyond racist admissions policies to advance segregation in their surrounding communities. For example, in the mid-20th century, administrators at the University of Chicago helped devise housing covenants<\/a> in order to \u201cprotect\u201d the neighborhoods surrounding the campus. Later, the school took steps ranging from raising rents for campus housing to organizing a lobbying group with other universities\u2014all in the name of maintaining white college communities.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oluo says that, once higher education stopped being the exclusive domain of white men, it in turn became less of a marker of higher social status. She suggests that this loss of exclusivity is the real reason why many of today\u2019s conservative politicians deride higher education for what they allege are its excessive costs and liberal bias.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Another explanation for why conservative politicians speak out against college education is that it often acts as a catalyst for students to develop more progressive viewpoints. This is not due to \u201cliberal bias\u201d in education, but simply because college campuses bring together individuals from many different cultural, economic, and social backgrounds. For many students, college is their first time outside of whichever cultural bubble they grew up in<\/a>. This exposure to diverse individuals tends to promote increased empathy and understanding of different perspectives, which aligns closely with progressive ideals of empathy and cooperation\u2014the same effect is observed in people who live in urban areas as opposed to rural areas.<\/a>) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How has the history of college admissions shaped our current educational landscape? Why do conservative politicians deride higher education? Ijeoma Oluo’s exploration of higher education and race reveals a complex history of exclusion and change. In her book Mediocre, she examines how American universities were initially designed for wealthy white men and how this legacy continues to impact our educational system today. Continue reading for Oluo’s analysis of race and American educational institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":132162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,39,24],"tags":[1615],"class_list":["post-132151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-history","category-society","tag-mediocre","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nHigher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ijeoma Oluo's exploration of higher education and race reveals a complex history of exclusion and change. Get her take on this hot topic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Higher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ijeoma Oluo's exploration of higher education and race reveals a complex history of exclusion and change. Get her take on this hot topic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-29T19:41:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-04T19:56:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1344\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Higher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap?\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-29T19:41:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-04T19:56:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/\"},\"wordCount\":455,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Mediocre\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\",\"History\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/\",\"name\":\"Higher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-29T19:41:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-04T19:56:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"Ijeoma Oluo's exploration of higher education and race reveals a complex history of exclusion and change. Get her take on this hot topic.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp\",\"width\":1344,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Racially diverse students on a university campus illustrate the intersection of higher education and race\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Higher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Higher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap? - Shortform Books","description":"Ijeoma Oluo's exploration of higher education and race reveals a complex history of exclusion and change. Get her take on this hot topic.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Higher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap?","og_description":"Ijeoma Oluo's exploration of higher education and race reveals a complex history of exclusion and change. Get her take on this hot topic.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2024-09-29T19:41:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-04T19:56:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1344,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"Higher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap?","datePublished":"2024-09-29T19:41:52+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-04T19:56:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/"},"wordCount":455,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp","keywords":["Mediocre"],"articleSection":["Education","History","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/","name":"Higher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap? - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp","datePublished":"2024-09-29T19:41:52+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-04T19:56:41+00:00","description":"Ijeoma Oluo's exploration of higher education and race reveals a complex history of exclusion and change. Get her take on this hot topic.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp","width":1344,"height":768,"caption":"Racially diverse students on a university campus illustrate the intersection of higher education and race"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/higher-education-and-race\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Higher Education and Race: Why Do US Schools Get a Bad Rap?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/output-1.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132151"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132293,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132151\/revisions\/132293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}