October 06, 2005

The Chosen

In this week's New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell reviews The Chosen, Jerome Karabel's history of the admissions policies of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

Most of the publicity for the book has focused on how the Ivy League schools altered their admission policies when the number of Jews on campus started burgeoning. Gladwell addresses this issue, but goes on to discuss topics that any elite institution must address.

Is the purpose of a top college to admit those who will do best academically? Should academic achievement be the only, or even the main criterion for admission? Or should the college try to educate those who have high character? Or the most earning potential? Or those who have suffered prejudice or misfortune? Is it ridiculous to stress the importance of athletic accomplishment? Or whether the prospective students' parents were alumni?

Gladwell's conclusions might not be the ones you'd expect.