A Crimson columnist wants Harvard to deny admission to private school students. (Via Joanne Jacobs.)
It's not entirely clear what Harvard would stand to gain from this. (...says the guy who wants Harvard to stop charging tuition -- but here at least my conceit is that Harvard would suddenly have the best students by a mile, rather than a barely perceptible edge over whichever school is second-best.)
This rather reminds me of Slashdotters who, just as Google was about to make its IPO, not only wanted Google to become non-profit but also assumed that Google itself would share that vision.
Posted by Matt Bruce at September 22, 2008 03:34 PMHe doesn't even realize that Harvard would need an incentive. Apparently, trying to help make public schools better is its own reward.
Posted by: Kubi at September 22, 2008 07:53 PMHe's not serious that Harvard, a private institution, should start denying entry to graduates of private institutions. He says that Harvard "probably, shouldn’t" heed his advice.
As he states at the end, it is not that this is a particularly great idea but that not every great idea looks good at first glance. Or, possibly, that even ridiculous ideas (such as this one) have interesting aspects to them.
The real questions to ask are if his analysis of what would happen is correct. Would public schools actually benefit in this manner? Would Harvard remain an elite, sought-after school?
Posted by: mountmccabe at September 22, 2008 08:45 PMDenying admission to private school students would be unfair, and stupid, and won't happen.
However, if we posit the president of Harvard wanted to do something to favor public schools, Harvard could stop charging tuition to public school graduates. That's not so crazy, given Harvard's existing policies.
What if, instead of being based on parents' income, Harvard tuition was assessed based on how much tuition you paid at previous schools? There's actually some price-discrimination logic to that.
Posted by: Richard at September 23, 2008 11:00 AM