WP2 Part 2: Part 1 and 2

Good Comments

1.     Woe is me. This article is an embarrassment of excuses. I am 67 years old and grew up living in a trailer in upstate New York. Grew up at a time when there was no internet. I received very little advice from anyone (my parents were immigrants, spoke weak English and never went to college). My idea of preparing for the SAT was buying a copy of Barron's SAT preparation book, "how to prepare for the SAT" for about $8. In addition to practice SAT questions, it gave general guidance about colleges. Anyone who claims to be clueless about college admissions in a world that not only has libraries but also the Internet has been playing too many video games on their smart phone. I ended up with a 784 in math and 800 in physics. Graduated, and have paid millions of dollars in income taxes in my life time. Please, in this day and age, information is cheap and virtually infinite. Pity is finite and doled out only when deserved. Oh, and by the way, my parents didn't pay anything for my college. Loans, grants and working two full-time jobs during the summer (I started at 5:30 AM and ended at 11 PM, slept on Sundays) made college possible.

2.     Another very well explained LIST of reasons that community college should be free, or (substantially) lower cost. We all benefit from an educated population. The idea that those who work the hardest and have less to begin with are faced with so many obstacles is asinine. As an adult, filling out the fasfa was intimidating, I can only imagine trying to work through everything as a high schooler - with little to no help. Thank you, for shining a light.

3.     I'm a high school counselor. I have much more than college admissions on my plate. My responsibilities range from proctoring exams, to hosting school events, to meeting with students for personal and crisis counseling, helping homeless children find shelter, etc. I screen every 9th grader for substance abuse issues, I monitor hallways, make sure kids who qualify are receiving free lunch, cover classes for teachers who are sick, attend special ed meetings, admin meetings, schedule students for classes, etc. I could go on.... My department works hard to make sure low income students have access to college. We host financial aid information nights, we have local colleges come to the high school so that students can apply on the spot with an admissions counselor present. We do all we can think of to do. And they all get accepted somewhere, but then the hurdles that we cannot help them with come: How are they going to pay the deposit? Who is going to drive them there? Who can afford to take time off from work so they can even visit the campus? The number of families who simply do not have the support a student needs to attend college is staggering. A college financial aid counselor told me that it didn't matter how high tuition goes, because most students get financial aid. . So the taxpayer is already paying for college for all. Those who think we can't afford it aren't looking at how much we are already paying, or looking at how colleges are spending.

4.     One of my friends, a single mom who had left an abusive husband, had he audacity to try to go to college and improve her life while she was collecting federal benefits. The benefits programs imposed requirements on her that nearly derailed her college education. At one point, she had to go to a mandatory benefits “training” that was the exact same week as finals at school, and no amount of pleading could get the training rescheduled. Most of her state college professors worked with her needs, but she failed and had to retake one class because she couldn’t take the final at the appointed time.

5.     When I was in college as a music major I worked three jobs. Our conductor/professor decided the choir would go on a ten day performance tour. I begged out explaining that this would prevent me from earning enough money to pay the rent. After a great scolding, he kicked me out of the class because I had “no respect for the sacrifices needed to get an education.” I found a more sympathetic conductor and changed classes. I did get my degree. My experience was not isolated. Many other students with work and childcare issues often found it difficult to navigate an academic culture wherein the assumptions and privileges of wealth were simply a given.

I think these comments were well written because the writers shows their own experiences, much like the article writer. This topic is much more personal than it is scholarly or professional, so this kind of comment would help add to the conversation. These commenters go into detail of their personal experiences and relate them back to article, whether is it for or against its main argument. 

Bad Comments

1.     Kudos to the author for a needed and well written perspective on college admissions. NYT, please allow more space for rarely heard voices like this student's and less for reactions to tweets.

2.     Being poor is a sin but rest assured: you are not alone. The system is designed in such a way that most poor people can be called "unqualified for work or support".

3.     Lots of students went/go to college who are from low income families. Get off it. Get over it. So should only middle class and wealthier get to go to college? Quit with all this victim garbage. Nearly all young people dress like they're homeless regardless of socio-economic background, so no problem there. So knock off the victim narrative with everything. It's BORING.

4.     Mr. Jemmott, I wish you much success in your future! As a CUNY graduate, I’m glad to hear you go to Queens College. The City University of New York offers opportunity to all those who rise to the challenge, and I believe you did.

5.     Beautifully written by an essential voice in education.

Although I don't think there are any necessarily "bad" comments, these comments don't help strengthen or refute or further the article. These are the kind of comments that only serve as a vehicle for the commenter's "sentiments" regarding this article.