We must continually remind those who favor outreach and reform in the abstract that we really do mean to shake up structures and attitudes, especially those over which our university colleagues have particular responsibility and power to change. We as university educators helped create the admissions procedures and schooling structures on which the broader political, economic and cultural forces of stratification depend. We also might alter them. Outreach might actually lead our university and the K-12 system to recognize their complicity in creating this disaster of restricted opportunities and unfair competition. Outreach might also be the precursor to profound cultural and political shifts in how society and universities judge the merit of diverse American young people.
Sociological analyses make clear how remote such outcomes are.
Moral imperatives require that we try. Jeannie Oakes , professor and associate dean in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, coordinates UCLA's school-centered outreach. Opinions expressed in Voices are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University. Comments on Voices or other Outlook articles are always welcome.