Elite colleges have long been?filled with?the children of the richest families: At Ivy League schools, one in six students has parents in the top 1 percent.?A?large new study, released Monday, shows that it has not been because these children had more impressive grades on average or took harder classes. They tended to have higher SAT scores and finely?honed?résumés, and applied at a higher rate — but they were overrepresented even after accounting for those things.?For applicants with the same SAT or ACT score, children from families in the top 1 percent were 34 percent more likely to be admitted than the average applicant, and those from the top 0.1 percent were more than twice as likely to?get in.

這項(xiàng)研究是由Opportunity Insights發(fā)起的，這是一個(gè)由哈佛大學(xué)研究不平等問(wèn)題的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家組成的團(tuán)體，該研究首次量化了擇優(yōu)錄取的大學(xué)錄取過(guò)程中，富有本身在多大程度上成為一項(xiàng)資質(zhì)。新數(shù)據(jù)顯示，考試成績(jī)相同的情況下，大學(xué)優(yōu)先考慮校友子女和招募的體育生，并給予私立學(xué)校孩子更高的非學(xué)術(shù)評(píng)分。這項(xiàng)研究結(jié)果得出了迄今為止最清晰的圖景，展示了美國(guó)精英大學(xué)如何實(shí)現(xiàn)財(cái)富和機(jī)會(huì)的永久代際轉(zhuǎn)移。

The study — by?Opportunity Insights, a group of economists based at Harvard who study inequality — quantifies for the first time the extent to which being very rich is its own qualification in selective college admissions.?The new data shows that among students with the same test scores, the colleges gave preference to the children of?alumni?and to recruited?athletes, and gave children from private schools higher nonacademic ratings. The result is the clearest picture yet of how America’s elite colleges?perpetuate?the intergenerational transfer of wealth and opportunity.

這項(xiàng)研究是由Opportunity Insights發(fā)起的，這是一個(gè)由哈佛大學(xué)研究不平等問(wèn)題的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家組成的團(tuán)體，該研究首次量化了擇優(yōu)錄取的大學(xué)錄取過(guò)程中，富有本身在多大程度上成為一項(xiàng)資質(zhì)。新數(shù)據(jù)顯示，考試成績(jī)相同的情況下，大學(xué)優(yōu)先考慮校友子女和招募的體育生，并給予私立學(xué)校孩子更高的非學(xué)術(shù)評(píng)分。這項(xiàng)研究結(jié)果得出了迄今為止最清晰的圖景，展示了美國(guó)精英大學(xué)如何實(shí)現(xiàn)財(cái)富和機(jī)會(huì)的永久代際轉(zhuǎn)移。

“Are these highly selective private colleges in America taking kids from very high-income, influential families and basically?channeling?them to remain at the top in the next generation?” said?Raj Chetty, an economist at Harvard who directs Opportunity Insights, and an author of the paper with?John N. Friedman?of Brown and?David J. Deming?of Harvard. “Flipping?that question on its head, could we potentially diversify who’s in a position of leadership in our society by changing who is admitted?”

“美國(guó)這些嚴(yán)格挑選學(xué)生的私立大學(xué)是否會(huì)從高收入、有影響力的家庭中招收孩子，并基本上是在引導(dǎo)他們?cè)谙乱淮斜３诸I(lǐng)先地位？”哈佛經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家拉吉·切蒂表示，他是Opportunity Insights的負(fù)責(zé)人，與布朗大學(xué)的約翰·N·弗里德曼和哈佛大學(xué)的戴維·J·戴明共同撰寫了這篇論文。“把這個(gè)問(wèn)題反過(guò)來(lái)看，是否可以通過(guò)改變被錄取的人來(lái)使我們社會(huì)中處于領(lǐng)導(dǎo)地位的人多樣化？”

Representatives from several of the colleges said that income diversity was an urgent priority, and that they had taken?significant?steps since 2015, when the data in the study ends, to admit lower-income and first-generation students. These include making?tuition?free for families earning under a certain amount; giving only?grants, not?loans, in financial aid; and actively recruiting students from disadvantaged high schools.

幾所大學(xué)的代表表示，收入多元化是當(dāng)務(wù)之急，自2015年研究數(shù)據(jù)結(jié)束以來(lái)，他們已采取重大措施招收低收入學(xué)生和家中的第一代大學(xué)生。這些措施包括對(duì)收入低于一定數(shù)額的家庭免收學(xué)費(fèi)；在經(jīng)濟(jì)援助中只提供贈(zèng)款，不提供貸款；積極從落后的高中招收學(xué)生。

“I think the most important thing here is talent is distributed equally but opportunity is not, and our admissions process is designed to account for the different opportunities students have based on their income,” he said. “It’s really?incumbent upon?our process to tease out the difference between talent and privilege.”

“我認(rèn)為最重要的一件事是，人才是平等分布的，但機(jī)會(huì)不是平等分配的，學(xué)生基于家庭收入擁有的機(jī)會(huì)不同，我們的招生流程旨在將此納入考量，”他說(shuō)?！拔覀兇_實(shí)有責(zé)任理清天賦和特權(quán)之間的區(qū)別?！?/p>