The Great Divide: Admission standards; who needs them?

By Online Editor

CON:

by Dan Donan

I know everyone is not truly equal, some people are taller, some are smarter, some are better athletes than others. But one of the basics behind the American dream is the idea that all people should have equal and fair chances to live their lives. Everyone wants a shot at the golden ticket and the brass ring, and shouldn’t everyone get just that, their shot?

If we start setting up too strict of academic standards in every university, we risk an unruly, uneducated group of people saying “Where’s mine?” Torches and pitchforks often follow this question and it is usually only answered with guns and blood.

The other question with academic standards is how do we decide what level to set them at? Who do we say “Sorry, your just not educated enough to deserve a college education” to? Who gets cut from the herd? Who do we close that door of opportunity on? Do they really deserve that treatment just because they didn’t have good academic scores?

Isn’t that what being a university is really about? Spreading the great light of knowledge to the world? Teaching the poor, ignorant masses? Wouldn’t this world be a better place if everyone could read?

So as to the question of whether Missouri Western State University should raise it’s admission standards, I say “No!” Instead we should lower them.

Let us teach every knuckle dragging, Cro-Magnon out there. Let us teach the world. Let us enlighten the people. Everyone who wants to learn should be able to learn, even at the higher learning levels.

I might feel different if we were a fully private institution with no public funding of any form. Then I might not care if we chose to indulge in such academic snobbery as having a minimum admissions standard of an ACT score of 23. I know I wouldn’t be going here then. But this is not the case with our school.

So I am proud to say let us stay as we are in our admission standards. I want to know that here is an institution that can reach to the bottom of the intellectual level and give a moron like me a chance to learn. If Missouri Western had higher standards I might be doomed to a lifetime in the service industry. Don’t I deserve a chance?

Instead, let us teach those who come seeking knowledge. Let us be a beacon of light in a dark land. Let us all learn as much as we want, because we are all in this together and ignorance anywhere is an affront to knowledge everywhere.

PRO:

By Matthew Fowler

Does Western need to raise their admission standards? The answer is yes. This school is transforming into an institution that could benefit from raising the admission standards.

This transformation is into this “new American regional university” that stresses applied learning, applied research and better involvement from the community.

In order to attract students and professors that can help continue this transformation, having higher set admission standards will help maintain a good academic level of students that can help this process along.

Right now the most important standard of admission we have here at Western is the ACT exam. The school’s “requirements” for the incoming freshman to get into this school: a 20 in math and a 19 in English and reading but no requirements for the science section.

Unfortunately those “requirements” are not concrete because if a student does not meet these scores they will have to enroll in the Griffon Gateway program and in remedial classes in their freshman year. What this means is that there is no real standard of admissions here at our school.

These “requirements” are rather sad though because these numbers are lower than what ACT Inc, the company the implements the ACT exam, says to be the average for Missouri.

In 2008, the English section average was 21.4, math was 21, reading was 22 and science was 21.4. Outside of math, our requirements do not even come close to the average for our own state. Even though the admissions office says that our composite ACT score is in line with the Missouri average (21.2 compared to 21.6).

What needs to be done is to bring those ACT requirements closer to the average, say a score of 20, in all sections and make it an actual requirement to get not just a suggestion.

This change needs to be done because it will bring us close to an equal footing to our neighbors (and enemies) Northwest, who require a composite score of 21 to be admitted in to their school.

This is just not a plea to copy what Northwest does but to level the playing field between us because they are our competitors for students and monies. If we even the playing field then we have a chance of improving the viability of this school.

Raising the standards will also be a public relation boom for this school. It will be a definite reminder that this school cares about the quality of the education (not that we already do but it would be a good point to show outsiders.) And we need as much good PR as possible because of our expanding research and graduate programs.