Over the course of time many things change, sometimes for the better but other times for the worse. Among those many things are colleges and universities. Colleges and universities have been around for hundreds of years and have emerged with time. When first opened, only children of rich families attended. Now legacy admissions are doing the exact same thing.
In an article in Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, titled “The History of Legacy Admissions” Cameron Howell and Sarah E. Turner state that “legacy” means the son or daughter of an alumnus or alumna, but the practical application of the word reveals how it has been derived from its original meaning of inheritance. Legacy admissions began in the earliest days of Harvard College, in which Henry Adams informs us about familial ties among Harvard alumni (226). Although colleges and universities are beginning to emerge there is still a preference of who gets in and how, just like hundreds of years ago. At this point legacy admission are unfair, with the world nearing depression college and universities should be more considerate to applicants other than those of alumni, because everyone has the potential to do something great in life, not just children of alumni.
Universities are beginning to lower the standards for admission. In many instances admission officers lower the acceptance bar for legacy students due to the great support of their family. Robert DeKoven gives his thoughts on another article titled “Time to Bury the Legacy” which also appeared in Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. DeKoven states that giving that edge based upon being a legacy is, in reality, an advantage based largely upon race (225). Universities think legacy children will be the same as their parents who attended their school. They are hoping to receive another outstanding alumni for their university, however this is not the case. In an article titled “Children of Alumni are Uniquely Harmed by the Admissions Preferences, Study Finds” found in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Peter Schmidt gives his thought on the issue. Schmidt tells us that researchers have found that students who had received extra consideration in admissions because they were black, Hispanic, or an athlete did not have the same academic problems as legacy students (28). This brings the topic of laws and the Constitution to the issue of legacy admissions.
Until 1954 public universities engaged in segregation. Segregation could be classified as the same thing as legacy admissions in my book. Legacy admissions are basically stereotyping people by their family background, instead of the color of their skin, which was the case of racism. Before the Civil Rights movement minority enrollment was very low in higher education. With the low amount of students able to go to school legacy admissions were not a major factor. Howell and Turner state that once laws were passed concerning segregation changes in the gender, race, and geographic representation of applicants increased the overall level of competition for admission to these institutions (227). With segregation beginning to decrease things seemed better, however there was still segregation going on. Now instead of segregation by race and gender it was done by legacy preferences. Being aware of the history of the issue can help in the admission process tremendously.
There is always that first child in the family that decides to continue their education after high school and become what they have always dreamed upon. Being the first person to go to school in a family can be very confusing and stressful. Parents love to help give advice but are truly unaware of what goes on inside of the admission process. DeKoven states, they are also unaware that many students on college campuses today are not there based entirely upon merit, but because a parent attended the university, or the family contributed money in the past or made a pledge to the school (224). With many families having no previous college education they know very little about what goes on. From a young age many people are taught to work hard and if they continue to do that good things will come of it. Debra Thomas and Terry Shepard wrote an article titled “Legacy Admissions Are Defensible Because the Process Can’t Be ‘Fair’” which appeared in Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. But according to Thomas and Shepard, they ponder upon if “merit” can actually be determined in the admission process (223). Trying to be fair in the admission process is nearly impossible. DeKoven helps by stating that George W. Bush our former president received acceptance into Yale with a C average from high school (224). So why did they accept him if his average grade was a C? He was a third generation legacy, that is why.
Using George W. Bush for example he earned very low grades in high school but was still accepted into one of the top universities in the country. Going to one of the top universities could not have been an easy task, especially if George received C’s in high school. Therefore he could not have done much better at Yale. Schmidt gives us the statistics that show how legacy students rank among the highest in academic problems (28). Is this problem linked to their intelligence level or the way the university handles it? Legacy students who know that they were under the normal bar of acceptance have to realize they are receiving special help because of their family. Therefore, legacies usually take the easy way out by either dropping out or getting through school from their parents contributions to the university. DeKoven states, it is a mark of achievement to overcome poverty and adversity, it is luck of the gene pool to be the son of George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush (225).
Looking at this dilemma through my eyes may be totally different than some people. As I have mentioned before, I see this issue as the one we had with segregation. It portrays many of the same issues that they faced during the Civil Rights movement. We have finally passed by the issue of the color of people’s skin and the sex that they are, so I think it is time to fix the issue of legacy admissions. With the way that our government is run we have the power to do anything we want to. If the government would invest more money into higher education we would not have to rely on alumni. Once universities and colleges do not have to worry about the support they are receiving from alumni they can ignore the issue of legacy admissions. Although this issue lies in the hands of the universities the government plays a large factor in it. With legacy admissions being abolished the admission might become some what fair. That is till another issue comes to the surface, just like legacy admissions did after segregation.
Reaching the point of fairness seems like something in the far out future. We have made progress with time and will continue to do so. The issue on legacy admissions is among the many issues we are facing right now. The economy is declining and everybody is worried about what will happen next. One thing that is true is rich legacy’s will not be helping in the hardship we face, because they will have everything they need. Going to college is something that everybody dreams about, and only few people get to do. If admission officers are going to grant help to legacies they might as well grant help to anybody applying to school. Everyone has the potential to do something great in life, not just children of alumni.

Works Cited
DeKoven, Robert. “Time to Bury the Legacy.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum 10TH ed. Ed. Laurence Behrems and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2008: 224-225.
Howell, Cameron and Sarah E. Turner. “The History of Legacy Admissions.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum 10TH ed. Ed. Laurence Behrems and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2008: 226-228.
Schmidt, Peter. “Children of Alumni are Uniquely Harmed by the Admissions Preferences, Study Finds.” Chronicle of Higher Education 53:31 (2007): 28.
Thomas, Debra and Terry Shepard. “Legacy Admissions Are Defensible Because the Process Can’t Be ‘Fair’.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum 10TH ed. Ed. Laurence Behrems and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2008: 200-223.