Sixty years ago, as I attended my first-year classes at Princeton, it was apparent that the majority of my classmates more easily integrated into the academic and social milieu than did I. As a high school graduate from the Pacific Northwest, I was poorly prepared for the cultural differences I encountered with the Eastern establishment. It was a struggle, one that I never fully overcame during my four years on campus.
The story that a new study found that “lower-income students who enter from high schools with less-advanced college-preparatory courses may encounter more academic challenges and a tougher transition to college than their peers” (On the Campus, Oct. 22) came as no surprise to me — nor should it have surprised any of the faculty and staff who prepared the report.
What is surprising is that Princeton is introducing “new programs to help students from all walks of life thrive on campus.” How disappointing to find that it has taken all this time to discover the disparity among alleged peers.