A report released by the Harvard University Graduate School of Education (GSE) highlights elements of the college admission culture that could be contributing to the stunting of the ethical growth of students. The report, titled Turning the Tide, falls under the umbrella of Harvard GSE’s Making Caring Common Project and includes recommendations on how to promote greater ethical engagement among aspiring students, reduce excessive achievement pressure, and level the playing field for students from underrepresented communities. The report is the first step in a long-term effort by the Harvard GSE to reshape the college admissions process.
Turning the Tide makes the case that an intense focus on academic achievement comprises the ethical character development of many students, particularly students that come from middle- and upper-income communities. Due to the focus on high achievement, many parents in these communities often fail to help their children develop the critical cognitive, social, and ethical capacities to become empathic adults, according to the 2022 updated report.
Turning the Tide suggests that the stunting in character development can often lead to unethical practices such as exaggerating achievements and cheating to skew the admissions process.
Dr. Richard Weissbourd, faculty director of Making Caring Common, said elevating ethical character is a collective effort that colleges and families should promote.
Dr. Richard Weissbourd is the faculty director of the Making Caring Common Project.
“Our college admissions work is intended, in part, to send the message to high school students [and] young people that caring for others, caring for your communities is valued in college admissions,” said Weissbourd. “I think sometimes people can get caught up in whether specific colleges have made changes in who they accept. … But even if colleges aren’t accepting as many people with ethical character as we would like, it’s still very important to send the message to high school students that ethical character matters and being a good person matters.”
The report offers specific recommendations for reshaping the admissions process in three areas: promoting more meaningful contributions to others, community service, and community engagement with the public good; assessing students’ ethical engagement and contributions to others in ways that reflect varying types of family and community contributions across race, culture, and class; and redefining achievement in ways that level the playing field for economically diverse students and reduce excessive achievement pressure.
