1. Set Focus
Frame the inquiry with these essential questions: What is the role of colleges and universities in a society? How do we ensure that institutions of higher education fulfill that role?
2. Read and Discuss
Have students read the debate and then answer the following questions:
- What is the issue being debated? How does it relate to current events? (The issue is whether public and private colleges should end the practice of legacy preferences. The issue is timely because admission rates at the country’s most selective universities have dropped in recent years.)
- Evaluate why these two authors might be interested in and qualified to comment on this issue. (Matthew L. McGann is the Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at a college. Stephen Joel Trachtenberg is the former president of a university.)