ERIC Number: ED497401
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Oct-4
Pages: 50
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Changing Shape of the River: Affirmative Action and Recent Social Science Research
Nieli, Russell
Online Submission
In the eyes of much of the academic establishment, William Bowen and Derek Bok's "The Shape of the River" is the definitive defense of affirmative action. Released in 1998, this book, which was also sponsored by the Mellon Foundation, claimed that racial preferences at America's elite universities were crucial to the growth and maintenance of a healthy black middle class. In this new NAS report, which is titled "The Changing Shape of the River: Affirmative Action and Recent Social Science Research," Russell K. Nieli, a Lecturer in Princeton University's Politics Department, summarizes several studies that directly contradict this and other central claims of the Bowen and Bok book. The research Dr. Nieli summarizes has received little publicity from mainstream media, and is generally unknown outside a narrow circle of specialists. (Contains 31 endnotes.)
Descriptors: Social Science Research, Affirmative Action, Selective Admission, College Admission, African American Students, White Students, Educational Quality, Outcomes of Education, Education Work Relationship, Racial Differences, Grades (Scholastic), Hispanic American Students, Grade Point Average, College Entrance Examinations, Scores, Ethnic Stereotypes, Low Achievement, Educational Research, Asian American Students, Low Income Groups, Student Attitudes, High Schools, Student Diversity, Gender Differences, Law Schools
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A