Jordan Zezulka Source 1

Sack, Joetta L. "UC Board Raises Minimum GPA, Student Ire." Education Week 24.6 (2004): 19. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 6 Oct. 2016.

What is the reasoning behind universities raising the minimum GPA for acceptance?

Thoughts before reading:

A possible reason behind raising minimum GPA is that it would motivate students in high school to work hard, and as a result have them prepared for college life. This reasoning isn't solid in my opinion as it is removed from real life in the sense of forgetting special circumstances. I think this source would be helpful in answering my question as it is a real life account of what will/has happened as a result of raising the GPA. 


Notes:

        

 G            George Blumenthal, the chairman of the UC system's academic council, comments on the exact hesitations I had. He speaks about it being difficult to raise the universities standards and emphasizes the importance of not allowing a certain demographic to be undermined. He also gives a reasoning behind the decision to raise the GPA as emphasizing academic achievement in high school. Currently, the percentage of California high school graduates estimated to be eligible for UC admissions, by race and ethnicity, under the current 3.0 standard is 5.2 percent for blacks, 5.7 percent for Hispanics, 29 percent for Asian-Americans, and 14.7 for whites. Another interesting comment in the article was a written explanation for the policy shift. The universities heads said they chose to increase the minimum GPA, rather than increase the minimum test scoresbecause they felt it would have "the least negative impact on the populations that are now served at UC." The board also claimed that all students would feel the effects of the policy equally. 

Tho      Thoughts after reading: 

The University of California is definitely taking interesting steps to weed out potential students. Despite the reassurances in the article, I began wondering about the effects of this new policy on minority students looking at the university. On the other hand, I think the emphasis on encouraging academic achievement is incredibly important. I can clearly see various pluses and minuses of the decision.