Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price

A revealing account of the entrenched inequities that harm our most vulnerable students and what colleges can do to help them excel Elite colleges are boasting unprecedented numbers with respect to diversity, with some schools admitting their first majority-minority classes. But when the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial unrest gripped the world, schools scrambled to figure out what to do with the diversity they so fervently recruited. And disadvantaged students suffered. Class Dismissed exposes how woefully unprepared colleges were to support these students and shares their stories of how they were left to weather the storm alone and unprotected. Drawing on the firsthand experiences of students from all walks of life at elite colleges, Anthony Abraham Jack reveals the hidden and unequal worlds students navigated before and during the pandemic closures and upon their return to campus. He shows how COVID-19 exacerbated the very inequalities that universities ignored or failed to address long before campus closures. Jack examines how students dealt with the disruptions caused by the pandemic, how they navigated social unrest, and how they grappled with problems of race both on campus and off. A provocative and much-needed book, Class Dismissed paints an intimate and unflinchingly candid portrait of the challenges of undergraduate life for disadvantaged students even in elite schools that invest millions to diversify their student body. Moreover, Jack offers guidance on how to make students' path to graduation less treacherous--guidance colleges would be wise to follow.

About the Author :
Anthony Abraham Jack is the inaugural faculty director of the Boston University Newbury Center and associate professor of higher education leadership at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Times Higher Education and on NPR and CNN. He is the author of The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students.

Review :
"Winner of the Critics' Choice Book Award, American Educational Studies Association" "Winner of the Gold Medal in Current Events, Independent Publisher Book Awards" "Finalist for the Education Book Award, Forward INDIES" "Winner of the PROSE Award in Education Theory and Practice, Association of American Publishers" "Class Dismissed is a thoughtful consideration of how higher educational institutions can and must rise to meet the needs of lower-income students and how that might be done."-- "Choice" ""[Jack] is an unusually sensitive interviewer of his subjects, eliciting perspectives that are not always heard--and not always easy to hear. . . . Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price unveils enormous historical and contemporary gaps between student cohorts and the way those differences play out on campus--and Jack is passionate about remedying the adverse effects he documents. Given concerns about admissions, the diversity of student bodies, and the role of higher education in promoting socioeconomic mobility, Class Dismissed has plenty to add to current conversations.""---John S. Rosenberg, Harvard Magazine "Thoughtful . . . . [Class Dismissed] asserts that universities could do more to recognize and work towards helping students of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds while resolving the inequities among their students on campus. "-- "Library Journal" "As [Jack] argues compellingly in Class Dismissed, if colleges are going to admit students from diverse racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds--and they should--there needs to be more attention paid and resources invested in ensuring that those students can fully thrive within the ivy-covered gates and beyond."---Jonathan Wai, Science "The narrative of Class Dismissed is really beautiful; it reads like a story."---Elena van Stee, Contexts "[S]obering, well supported, and trenchantly reported. . . . [A] compulsively readable, powerfully argued book. A stunning analysis of the effects of Covid-era campus closings on diverse student populations. "-- "Kirkus, starred review"