Competition, contest and the possibility of egalitarian university education

Damian Cox

doi:10.21913/jps.v6i1.1565

Abstract

Competition and contest underpin academic life in many ways, not all of them constructive or valuable. In this paper I make a start on the task of distinguishing valuable academic competition from its opposite and suggest reforms of academic institutions that would diminish the prevalence of destructive competition and approach more nearly the egalitarian goal of treating all members of the academic community—especially, but not only, students—as equally valued and equally deserving of respect. To do this, I develop a distinction between two kinds of competition: tender competition and rank competition. I analyse the illusion of meritocracy in terms of them. My principal recommendation for university pedagogical practice is to eliminate grading of student work and replace grading systems with a system of demanding pass/fail assessments.

Highlights

What would an egalitarian future for higher education look like? The question is generally answered in terms of access to higher education institutions and the equality of preparation for entry into them
Debate in the United States centres around the role of Student Assessment Tests (SATs, formally known as Student Aptitude Tests) in college and university admissions
Capture only 5% variance in first year results with no significant correlations in later years), they are targeted for criticism by those interested in fair access to higher education

Summary

Introduction

What would an egalitarian future for higher education look like? The question is generally answered in terms of access to higher education institutions and the equality of preparation for entry into them. Debate in the United States centres around the role of Student Assessment Tests (SATs, formally known as Student Aptitude Tests) in college and university admissions. Since SAT scores correlate strongly with Social and Economic Status (SES) and account for only a tiny percentage of student achievements in higher education

The possibility of egalitarian university education

Findings

The egalitarian university and student experience