An eye-opening and timely look at how colleges drive the very inequalities they are meant to remedy, complete with a call—and a vision—for change Colleges fiercely defend America's deeply stratified higher education system, arguing that the most exclusive schools reward the brightest kids who have worked hard to get there. But it doesn't actually work this way. As the recent college-admissions bribery scandal demonstrates, social inequalities and colleges' pursuit of wealth and prestige stack the deck in favor of the children of privilege. For education scholar and critic Anthony P. Carnevale, it's clear that colleges are not the places of aspiration and equal opportunity they claim to be. The Merit Myth calls out our elite colleges for what they are: institutions that pay lip service to social mobility and meritocracy, while offering little of either. Through policies that exacerbate inequality, including generously funding so-called merit-based aid for already-wealthy students rather than expanding opportunity for those who need it most, U.S. universities—the presumed pathway to a better financial future—are woefully complicit in reproducing the racial and class privilege across generations that they pretend to abhor. This timely and incisive book argues for unrigging the game by dramatically reducing the weight of the SAT/ACT; measuring colleges by their outcomes, not their inputs; designing affirmative action plans that take into consideration both race and class; and making 14 the new 12—guaranteeing every American a public K–14 education. The Merit Myth shows the way for higher education to become the beacon of opportunity it was intended to be.
Canal and River Levées covers the fundamental principles of canal embankments and levées calculation and design. Canal embankments and levées are amongst the world's oldest hydroengineering structures. This book is divided into seven chapters that focus on solving the problems of protecting control levees, which sometimes called anti-flood or anti-inundation dykes. The opening chapter surveys the general problems of dam design and construction. The next chapters deal with the basic characteristics, determination, experimental methods, and calculations of seepage, as well as the stability calculations and embankment settlement. These topics are followed by discussions of the local conditions and demands relating to the construction of embankments and their various concrete structures. Other chapters explore the requirements of power- and irrigation-canal sealing and the subsoil protection of levees. The last chapter looks into the measurements, general requirements, and observation of dams and levees. This book is intended primarily for civil engineering designers.
This book explores the bilateral relations between the United States and the Vatican from 1975 to 1980, a turbulent period that had two presidents, three presidential envoys, and three popes. This previously untold story shows how the United States and the Vatican worked quietly together behind the scenes to influence the international response to major issues of the day. Peter Sarros examines the Iran hostage crisis, the tensions of the Cold War, the Helsinki process, and the Beagle Channel dispute, among other issues. These interactions produced a tacit alliance in the foreign policies of the United States and the Vatican even before the establishment of full diplomatic relations. This unique book is based largely on official documents from the archives of the Office of the U.S. Special Envoy of the United States to the Vatican, supplemented by Sarros's contemporaneous diaries, notes, and other unpublished sources. The confidential consultations at the Vatican by three special envoys and by Sarros in his role as chargé and ambassador at the Vatican were critical in obtaining Vatican support on major international issues. The Vatican also derived substantial benefits from the partnership through U.S. support of Vatican initiatives in Lebanon and elsewhere, and by U.S. policies that gave Vatican diplomacy the flexibility to play a larger role in the international sphere. Sarros concludes that American diplomacy was successful at the Holy See during this period because it took advantage of the Vatican's overarching international strategy, which was to increase its influence through support for the global balance of power while blocking the expansion of Soviet power and communism in Europe. U.S.-Vatican Relations, 1975–1980 will be of interest to students and scholars of history and political science, especially in the fields of diplomatic relations and church history.
Conflict, natural disasters and other difficult circumstances present major obstacles to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of providing universal primary education by 2015. Commonwealth ministers of education are committed to developing strategies to strengthen education programmes for preventing conflict and mitigating the impact of conflict and natural disasters on education in disrupted societies.This study focuses on sixteen Commonwealth countries in Africa, where the incidence of conflict is most easily seen, though many of the other problems discussed here have their parallels in other parts of the world, such as the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami.The publication reviews selected African experiences of education in; conflict situations; natural disasters; other difficult circumstances and elaborates on the role education plays; before emergencies occur, including its presence as a factor of exclusion; during crisis situations and the ensuing responses; afterwards in recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation.This practical guide will assist policymakers and others worldwide to better understand the complex issues and options that existdecision makingking; to share best practice in addressing situations arising from conflict, emergencies, and difficult circumstances; and to mitigate the effects on schooling while fostering a climate of tolerance, gender equality and diversity.
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