Custody Battles. SPENT. Education and Inequality. By Richard D. Kahlenberg Higher-education officials are right when they inevitably point out that inequalities in student performance stem from socioeconomic inequities in society and the failure of our elementary and secondary schools to remedy them. Less acknowledged: Instead of counteracting the inequalities they inherit, colleges and universities magnify them. Higher education in the United States is highly stratified, showering the most resources on the most-advantaged students. Our system of college admissions exacerbates inequalities. Similarly, colleges have tilted away from economic need to merit aid. Timothy Noah's new book, The Great Divergence, notes that in the United States today, "parentage is a greater determinant of a man's future earnings than it is of his height and weight.
" Richard D. Facts on U.S. Inequality. Racial Inequality. How The Rich Get Richer. Types of Social Inequality.