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Readers' Forum
Open Admissions:
A New Promise For The "Disadvantaged"

Is universal higher education just a dream or is there a real possibility of bringing this underpinning of a truly progressive and functioning democratic society to America's young people, within the next decade or two? As our economy becomes more and more technologically complex, it is essential that our young have the opportunity for realistic advanced training in order to gain greater economic, political, social, and personal power and fulfillment. 
The alternative is increasing condemnation to frequent unemployment, low-paying menial jobs, or even non-employability, with the attendant vicious cycle of poverty and hopelessness. This is especially true of minority groups, the victims of urban and rural ghettos who, for so much of their history, have been subject to the pernicious evils of racial hatred, discrimination, and deprivation. 
New York City which, of the nation's large cities, has the greatest concentration of black and Puerto Rican citizens is the first to accept the challenge of open admissions and to test the thesis of universal higher education for all who want it. Tuition-free City University opened its doors in the Fall of 1970 to nearly all New York City high school graduates who wished to attend. This program, which was scheduled for adoption in 1975, was introduced in 1970 because of the surge of public pressure, especially from minority groups, who wanted action now!
The big question whether New York City, which first established free public high education in 1847 with the opening of the original City College of New York, then known as the Free Academy, can help realize the dream of quality universal higher education. In the past, it has scored high with the waves of largely white immigrant groups bringing them new opportunity, freedom and mobility. Can it now similarly succeed with the children of today's ghettos and set a pattern for the nation

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