Passing the torch : does higher education for the disadvantaged pay off across the generations?

Summary: "In Passing the Torch, Paul Attewell and David E. Lavin follow students admitted, under the City University of New York's "open admissions" policy, tracking its effects on them and their children, to find out whether widening college access can accelerate social mobility across generations." "Unlike previous research into the benefits of higher education, Passing the Torch follows the educational achievements of three generations over thirty years. The book focuses on a cohort of women who entered CUNY between 1970 and.1972, when the university began accepting all graduates of New York City high schools and increasing its representation of poor and minority students. The authors survey these women in order to identify how the opportunity to pursue higher education affected not only their long-term educational attainments and family well-being, but also how it affected their Children's educational achievements." "The evidence marshaled in this important book reaffirms the American ideal of upward mobility through education. As the first study to indicate that increasing access to college among today's disadvantaged students can reduce educational gaps in the next generation, Passing the Torch makes a powerful argument in favor of college for all."--BOOK JACKET.