Papers by Kenneth Oldfield
A Review of Michael Sandel’s The Tyranny of Merit
Social Science Research Network, 2022
Social Science Research Network, Jan 2, 2018
Psychological Reports, 1997
This study investigated 170 students in education €or the relations among Graduate Record Examina... more This study investigated 170 students in education €or the relations among Graduate Record Examination scores, graduate GPA, academic major, erhnicity, and nationality in combination with sex, undergraduate GPA, and the degree pursued. Regression analyses indicated that the GRE-Quantitative and GRE-Verbal scores accounted for 16% and 6% of the variance, respectively. Academic background, ethnicity, nauonality, degree, sex, and undergraduate GPA did not predct success in graduate work in education. The study also suggested that caution must be taken in using GRE scores as graduate admission criter~a for Asian ( n = 19) and AFrican American ( n = 14) students, although a larger sample is required to draw this conclusion.
Preparing Working-Class Academics for Success
The journal of working-class studies, Dec 23, 2023
I was one of Ryan and Sackrey’s Strangers in Paradise, an academic raised in a working-class fami... more I was one of Ryan and Sackrey’s Strangers in Paradise, an academic raised in a working-class family. After becoming a professor, I slowly grew to understand that being a successful faculty member requires a different set of survival techniques than those I needed to succeed in my undergraduate and graduate studies. As it was during my student years, nobody in my family or anyone they knew could counsel me how to earn tenure, promotions, sabbatical leave, or any other rewards the academy offers. This problem was compounded by my belief, one frequently held by others from backgrounds such as mine, that asking for help would show weakness and be prima facia evidence I was unqualified to be an academic. Beyond the questions I was afraid to ask were the many questions I did not know to ask, questions with answers that would have saved me from countless headaches. This article advises newly hired working-class academics on how to successfully transition into their roles as professors.
Journal of Working-Class Studies , 2023
I was one of Ryan and Sackrey’s Strangers in Paradise, an academic raised in a working-class fami... more I was one of Ryan and Sackrey’s Strangers in Paradise, an academic raised in a working-class family. After becoming a professor, I slowly grew to understand that being a successful faculty member requires a different set of survival techniques than those I needed to succeed in my undergraduate and graduate studies. As it was during my student years, nobody in my family or anyone they knew could counsel me how to earn tenure, promotions, sabbatical leave, or any other rewards the academy offers. This problem was compounded by my belief, one frequently held by others from backgrounds such as mine, that asking for help would show weakness and be prima facia evidence I was unqualified to be an academic. Beyond the questions I was afraid to ask were the many questions I did not know to ask, questions with answers that would have saved me from countless headaches. This article advises newly hired working-class academics on how to successfully transition into their roles as professors.
On the Importance of Informing Students About the Potential Risk Associated with Taking the Graduate Record Examination
Social Science Research Network, Jul 1, 1995
Several studies report that Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are, at best, weak predictor... more Several studies report that Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are, at best, weak predictors of academic performance. Based on their GRE results, some students who might otherwise do well in graduate school are denied entry while others who are perhaps less qualified to pursue an advanced degree will be allowed to do so. Universities have established "Human Subjects Committees" to evaluate whether proposed experiments might harm naive volunteers. These committees require subjects be notified of all risks associated with a research procedure. Participants must sign an Informed Consent Form (ICF) before partaking in these experiments. ICFs must be "prepar[ed] in layman's language" detailing, among others: (1) "[a] description of any attendant discomforts and risks reasonably to be expected; (2) [a] description of any benefits reasonably to be expected; and (3) [a]n offer to answer any inquiries concerning the procedures." Subjects must sign these ICFs and they must be included in the person's file. Subjects must receive a duplicate ICF. Because GRE scores can possibly harm test takers in several ways, this paper proposes that all persons taking this test receive an ICF detailing the exam's limitations and possibly harmful effects.
The journal of working-class studies, Jun 30, 2022
Review by Kenneth Oldfield Michael Sandel, a professor of government theory at Harvard University... more Review by Kenneth Oldfield Michael Sandel, a professor of government theory at Harvard University Law School, considers how merit, an allegedly neutral standard, has become the guiding principle for deciding which candidate is best qualified for a position. Given their power to grant credentials, college faculty have become the primary arbiters in establishing who's competent, who's not, and what graduates must know to be deemed qualified. Who will be credentialed and who won't. Having a college diploma proves you are smarter than someone who didn't go beyond high school, if that far. Sandel asserts that this obsession with 'credentialism,' as he calls it, has caused too many college graduates to harbor feelings of conceit and condescension toward the uncredentialled, especially members of the working class (hereinafter also meant to include poverty-class individuals), whom Sandal defines as those employed in 'manual labor, service industry, and clerical jobs.' Credentialism is, in Sandel's words, 'the last acceptable prejudice.'
Kenneth Oldfield's Responds to Two Critics of His 'Why Public Administration Should Be the First Discipline to Implement a Social Class-Based Affirmative Action Plan for Hiring Professors
SSRN Electronic Journal
Despite heralding its commitment to egalitarian values and being avant-garde, previously publish... more Despite heralding its commitment to egalitarian values and being avant-garde, previously published research shows academic public administration has either been a no-show or a latecomer to several major social equity issues, including race, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic class. This failure to fulfill its stated ideals has been especially apparent for the last category, social class. Notwithstanding its many proclamations, the discipline has mostly ignored one class-related topic in particular: how the socioeconomic circumstances of birth profoundly affect an individual's major life outcomes, above all educational achievement. Children born of higher socioeconomic families are more likely to finish high school, attend and complete college, finish an advanced degree, or become faculty members/academic administrators. A previously published paper challenged public administration to prove its self-proclaimed commitment to "affirmative action," "diversity," and being a "cutting edge" discipline by recruiting and hiring more professors of poverty and working class origins. This paper rebuts arguments presented by two authors who opposed the idea.
Social Science Research Network, Dec 14, 2012
Following up on his 2007 About Campus article, Kenneth Oldfield shares six more lessons he wishes... more Following up on his 2007 About Campus article, Kenneth Oldfield shares six more lessons he wishes he had known as a working-class, first-generation college student and argues that higher education should pay more attention to first-generation and class status among students, faculty, and staff.
Journal of Volunteer Administration
A Proposal for Warning People About the Risks Associated with Taking the Graduate Record Examination
Despite its prominent role in determining how educational resources are distributed, assorted stu... more Despite its prominent role in determining how educational resources are distributed, assorted studies have shown the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is, at best, a weak predictor of academic performance. Some critics have proposed dropping the GRE as an entrance requirement. Because this is unlikely to happen, the present paper offers specific language for use in a warning announcement given beforehand to anyone taking this exam.
Testing the Effects of Tax Increment Financing in Springfield, Illinois: The Assessor's Role in Determining Policy Outcomes
LSN: Public Tax Law - U.S. (Topic), 1990
In 1981, Springfield, Illinois, implemented a tax increment financing (TIF) plan to stem the decl... more In 1981, Springfield, Illinois, implemented a tax increment financing (TIF) plan to stem the decline of the downtown business area. Local officials claim this TIF district has been extremely successful, based on an increase of $11.8 million in aggregated assessed values from 1981 through 1987. However, this study finds the data inadequate for such claims and, based on an assessment-sales price ratio study of 1985-87 figures, argues that local assessors are doing poorly in estimating the market values of parcels located within the TIF district. The policy implications of these findings are discussed, including suggestions on how to improve data collection procedures for TIP districts in Illinois.
Tax Increment Financing in Mclean County Illinois: Further Discussion of the Assessor's Role in Determining Policy Outcomes
PSN: Taxation (Topic), 1994
Governments use tax increment financing (TIF) programs to restore blighted or deteriorated areas ... more Governments use tax increment financing (TIF) programs to restore blighted or deteriorated areas in a city's old downtown business district. TIFs are financed through bond sales. Monies derived from these sales are used to finance improvements within the TIF. Subsequent increases in property tax revenues collected due to these improvements are used, in whole or in part, to repay bondholders.Various sources have detailed how political incentives can influence the performance of property tax assessors in Illinois, such as why they might favor certain property owners over others. Two contradictory political motives can guide assessors' estimates of property values within TIFs. To ensure bond repayment, they might overvalue TIF properties. Otherwise, if tax proceeds were insufficient to meet debt service payments, non-TIF taxpayers would have to make up the difference. Conversely, assessors might undervalue TIF parcels because lowered real estate taxes will help present property...
The Political and Economic Reasons the Graduate Record Examination Persists Despite Its Generally Low Predictive Validity
Most studies find the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is, at best, a weak predictor of academic... more Most studies find the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is, at best, a weak predictor of academic achievement. Still the test is widely used to make significant decisions concerning the distribution of educational resources, such as determining who gets into which graduate school programs and/or who receives financial assistance. The present study suggests GRE endures despite of its low predictive validity because it meets the political and economic needs of certain academic and business interests. The analysis concludes there is little incentive for universities to either drop or deemphasize the exam, despite its predictive shortcomings and therefore the GRE will remain integral to academic screening.
The Early Years of VISTA: The Political Alteration of a Successful Public Policy
It has been said the anti-poverty programs of the 1960's were failed liberal attempts at solv... more It has been said the anti-poverty programs of the 1960's were failed liberal attempts at solving social problems by throwing money at them. This study suggests that at least one of these programs was very successful and, therefore, government officials quickly moved to reduce its effectiveness. In particular, this paper reviews the historical circumstances surrounding Volunteers in Service to America from its inception in 1965 to the early 1970s, by which time the program had been altered so much it was unable to fulfill its original objectives. The concluding section discusses what the VISTA experience says about the possibility of government-sponsored efforts at achieving egalitarianism.
How to Deal with Some of the Practical Problems Associated with Writing a Dissertation
SSRN Electronic Journal, 1988
Most graduate programs focus on readying students for the procedural aspects of constructing a di... more Most graduate programs focus on readying students for the procedural aspects of constructing a dissertation. Few, on the other hand, prepare people for the promotional elements of this requirement. The present study offers seventeen suggestions regarding how to plan, organize, and present a dissertation.
Class Rooms
Journal of Public Affairs Education, 2012
This paper uses a personal narrative format to recount an emeritus professor of public administra... more This paper uses a personal narrative format to recount an emeritus professor of public administration’s ongoing study of how social class and socioeconomic origins shape various aspects of bureaucracy, with special emphasis on the sorting function of formal education and its subsequent effects on personnel selection. Following an account of his family background, he summarizes his recent findings on the relationship between class and administration, followed by a sampling of remedies he proposes for bringing socioeconomic issues, especially the effects of inherited social, financial, and cultural capital, into the mainstream of our discipline. The author argues that by implementing these changes, we will not only prove we are the “cutting edge” enterprise we claim to be, but our actions will provoke other fields to enact similar democratic and egalitarian reforms.
The Changing Composition of Illinois Community College Budgets and its Relationship to Local Property Values
SSRN Electronic Journal, 1996
Illinois community colleges (CCs) receive much of their operating budgets from local property tax... more Illinois community colleges (CCs) receive much of their operating budgets from local property taxes and, as with primary and secondary schools, there are wide spending disparities among these jurisdictions caused by striking differences in taxable real estate values. In its 1992 annual report, the Illinois Community College Board noted that its lowest spending district, Illinois Eastern, allocated only 48 cents per full-time equivalent enrollment (FTE) for each dollar spent in Oakton, the district with the highest per-FTE expenditure. Of the state's thirty-eight CCs, this same year Oakton ranked second and Illinois Eastern ranked thirty-seventh in property wealth per student. Wide disparities in property values among primary and secondary school districts have led to various legislative, judicial, and citizen-initiated efforts meant to equalize per student spending among elementary and high school students statewide. Soon Illinois may encounter challenges similar to the ones it faced regarding how it funds primary and secondary education, this one involving CC financing. The problem has many immediate stakeholders: approximately two-thirds of all Illinois college students attend CCs. This project examines trends in revenue sources for individual Illinois CCs by measuring how these shifting expenditure levels correlate with changing property values in each CC district. The discussion then turns to considering what these results portend for possible challenges to how Illinois funds its CCs, an issue that may surface in other states as well. The paper closes by discussing the policy implications of these findings.
Pay the New Job Dues, Avoid the New Job Blues
SSRN Electronic Journal, 1986
This paper advises first-time employees on how to survive and prosper in the initial stages of th... more This paper advises first-time employees on how to survive and prosper in the initial stages of their careers. These tips are drawn from comments shared by participants in the Graduate Public Service Internship (GPSI) at Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois Springfield). GPSI enrolls students pursuing a Masters degree in one of the University's several academic programs. GPSIs work twenty-one months at their sponsoring state agencies, including 20 hours weekly during their two academic years and 37.5 hours weekly over the intervening summer. Interns receive: a) a monthly stipend, b) tuition reimbursement, and c) a professional development travel allowance. Each Monday for their two academic years, GPSIs gather for a one-hour seminar. The survival tips presented in this paper derive either from insights interns offered during these weekly sessions or from personal interactions between the authors and GPSIs who preferred not to share certain recommendations in a public setting, that is, the weekly seminar.
Using Critical Theory to Teach Public Administration Students About Social Class Inequalities
Various publications have shown that academic public administration mostly ignores questions invo... more Various publications have shown that academic public administration mostly ignores questions involving socioeconomic disparities. This is especially true for how inherited cultural, social, and financial advantages affect interclass mobility, significant life outcomes, and, therefore, a citizen’s relationship to government. Even public administration’s social equity movement generally ignores class inequalities. Critical social theorists argue that socioeconomic issues must be a central focus of public administration. This article addresses the field’s disregard of class matters by proposing ten instructional tools public administration professors can use to introduce students to major concerns about the relationship between socioeconomic disparities and government operations. By encouraging students to understand classism, public administration faculty can help fulfill their discipline’s self-professed commitment to “fairness, justice, equity,” and being a “cutting edge” enterprise.
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Papers by Kenneth Oldfield