ABSTRACT
A weeding-out process begins with the students’ first college courses; if they were inadequately trained in high school, it is unlikely that they will suddenly succeed in college. This has been termed “the revolving door” type of Open Admissions policy, and the expectation is that unprepared students will drop out or flunk out before completing the first term or year. The approach to Open Admissions at the City University of New York (CUNY) has been one of the most interesting experiments in academic history. The concept of Open Admissions is the result of economic reality, democratic political philosophy, and educational theory. Long-term economic and social factors created the conditions that required a program designed to equalize opportunity. Political and economic conditions in the 1960s both demanded and allowed for the development of an Open Admissions policy. The advent of Open Admissions to CUNY simply introduced a new student population to several colleges whose nature had been experimental and innovative already.
