Study Of Selective Admission To American Universities In The Perspective Of Institutions

The reform of admission institution is significant issue in China’s social transition. It is not only related to overall development of educational system, but also has impact on social structure and movement. This dissertation tries to use Actor-System-analytic framework in the perspective of institutional theory to analyze institutional base.Chapter 1 clarifiy basic venation of institutional theory formed by conceptions of social science, revealed its ideological character in the growth from "old" to "new", and introduced historical experience about institutional analysis applied to educational study. Admission system is unique social structure and result of social action and interaction, characterized by relation between them. Institutional theory is relevant to research on admission, because it focused on diachronic and background feature.Chapter 2 sort out historical process of selective admission system. The formalization came up from colony time to end of 19 century, when America gradually established selective mechanism of higher education based on colleges. It took classical knowledge as standard, reflecting apparent elitist feature. It was described as normalization that conflict between secondary schools and universities accelerated integration of admission system from 1890s to 1960s. At that time, emergence of national college entrance test and professional organizations supported it. Public trend appeared after end of 19 century. Since social course in which admission institutions embedded pressed traditional regulations, college’s freedom was challenged.Chapter 3 analyze institutional foundation of selective admission. The legality of selective admission bases on elitism, educational quality connected with national growth, and social justice. The law, profession norm and admission standard constituted the main rules, which presented as different levels in the scope of application. Actors provided the initiative for the change of institutional environment. Applicants, colleges, government and professional organizations take action according to their rational choice.Chapter 4 reveal the nature, structure and interaction model of three primary fields in selective admission process. The exchanging behavior between applicants and universities forms market, characterized by freedom, competition and normalization; Political space created by colleges’ interaction with other actors, which center on power. Professional field focus on ethic and skill, in which community formed by universities and professional organizations promoted institutionalization in term of academic logic.Chapter 5 describe basic forms of preparation, application, evaluation in the admission process. Students’ preparation and application can produce a significant effect on enrollment, but it is still limited to the colleges’ admission policy. At present, selective admission system mainly include two kinds of admission policies:guarantee policy and holistic review policy.Chapter 6 analyzes equity of selective admission. The finddings shows White students still hold a dominant position quantitatively in freshmen group. Asian students’ performance is relative outstanding, comparing with Latino and Black ones.Chapter 7 Compared institutional feature. China’s admission institution takes public allocation as value orientation, which constructs college entrance examination by means of regulation system. Instead, America emphasizes free choice, whose system supported by governance structure. Dramatics of its change is from interaction among the actors.