This editorial represents the opinion of 14 out of 14 Outlook editors.
In our continuing effort to promote inclusivity, the Aragon Outlook has, again, decided to limit the senior map to designations of geographical area, instead of including the specific institutions that the seniors are headed. Out of the 372 respondents, 89% of those going to 4-year universities chose to report that institution, while only 63% of those attending a community college chose to specify that college. This 36% gap is by no means negligible; it points to a culture of stigma around sharing plans that deviate from the “typical” 4-year institution plan — a culture of stigma that the Outlook refuses to further in our centerspread map.
By restricting the senior map to colleges only, the Outlook would have disregarded 21% of our respondents who did not name an institution, or 77 seniors — and our centerspread would no longer be a senior map, but a college map. The purpose of this spread has always been to represent the senior class as accurately as possible and allow people to visualize which geographical areas people gravitate towards — not to feed into unhealthy comparison tendencies, or to reduce a student’s success to the so-called prestige of their pathway. While in an ideal world, we would be able to publish senior post-grad plans down to the specific institutions or pathways they’re seeking without any sort of stigma, we do not live in such a world. Until then, making the data more generalized, to include locations only, allows us to at least fulfill our goal of representation to a greater extent. And regardless of where our students are headed post-graduation, a Don by another name is still a Don.
