“The Doors That Opened, but Not for Everyone” by Yujin Chon

For years, we have spoken about education as if it were a door.

Study hard, and it will open. Walk through it, and another world waits on the other side.

Over the past two decades, that door seems to have opened wider than ever. Universities have expanded, classrooms have filled, and millions more students have entered higher education. From a distance, the numbers tell a hopeful story: more seats, more degrees, more possibilities.

But numbers can hide the people standing outside.

For one student, university is the natural next chapter after high school. For another, it is a distant building they can see but cannot enter. Tuition, geography, family income, gender, conflict, or simply the place where someone was born can determine how close that door really is.

This is what makes the growth of global higher education both encouraging and uncomfortable. We have become better at building more doors without necessarily becoming better at deciding who gets the keys.

Perhaps access to education should not be measured only by how many students enter university. We should also ask who is still missing from the classroom, and why.

A crowded lecture hall can look like progress. But the empty seats we cannot see may tell us more.