The disadvantages of an elite education
A slightly long read, but highly recommended.
http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-disadvantag…
"The first disadvantage of an elite education, as I learned in my kitchen that day, is that it makes you incapable of talking to people who aren’t like you. Elite schools pride themselves on their diversity, but that diversity is almost entirely a matter of ethnicity and race. With respect to class, these schools are largely—indeed increasingly—homogeneous. Visit any elite campus in our great nation and you can thrill to the heartwarming spectacle of the children of white businesspeople and professionals studying and playing alongside the children of black, Asian, and Latino businesspeople and professionals. At the same time, because these schools tend to cultivate liberal attitudes, they leave their students in the paradoxical position of wanting to advocate on behalf of the working class while being unable to hold a simple conversation with anyone in it. Witness the last two Democratic presidential nominees, Al Gore and John Kerry: one each from Harvard and Yale, both earnest, decent, intelligent men, both utterly incapable of communicating with the larger electorate."
Some absolute gems in this article ...
"In short, the way students are treated in college trains them for the social position they will occupy once they get out. At schools like Cleveland State, they’re being trained for positions somewhere in the middle of the class system, in the depths of one bureaucracy or another. They’re being conditioned for lives with few second chances, no extensions, little support, narrow opportunity—lives of subordination, supervision, and control, lives of deadlines, not guidelines. At places like Yale, of course, it’s the reverse. The elite like to think of themselves as belonging to a meritocracy, but that’s true only up to a point. Getting through the gate is very difficult, but once you’re in, there’s almost nothing you can do to get kicked out. Not the most abject academic failure, not the most heinous act of plagiarism, not even threatening a fellow student with bodily harm—I’ve heard of all three—will get you expelled....
Here, too, college reflects the way things work in the adult world (unless it’s the other way around). For the elite, there’s always another extension—a bailout, a pardon, a stint in rehab—always plenty of contacts and special stipends—the country club, the conference, the year-end bonus, the dividend. "
"The system forgot to teach them, along the way to the prestige admissions and the lucrative jobs, that the most important achievements can’t be measured by a letter or a number or a name. It forgot that the true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers."
most of it is bogus. The meaning of "making minds not careers" is unclear rhetoric, and hard to argue when the curriculum at elite colleges is on average more challenging and less pre-professional.
But I feel like non-ivy grads are over-obsessed with the notion of ivies. It's ridiculous! It's like this artificial sparkle over key names that you can't get rid off until you actually graduate from any ivy and realize it's nothing special. In the end hard work and ingenuity is what matters.
People get carried away with the impact of ivy league prestige. Obviously, an ivy league degree is a great stepping stone but it's no golden ticket. I regularly encounter ivy grads with solid but not awe-inspiring jobs like Factset rep, institutional sales for a no-name shop or manager research. And this is in the finanncial services world. I imagine that there are some downright struggling ivy leauguers in less affluent sectors of the economy.
You're right. The longer ago you graduated the less difference it makes now.
I always thought that an elite education is a way for you to realize that there's no better education out there
I know all kinds of Ivy league people who are socially fine and no super dick heads. The idea that every person at every Ivy is destined to be rich and powerful is completely retarded also. Shitting article.
The author is an idiot.
Agreed. After just reading the OP's exerpt, I can tell that this article is bogus. I'm not the son of some businessperson/professional...and there are plenty of people like me at my Ivy.
Obviously you can't lump everyone from Ivies into the elitism, egotistical, and self-important categories, but I believe the author's generalization is correct. I personally interviewed at an Ivy, and while I know subconsciously the interviewer judges the interviewee from the moment they see them, I could tell this guy was critiquing every piece of me, and he wasn't hiding it.
The kids who took me on the campus tour couldn't be more d-baggy if they tried. They bragged about their cars, their spending habits, and their vacations during the school year. They told me how easy it was to get away with it too.
One of my best friends from high school went to Penn, and it was very hard for him to relate to me after a couple, me being from a southern state school (YUCK!). Everything in our conversations reverted back to his rich friends or his high-roller lifestyle.
And I definitely agree with the point about the liberal politicians. Barack Hussein Obama, Kerry, Gore are so out of touch with people it is sickening.
I agree to a certain degree with this attitude, but you find this in any sense of upper society. It doesn't necessarily mean the Ivies. I've met people from TCU and SMU who definitely were not smart, but whose parents were and you're telling me they can relate more to the common man? Doubt it. If anything, we as a country don't relate to other groups all that easily. Whether it be white versus black, rich versus poor, intelligent versus dumb, gay versus straight...these are all barriers and singling out one group of Ivy + Rich types doesn't really capture the entire picture here.
And while I think Obama probably can't really relate to the common man (what president could?), I don't necessarily consider him in the same league as Gore and Kerry who pretty much had their lives handed to them without much effort.
I'm not saying Ivies are the only group like this, I'm just saying they are very much elitists. This is from personal experiences, friends experiences, and what I see from interviews of Ivies.
Pertaining to politicians, I do see how a president really couldn't relate to most people, mostly because the personality of someone who wants to be president is very self-important, no matter where they go to school.
Interesting article. Good read.
After skimming though it, the article does seem pretty bogus. While I agree with the author that elite institutions create a sort of disconnect from your "average Cleveland State grad," a lot of his points are absurd. For instance the author states that you need more than hard work at Cleveland State to get an A-, unlike at Yale. What in the world goes into an A- at Cleveland State that we don't know about? If you're smart enough to get into a certain school and are in a class related to your field, you should be able to get an A- if you put the work in. An A is a different story but A-? Every professional firm out there requires you to have a 3.5 these days.
Plus the whole class thing is garbage. All ivies are need-blind and if you need a culprit for the quality of education, you need to look at the secondary level.
And being able to speak to the electorate doesn't guarantee good governance. Just look at Bush Jr. and Obama.
What an ignorant article...
where is Illini_Programmer when you need him haha
Don't think there's a man here who'd turn down Harvard regardless how many articles are written on the subject
Of Course not, and no one is disputing that. Just saying that once I enroll I would be faced with dealing with a bunch of elitist, and most likely a couple future US presidents who will fuck up this country some more.
And that plumber who is assailing for being below him probably makes more than he does.
Hasn't the affirmative action-ing of the Ivy League watered down the legacy pool to some degree?
Ummm, there are still some rich black people and other minorites. They're called rappers sons.
No, some of us were the children of UCLA graduate Cost Accountants. Thanks for the generalization!
Not when said minorities went to middle- or upper-middle-class suburban college prep schools, got the grades and the ACT scores necessary to get IN on our own merit. I scored in the 97th percentile of ALL college bound students that year, not just 97th percentile of all American Indians. I was no "quota baby" but still, to this day when people see me that's what they're assuming. They see skin color first, even if I do happen to have my Yale degree and the ACT scores that got me IN, taped to my forehead.....which makes for one hella "job interview attire" now doesn't it...
Now, of course, letting in QUALIFIED minorities probably does keep down the percentages of legacies seeing as how true legacies tend to be white males. Legacies who don't have to be nearly as smart or competent as the rest of us did, to get in.
Being elitist is fine, the Ivy League is the intellectual elite incarnate. I know a lot of individuals who attended the Ivy League and other than sports and high barriers to entry they are vastly different. There are a lot of great people who went to Penn State or UF, however Harvard cranks more out on a per capita basis. The reason that individuals who attended these august institutions can talk with the "common man" is more an issue of being raised by the elite and being bright rather than anything Harvard or Dartmouth did for them.
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