Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118747/

by ahmadss • 12 years ago

14 6 12 years ago

api2• 12 years ago

"... great at what they’re doing but with no idea why they’re doing it."

From what I've seen this is absolutely dead on. Obviously I've met exceptions, but I have seen a pattern of people out of places like Harvard and MIT that are excellent at what they do but have a strange lack of intellectual curiosity.

I get the sense that many of these folks have gone through the programs they've done to satisfy others' expectations, not out of a personal drive to create or learn something. You can't force or fake genuine curiosity.

But the tough thing and the counter-argument is this: going to places like Harvard and Stanford gives you access to an unbelievable network. If you go to the University of Somewhere Not On the Coast, or don't go to college at all, you're going to have to work twice as hard at least to do something like raise money or land a really high-end job. Many doors are just going to be closed to you. The trend seems to be toward increasing concentration of wealth and therefore of network connections with access to it.

seanflyon• 12 years ago

I graduated from Cornell in 2008 and while I met people who where there for other people's expectations in was a small minority and people who were "... great at what they’re doing but with no idea why they’re doing it" were even more rare. There could be a self selection bias at work here, but I still think that my experiences are not so unusual.

api2• 12 years ago

It's a really subjective thing, sure. I spent a lot of time in Boston in the Harvard/MIT orbit and I remember getting exactly the impression this article is talking about in many cases.

b2themax• 12 years ago

TLDR?

jgamman• 12 years ago

the web is slowly but surely reducing the young's attention span - disastrous results are predicted. some reference to ivy league colleges.

avmich• 12 years ago

Everyone dressed as if they were ready to be interviewed at a moment’s notice.

This is said with a sort of tone of accusation, but I can remember a lot of cases where being always reasonably well dressed was considered a good thing.

May be here "ready to be interviewed" means "exceptionally polished extra-fresh look"? Then I understand - but it would be really interesting to see such people on every occasion in a college.

Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League

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