In “Don’t Send Your Kids to the Ivy League” William Deresiewicz argues the weakness of admission system is that the system is unfair, rich students easily enter elite schools. By declining average kids that aren't as rich, but are smartly capable of being doing great in elite schools the system is making students insecure. Our system of elite education making articles young people who are smart, talented, and driven but also anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose: trapped in a bubble of prestige, heading meekly in the same direction, great at what they are doing but with no idea why they are doing it.…
Where we come from is a huge part of shaping the development of our character and personality. In reading Lasch’s chapter, “Racial Politics in New York,” it reminded me of Peggy McIntosh’s hypothetical line of social justice. In sum, she argues that race, along with many other factors (race, class, gender, religion, sexuality), can serve as determinate of what side of the line you are on. Whites tend to be on the top with privilege and blacks on the bottom with disadvantage. Thus, one could conclude that two different developments of character and personality arise. Due to the environment that whites are in, they possess qualities of success, opportunity, and good education. Whereas blacks, due to the environments they are exposed to are qualities of crime, violence, and poor education. Therefore, I could argue that although Sleeper is correct when he argues that New York should stress the problem of class divisions as opposed to racial divisions, I believe those class divisions result from racial inequality. However, within that state, although there is social inequality, Lasch would defend that we must commit to being respecting, self-reliant, and responsible, or else we truly have no chance in equalizing or advancing our democratic society. With a heavy emphasis on inequality comes to the challenge of how to approach education and what should be taught in the classroom. Lasch argues that with the…
Americans expect to be able to have equal opportunities to be able to attend whichever university or college that they decide to choose. In William Henry’s essay, “In Defense of Elitism”, he believes that not everyone is entitled to have the same opportunity to get to go to college. He believes that not everyone who has the opportunity to go to college is capable of achieving there. In Henry’s opinion, college should only be allowed and available for an exclusive handful of people. Henry believes that there are people in college today that are there for the completely wrong reasons…
The film “Higher Learning” portrays the many prejudices and race issues that existed in America around 1995, when the movie premiered. The movie takes place at Columbus University, which serves as a fictional university undergoing the transition of America being a more diverse, free nation. From the time when America began its struggle with race and culture boundaries, people of the United States have shown their true beliefs towards other people who may look differently than they do; and the movie “Higher Learning” is a good example of the type of prejudices.…
“Their dream for us hadn’t died. Higher education, to my parents, was still a way for their children to jump class… no matter how hard they tried to turn us into just-add-water Kennedys, all of this posturing failed, and so did college. The bottom line was that we were lower class, and there was no way we could be any different.” (Tea…
In the penultimate paragraph of “What Is College For?” by William Deresiewicz, he claims that “the classroom is the grain of salt; it’s up to you to make the pearl.” After reading and analyzing this claim, I reached to the conclusion of its meaning and my take on it. In my opinion, Deresiewicz’s statement means that, in the end, the responsibility of using the knowledge we gain in the classroom is ours.…
Colleges and universities are no noticed for their educational status instead of their racial or social groups. Black teachers are no longer seen as a rarity on any educational environment, black students are not seen as a rarity on campus, but society has grown, or rather diminished, into assigning stereotypes to every social group; stereotypes are no longer focused on minorities. Minorities now play an integral role in colleges; at this point in time colleges are proud if a diverse campus and even advertise it. Rather than being bounded to colleges Nikki Giovanni’s concerns have moved on, leaving campuses free of racism, and exploded into society.…
Today, the high speed development of Internet technology allows people to obtain knowledge more conveniently than any previous age. The plentiful methods in getting knowledge cause some people to doubt the functions of the college, and claim that the college has been already not the best place in nurturing intellectuals. Gerald Graff expresses the similar idea depending on his childhood’s experience in “Hidden intellectualism”, and claims the “street smarts” can provide more benefits than “book smart” which we learn in the college. I would argue that the college is still the best place for students become intellectuals because of the unique benefits such as the open academic environment, professional lectures, and complete academic services.…
In recent discussions of “The College Dropout Boom,” David Leonhardt made some interesting points on the works of society and it’s modern day views on education. Many of the ideas he presented were controversial to me, considering my previous perspective of social status’ having nothing to do with someone’s chances at graduating college. However, there are many ideas in which he presented that I agree with, such as the belief that obtaining a college degree doesn’t necessarily promise a well-paying job. Growing up in a household where nobody has ever earned a college degree, I can say personally that it is extremely important to have one, regardless of the immediate outcome. It’s better to be safe than sorry.…
The students at Ivy League universities are told that they fit into this criterion in order to coerce them into wanting to work at Wall Street. Ho regards the “smartness” of the students being swayed by the successfulness of Wall Street as mostly negative. She does not think that the Ivy Leaguers and Wall Street financiers are as smart as they are believed to be. The fact that “the best,” “the greatest,” and “the brightest” minds in the world can be manipulated and are influencing other students with material swag, massive inundation of recruiting propaganda, recruiting seminars and dinners, peer and alumni pressure, insecurity about status, and big pay is astounding to her. To manipulate someone at such a critical and developmental stage in their life is against what most stand for. College is supposed to be a time were students get a chance to explore the different subjects and careers available to them and decide how they want to make a difference in the world. For students to work hard and reach such high institutions of education, such as Harvard and Princeton, and then to have their ability to choose what they want to be stripped from them is saddening. Gladwell argues that when it comes to individual behavior “the convictions of your heart and the actual contents of your thoughts are less important, in the end, in guiding your actions than the immediate…
“For the most part, class avoidance of class-laden vocabulary crosses class boundaries” (Mantsios 304). There are measurements in salary, physical appearance, and education to determine class. Mantsios studies showed that 34 percent of America’s wealth is held by the one percent, and almost one of every eight people are living below the poverty line ($19,307 dollars for a family of four in 2004). But it is not getting any better, since it has increased approximately $4,000 since then. One of the biggest reasons people are in poverty is because people cannot afford proper education to become well-sustained. It is all dependent on factors beyond our control. Mantsios compared class backgrounds of a life of a white male, whose father is a manufacturer and an industrialist who was enrolled in a prestigious preparatory school, and a black female, whose father a janitor and mother a waitress who lives in the ghetto. Who do you think has more of an advantage in life? The white male, as a result of opportunity handed to…
The provision of advanced courses is normally neglected by schools composed of minorities; therefore, students are forced to go at a slower pace which interrupts their learning. Tara J. Yoso and Daniel G. Solorzano, The students at the University of California, Mentioned in their article “Leaks in the Chicana and Chicano Pipeline”(2006) that schools are systems which promote white supremacy. They argue, “Most graduate programs tend to be racially exclusive featuring predominately white students, faculty and curricula that omit Chicana/o histories and perspectives”. As it is specifically mentioned in the article, the education system tends to be structured in a way which benefits “whites”. It is argued that these programs are “racially exclusive” which means that such programs segregate the kids and constitutes an idea of superiority for the “white” race. Therefore, although not specifically stated, the education system is set in order to fail the minority and shape them into the workers of…
My mother never went to college. Despite—or perhaps [because] of—her lack of collegiate experience, she was a powerful influence on my ever-present desire for academic distinction. For her children, anything besides “extraordinary” was simply not an option. The constant pressure meshed painfully well with America’s flawed education system, which—not unlike my well-intentioned mother—continually creates an unhealthy environment of apathy in the face of competition. For the duration of my traditional education, I made intense efforts for a false, unfulfilling concept of academic success. I sacrificed my emotional well-being again and again for fleeting validation from any surrounding adults, in a desperate lifelong attempt to prove my worth…
Institutions such as Princeton and Harvard often have an effect on a student’s individual interest when it comes to Wall Street. In “Biographies of Hegemony” by Karen Ho, she expresses how these type of institutions are always after the students, through a means of interviews, observation, social events, presentations, and even conferences. When in these type of “ivy leagues,” Ho writes how everywhere a student goes he will end up surrounded by someone marketing Wall Street and they know that it will not be hard recruit and convince students that it is the path that they want to go down. The reason that this happens at these institutions is because at Wall Street, they only look for a specific category of people, that look a certain way, usually…
For my entire life of schooling, both my parents and I would agree that I constantly complained about the educational systems in which I was enrolled. But when I actually take the time to think about everything I have been through, I realize that I have indeed had an excellent education. My schooling was full of opportunities and experiences, all of which contributed to the person I am today; adequate education has been an indispensable facet of my being. Sadly, not everyone has had this same privilege. And now as a college student, I am becoming even more aware of this sad fact. Looking around me in such a diverse city as Chicago, I find myself being more and more grateful. When I read Jonathan Kozol's Fremont High School, this these feelings were even more reassured.…