http://www.theamericanscholar.org/su08/elite-deresiewicz.html
The above links to "Disadvantages of an Elite Education" by William Deresiewicz, published in the American Scholar, recommended to me by my friend, So-Youn Kim.
Here are some of my favorite segments from the article:
"An elite education gives you the chance to be rich—which is, after all, what we’re talking about—but it takes away the chance not to be. Yet the opportunity not to be rich is one of the greatest opportunities with which young Americans have been blessed. We live in a society that is itself so wealthy that it can afford to provide a decent living to whole classes of people who in other countries exist (or in earlier times existed) on the brink of poverty or, at least, of indignity. You can live comfortably in the United States as a schoolteacher, or a community organizer, or a civil rights lawyer, or an artist—that is, by any reasonable definition of comfort. You have to live in an ordinary house instead of an apartment in Manhattan or a mansion in L.A.; you have to drive a Honda instead of a BMW or a Hummer; you have to vacation in Florida instead of Barbados or Paris, but what are such losses when set against the opportunity to do work you believe in, work you’re suited for, work you love, every day of your life?
Yet it is precisely that opportunity that an elite education takes away. How can I be a schoolteacher—wouldn’t that be a waste of my expensive education? Wouldn’t I be squandering the opportunities my parents worked so hard to provide? What will my friends think? How will I face my classmates at our 20th reunion, when they’re all rich lawyers or important people in New York? And the question that lies behind all these: Isn’t it beneath me? So a whole universe of possibility closes, and you miss your true calling."
Reflecting on my Stanford experience, it doesn't seem as limited as Yale is portrayed in this article. I am proud to say that I know many students with elite educations that are going against the grain and listening to their true calling to be teachers, musicians, writers, community organizers. At Stanford, I think these students eventually found a niche in each other, the Haas Center for Public Service, or other religious or cultural community centers. This was crucial because these decisions were made in the context of the culture of choosing between grad school or investment banking. One of my hopes for this next year as a Jesuit Volunteer is that I will be able to listen for my calling without so many other voices.
The article talks more about fear of failure, and I resonated with that. Though some may scoff at what my idea of failure is, I believe I did taste failure in college. Not simply academic failure, but failed relationships as well. I think these failures were the best thing to knock me out of the complacency and fear of failure that the Stanford acceptance letter had frozen me into. (I think the most insecure I've ever been is the summer after my acceptance, as I contemplated attending Stanford). Sometimes I catch myself wishing I had known then what I know now, and could go back and do college differently; however, at the end of the day I agree with Maya Angelou, and "wouldn't take nothing for my journey now." I wonder what struggles Sitka will hold...
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2 comments:
One of the reasons I chose Stanford was precisely because it doesn't have such pretentiousness and elitism, and I think it's moving in a direction opposite to what the author describes.
We have grown to champion the people who create wealth for others, not the ones who hoard it. That value is built right into the history of our school: all the riches of the west could not prevent a child's death, yet his parents resolved to give to others what they themselves had lost.
The pressure to succeed is there, yes; given the peculiar paths that so many Stanford kids took to get there, I'd be surprised if they *didn't* feel the responsibility to give forward what they themselves have been blessed with. But it takes a very different form.
Stanford actually *taught* me the value of failure, formally. Multiple times. It defined failure as a requisite for true success--one who could not fail was one who shied away from the frontiers.
...you might also be interested in reading this post and perhaps enjoying this video.
Go forth and make meaning, Eileen!
J.
(Btw-broken link to theamericanscholar. Might want to fix it)
Eileen,
Thanks for this post. As I reflect on all my years of school, I realize that I've experienced a lot of the insecurities mentioned in the article. It's often difficult to find one's true calling when there are so many distracting voices ingrained in our society. I pray that I won't conform to or become complacent with this world, and I pray that you will continue to receive confirmation of your dreams in Alaska.
Take care. :0)
- Wiz
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