Is An Elite College Degree Worth It?
Is Harvard, Yale or Princeton really worth it? Does the experience of going to an elite university put you on the path toward a meaningful life? William Deresiewicz, who once taught at Yale University, doesn't think so.
In fact, the author of a controversial new book, believes that your son or daughter is like to turn out, in his words, "an out of touch, entitled little shit," by soaking in the culture of an elite college. Whether you agree with him or not, Deresiewicz does score some points in his provocative new book, Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life.
The former English professor makes clear that most students who get into the Ivy League colleges are products of upper-middle-class homes, where mere socio-economic status and their educated parents guidance, has allowed them to take every Advanced Placement and Honors class available in high school and to create a profile to pass muster with the admissions committee. After four years, they head like sheep into soul-crushing consulting and finance jobs, with little direction, passion or true engagement.
As a person who did not come from the middle class, did not have parents who went to college, and never had the opportunity to go to a prestigious university, I think the author's extreme position on the value of an elite education is quixotic and downright silly. As Anna Ivey, a former law school admissions officer who is now an admissions consultant, writes in a review at PoetsandQuants.com, "Deresiewicz wants to burn the whole house down."
"He yearns for a golden age of education that I’m not convinced has ever existed among name-brand schools: a world where people seek only a life of the mind and self-exploration, where they are motivated primarily by a sense of justice and revolution, and where they pursue their education without any concern for grades or employment or the conventional (if sometimes hollow) markers of success.
"His advice to young people is to find the moral courage to opt out of the competition to attend an elite college, to break up with their BFF parents, and maybe even to transfer to state school. Indeed, there are numerous references to morality in this book, as if it were immoral to want to attend Harvard or Yale. Of course plenty of students already opt out of the race to the Ivies. The fact that many of them wouldn’t get into Harvard or Yale is not an indictment of those students, but it shouldn’t be an indictment of the Ivies, either."
Indeed.
To read her superb review of the book, check out PoetsandQuants.com:
Swimming In An Elite Academic Pool
Controller & Administration Manager
9yThe article has some very good and bad points and the comments sway one way or the other. I would have loved to go to an Ivy League School, for that matter I would have loved just going to high school. In addition, I did not have hard working elitist parents, instead; farm migrant parents with 13 kids. I have met and worked with, as the article states, “Ivies out of touch, entitled little sh__ts”, who did not say “good morning” unless you wore a university class ring, than there were those who exemplify their educational capacity and I learned from them. Most Ivies are decent people. However, one so call Ivey with one statement convinced me to seek and further my education. This Stanford University student was working alongside with some Mexican wetbacks and me during his summer break. I told him I would love to go to college and he asked me, “Why do you want to go to college?” I responded, “Every day I see that mountain while I am working these farm fields and I ask myself; “How was that mountain created and what is beneath the mountain? He responded, “You are ready to go to college”. At that point, in time he understood I was hungry for knowledge. The rest is history and is another story. If you have the opportunity to attend an Ivy School, by all means, “Go for it, I would have”. University of Houston - 79
Certified Birth Doula, Operatic Soprano, Teacher of Singing
9yMy son's 1993 Yale degree has proven to be well worth it, both for the education itself and for the doors it helped to open...but we were not an upper-middle-class family with feelings of entitlement (the kind to which William Deresiewicz refers). And I believe that degrees from less "elite" universities also can be highly valuable. It is important to remember that a degree is only a first step...it's what people do to continue their personal and professional growth that matters most.
Owner, Richard Coda Design LLC
9yI did not go to an Ivy school. I went to Rutgers. I paid my own way working three jobs back home on weekends while living at school during the week. I did not learn a single thing at college that has related to my career. I learned more about people. I am a self-employed graphic designer for over 20 years now, learning my skills at companies the 12 years before that. I am one of the highest paid single graphic designers in the country, possibly even further out. It all depends on what you put into it. I bust my ass so I can afford to send my daughter to Carnegie so she can pursue her dream and have access to their network. If I had went to an Ivy would I be better off financially or happier today? I doubt it.
Nuclear Engineer, bilingual English/Russian
9yI would hazard a guess that like any other top-of-the-line tool, an elite school education is "worth it" if you have the skill to take full advantage of it. And like elite cars, probably more buy the product for "bragging rights" than buy it because they can actually use it.
I help businesses develop and deliver strategic communications effectively.
9yI think your education is whatever you make it. I knew a girl who went to an Ivy League school and came back home to work at a job with a bunch of people who went to the local university. She was no better or worse than the other employees she worked with. They had similar titles, made similar wages, and had a similar work ethic. The main difference between her and them is that they're not $50,000 in debt, acting like they're better than everyone else.