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What the elite expect and receive from an Ivy League education

washingtonpost.com

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Re: What the elite expect and receive from an Ivy League education

#31

Post by kbenson »

seattleeng wrote: post #29
tomtheelder wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a former undergrad, the points about grade inflation are 100% correct, and everything else is garbage. > Many of the better-off young people at Harvard appeared to require intense favoritism to reassure them, perhaps because of the less-moneyed achievement and potential that loomed all around. Though some of the anointed developed their capabilities to the full, the institutional imperative to establish a hierarch…

I've heard first hand stories from friends who did their undergrad at Harvard that spoke to favoritism. One is: while playing rugby, a friend tackles another student. The coach pulls my friend aside and tells him to stop "hitting so hard" (my friend is an average to below average sized guy). Puzzled, my friend asks why, to which the coach replies, "think about the kid's name." He was a Kennedy.

Interestingly, I think that story can be interpreted different ways. One interpretation is that the coach knew that if he actually caused an injury, it might come back at him in interesting ways. You can either interpret it as the coach protecting the elite, or the coach protecting the non-elite, depending on your view.

Re: What the elite expect and receive from an Ivy League education

#33

Post by flachsechs »

irrational wrote: post #14
NumberSix wrote: post #9

The article ends with: It’s a system that polishes privilege, its byproduct a contempt for earned authority. Many of the people who started with this attitude had it ratified and encouraged by perhaps the most prestigious university in the world — and now they’re running the whole show. Emphasis on now added. Who in their right mind thinks people who attend Harvard and a handful of other elite universities and prep s…

Is Harvard really considered more prestigious than Oxford or Cambridge? That doesn't follow my perception.

In the US, yes, it is.

people from the ivy league run the US, so it's prestigious in the US. people from oxford and cambridge run the UK, so it's prestigious in the commonwealth. it's really not any more complicated than that.

Re: What the elite expect and receive from an Ivy League education

#34

Post by apetresc »

seattleeng wrote: post #29
tomtheelder wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a former undergrad, the points about grade inflation are 100% correct, and everything else is garbage. > Many of the better-off young people at Harvard appeared to require intense favoritism to reassure them, perhaps because of the less-moneyed achievement and potential that loomed all around. Though some of the anointed developed their capabilities to the full, the institutional imperative to establish a hierarch…

I've heard first hand stories from friends who did their undergrad at Harvard that spoke to favoritism. One is: while playing rugby, a friend tackles another student. The coach pulls my friend aside and tells him to stop "hitting so hard" (my friend is an average to below average sized guy). Puzzled, my friend asks why, to which the coach replies, "think about the kid's name." He was a Kennedy.

There's favoritism, and then there's pragmatism. This seems like very sound advice.

Re: What the elite expect and receive from an Ivy League education

#35

Post by [deleted] »

kbenson wrote: post #31
seattleeng wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard first hand stories from friends who did their undergrad at Harvard that spoke to favoritism. One is: while playing rugby, a friend tackles another student. The coach pulls my friend aside and tells him to stop "hitting so hard" (my friend is an average to below average sized guy). Puzzled, my friend asks why, to which the coach replies, "think about the kid's name." He was a Kennedy.

Interestingly, I think that story can be interpreted different ways. One interpretation is that the coach knew that if he actually caused an injury, it might come back at him in interesting ways. You can either interpret it as the coach protecting the elite, or the coach protecting the non-elite, depending on your view.

[deleted]

Re: What the elite expect and receive from an Ivy League education

#36

Post by jseliger »

rdlecler1 wrote: post #16

I was a TA at Yale when I did my PhD there and I contrast that experience to when I was a TA at University of Calgary. Whether it’s a higher sense of entitlement or just grinding it out to maximize your official grade the contrast between these two schools was striking. At Yale you’d better think twice about honest grading because if you did there would be an army at your door with pitchforks ready. You then have to…

I've actually seen similar things happen at public schools; I think students may also intuit that very little incentivizes profs to grade honestly: https://jakeseliger.com/2015/01/13/what-incentivizes-profess...

Re: What the elite expect and receive from an Ivy League education

#37

Post by Something1234 »

paulgb wrote: post #30
positivity89 wrote: post #7

Do enough people really have a subscription to the Washington Post? Or is this trending purely because a lot of people agree with the opinionated title?

I canceled mine because they use outbrain but it hasn't expired yet.

What's out brain and what's wrong with it?

Re: What the elite expect and receive from an Ivy League education

#38

Post by giardini »

rdlecler1 wrote: post #16

I was a TA at Yale when I did my PhD there and I contrast that experience to when I was a TA at University of Calgary. Whether it’s a higher sense of entitlement or just grinding it out to maximize your official grade the contrast between these two schools was striking. At Yale you’d better think twice about honest grading because if you did there would be an army at your door with pitchforks ready. You then have to…

Why are you obligated to "explain"?

Re: What the elite expect and receive from an Ivy League education

#39

Post by thomasahle »

rdlecler1 wrote: post #16

I was a TA at Yale when I did my PhD there and I contrast that experience to when I was a TA at University of Calgary. Whether it’s a higher sense of entitlement or just grinding it out to maximize your official grade the contrast between these two schools was striking. At Yale you’d better think twice about honest grading because if you did there would be an army at your door with pitchforks ready. You then have to…

The problem is when the grades given on assignments influence what goes on your final exam papers.

At a university, only the final exam should count. This way you can give honest feedback, and the student doesn't feel obligated to point out every little mistake to try to make you change your decision. It also allows them to misunderstand things at first, but then 'get' it later.

Of course universities don't like this, since they don't consider students mature enough that they do the homework if it doesn't "count".

Re: What the elite expect and receive from an Ivy League education

#40

Post by retromagik »

flachsechs wrote: post #33
irrational wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Harvard really considered more prestigious than Oxford or Cambridge? That doesn't follow my perception.

In the US, yes, it is. people from the ivy league run the US, so it's prestigious in the US. people from oxford and cambridge run the UK, so it's prestigious in the commonwealth. it's really not any more complicated than that.

100% this, I'd guess if you asked everyone in the U.S, it'd probably go 9:1 against Oxford and Cambridge
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