The moral bankruptcy of Ivy League America • Hacker News Board

Re: The moral bankruptcy of Ivy League America

#41

Post by fakedang » Thu, Jul 06, 2023, 12:50 AM UTC

csense wrote: post #37

Suppose I start a debate club in my living room. Do I have a right to say "Only my friends can join my debate club"? Do I have a right to say "Children of past participants are always welcome here"? Do I have a right to say "Max occupancy: 1800"? Most people would say "Yes" to these things. What if I hire some marketing experts, and eventually my debate club has a really good "brand" and all sorts of companies want t…

>At what point does Harvard become different from my debate club?

When your debate club begins taking in federal funding, then you can compare it to Harvard.

Re: The moral bankruptcy of Ivy League America

#42

Post by wrp » Thu, Jul 06, 2023, 1:34 AM UTC

I find the article hard to respond to, because I don't think it has a coherent point, but I'll comment on some of its apparent assumptions.

One is that all students go there for a quality education. Since the early 19th century if not the very beginnings, faculty have had to acknowledge that a primary function of these institutions is to serve as a holding place for the (often not very bright) children of the rich until they are old enough to get married and do other grown-up things.

Another is that the quality of instruction there is atypically high. Lend an ear to complaints about Ivy League grade inflation and you will realize this is bollocks. While Ivy League graduates do tend to have higher career trajectories, this is attributed to admissions being selective for highly driven people, and for networking opportunities with similar others.

Finally, he assumes the benefits of Ivy League education could be scaled up. For example, suppose Harvard College increased undergrad enrollment from 7K to 40K. What would happen to the networking effect?

Re: The moral bankruptcy of Ivy League America

#43

Post by Georgelemental » Thu, Jul 06, 2023, 1:45 AM UTC

csense wrote: post #37

Suppose I start a debate club in my living room. Do I have a right to say "Only my friends can join my debate club"? Do I have a right to say "Children of past participants are always welcome here"? Do I have a right to say "Max occupancy: 1800"? Most people would say "Yes" to these things. What if I hire some marketing experts, and eventually my debate club has a really good "brand" and all sorts of companies want t…

Your debate club does not receive millions of dollars each year in taxpayer money. Harvard does.