That’s right, all the cool kids (at Harvard) are… pursuing careers in the money fields, like investment banking and management consulting. This NY Times article brings up the notion that it is a little sad that our nation’s best and brightest are using their abilities and their top-notch education to get rich rather than to serve others. Interesting how the students site the competitiveness of the process as part of the lure. Maybe we should create more competitive fellowships to pull kids like that into government, like Teach for America has done with (you guessed it) teaching. Or maybe we should allow public service to draw on its own merits… maybe the type of folks are are more interested in service than in the money fields will prove more valuable in the long run. Just a thought.
This is a fabulous companion article from The American Scholar:
The Disadvantages of
an Elite Education
Our best universities have forgotten
that the reason they exist is to make
minds, not careers
While Wes was very different in nature in many ways, thankfully, a lot of this is true… the entitlement, the track it puts you on, the willingness of those around you to cater to you, living the ”best and brightest” phenomenon. This is the best articulation of the issue that I have seen.
