Fixing the Ivy League

Last updated on: August 21, 2017 at 9:51 am by Jane the Actuary

Fixing the Ivy League 2017-08-21T09:51:47-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In my prior post, I told you about the Dutchies, and how their children (and parents) don’t obsessively build a long resume of top grades and extracurriculars in order to qualify them for admission to an Ivy League college, or, failing that, the most prestigious second-choice possible. (To be sure, this isn’t even the case for the majority of high schoolers here, as might be the case in a Korea or Japan or China where the college entrance exam’s competitiveness requires late-night cram schools, but is a part of life for too many upper middle-class children.)

And, in addition to the harm it does to children who are pushed to live a life of stress and anxiety in a day and age where this should have long ago been vanquished with the end of child labor, there are other issues. Upper middle class parents use their knowledge and connections to boost their children’s chances of admission, as described in Richard V. Reeves’ Dream Hoarders. And Asian kids, despite their disproportionately high achievement levels, are held back by informal quotas by admissions departments who don’t want their universities to be “too Asian.”

But what does it matter whether one gets into an Ivy League school or not?

Imagine that this were just the equivalent of being able to move into a gated golf course community. Yes, it offers luxury, and stunning architecture, and a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. But no one’s missing out on anything of any importance by not living there. Or imagine this were the equivalent of buying luxury clothing brands — not just, not a big deal, but really a waste of money just for conspicuous consumption purposes.

The problem with the unequal access to the Ivy League, and the pressure cooker 12 year long admissions process, is that it matters, not just for providing the ability to have a particularly swanky way of spending four years of study, but because students graduating from these colleges have an edge, a massive edge, in their career prospects, both for the alumni network they provide, and more immediately, due to the various top-ranking companies who hire exclusively there, or give very strong preferences to Ivy graduates.

So what if we solved the problem coming from the other direction?

Every major company has a Corporate Social Responsibility policy, in which they say things like, “we’re going to be a Top Employer for women” and “we won’t do business with sweatshops” and “we will construct energy-efficient buildings.”

What if the major progressive institutions and policymakers promoted a new tenet of Corporate Social Responsibility: a documented and actioned-on commitment to hire from public universities and lesser private colleges, with Ivies represented only in proportion to their overall population? If Ivy League attendance were a luxury good for the wealthy to be enjoyed for its own sake, like a designer handbag, rather than a surefire ticket to wealth and a corporate ladder-climb, then it would not matter nearly so much for so many people, and prospective students could instead focus on identifying the college that’s the right fit for them.

Seems to me this would be a far more effective way to resolve the issue rather than squabbling over who gets the prize of the Ivy League ticket to wealth.

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHarvard_Yard%2C_Harvard_University.JPG; By Daderot. (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Previous Post

August 20, 2017

From the Library: The Happiest Kids in the World

Next Post

August 22, 2017 No, Eclipses Don't Prove Climate Change

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the oldest person recorded in Genesis?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jared Noah Adam Methuselah