<p>In America, education does not always equal success. Prestigious degrees don’t make you a better person. I like that about America. I also like the idea that it’s not about where you’ve been, but where you’re going that is important. ROF has a point in that the opportunity exists for everyone to rise above what they were born into. (However this does not equate to going to Harvard or MIT or whatever). </p>
<p>Every day, I see people who have grown up in extremely unfortunate circumstances. Sure, it makes it difficult to succeed, but the problem is that so many people are complacent with their lifestyles, because that’s “just the way it is”, that they don’t move to change their lives. Not a whole lot of people in my family have gone to college. Gandhi said that “YOU must be the change you wish to see in the world” and an individual must be dedicated to being the change in their families, communities, etc. The opportunities to succeed are all around them. My school offers after school homework help and tutoring (free) for kids who are struggling, they offer AP/Advanced/Honors courses, we have an Early College program (graduate HS with an associate’s degree), and you can take college classes for free as early as your junior year. We offer these on top of vocational programs that can help a student be ready to pursue a trade right after graduation. Opportunity doesn’t grab you, you have to grab it. Bottom line.</p>
<p>In response to the actual idea of the thread…I think academic prestige is important. If someone is an academic individual who wants to be surrounded by students of their caliber, then a mediocre state college probably isn’t going to work out. Maybe not the Ivies, but good, reputable, academic schools. I think there is no shame is choosing the more expensive, more rigorous school as opposed to going with what’s affordable/close/etc. For a lot of families, college in itself in not affordable, not matter where you go. My family can’t afford 25,000 dollars in tuition, but we sure as hell can’t afford the 16,000 at Ohio State or the 4,000 for the local small university. I would honestly rather be in debt and go to a school that I really want to go to than to attempt to placate myself at a school I didn’t really want to attend in the first place.</p>
<p>We are saying nothing of the kind. Actually, your argument is much closer to that nonsense, since you are the one saying that a person is “ruined” if they don’t go to the “right” school, that janitors and manual laborers are people who are ‘paying for bad choices’. You also continue to dwell on some notion that social status depends on a dance of constant subtlety, as if knowing the “right” people and ‘going to the “right” school’ determines success and happiness more than work, personal choices, and diligence. Your elitist attitude reminds me of the man who judges people by the clothes they wear and the cars they drive, rather than their character and ethics. </p>
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<p>But there is no causality between the price of the college you go to and the amount of success you get in life. As I said - and you ignored - far more top CEOs went to “ordinary” colleges than “top” colleges, and many successful and innovative leaders came from backgrounds that - on the surface - did not hint at their future success.</p>
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<p>Given that you have admitted that you have never worked a manual job in your golden-spoon life, how in the world do you dare to claim to know this? Every post you have put up in this thread reeks of your contempt for ‘those people’. </p>
<p>I guess when one is terrified of actual work, it is impossible to realistically comprehend those who actually do real work, hmm?</p>
<p>MBA Grad – I’ll mention this again… ROF comes from a Caste system in which the ruling elite has rationalized the lack of opportunities offered to the poor and disenfrachiised by creating a special Caste, or Class (i.e. lower class, manual laborers) that makes it all make sense. This is not that different from the Arian Master Race, or plantation owners in the Antebellum south (a geography containing ROF’s choice of undergraduate instituion) which viewed slaves as un-human – pets at best and beasts of labor at worst. In all three of these strains of thought (Caste system in India, Arianism, and Antebellum slavery), the obligation to treat other humans with dignity and respect did not apply because a group of society was simply DEFINED as non-human or less human. While this thinking is not techinically racism in every case, it is CLASSISM always.</p>
<p>I can’t help but assume that many of these attitudes were absored by ROF from his parents. In that case, it’s not all on ROF. It is now for ROF to critically examine his Caste ideas and modify them as he sees fit. They won’t serve him well in life or business, since he is not a Dupont or Rothschild, or from any other family were work is an option and social obligations reign supreme.</p>
<p>Going to a college “beneath” you - no such thing. It is all about taking advantage of opportunities offered at whatever college you go to. There is more to life than prestige, and some students prefer certain aspects of schools (ie a good social/athletics scene or a certain special program) that aren’t offered at the most prestigious universities. End of story.</p>