<p>Interesting, if light, Time article via CNN:</p>
<p>Looking forward to reading that next week when its delivered. There are so many terrific schools out there. It's a shame that people (parents) get so hypnotised by the cachet of certain schools.</p>
<p>clap clap ... nice to see some sanity in the process being mentioned. There are so many successful programs out there. The look down your nose attitude toward many solid schools may finally start to go away.</p>
<p>I think that there is a place for ivies, as well as many other fine schools.
While we know those who have Harvard degrees, generally, they are upper division degrees and they chose to encourage their kids to attend LACs</p>
<p>D does have a friend who graduated from Harvard , in theatre :) She has already staged a production in Edinburgh</p>
<p>My older son is at MIT. It is the right place for him. My younger son, a rising HS senior, is going to be applying to schools that make most people go, "Um... huh? Where's that?" when their names are mentioned. I have seen my own attitude shift as I realize how many schools there are that will be so much better for S#2 than most of the "big name schools" his brother considered. I am also looking forward to reading the issue next week.</p>
<p>At the bottom of the CNN story is a link to the entire story.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Too many parents are pushing kids to get an elite degree even though it's no guarantee of success in later life.
[/quote]
Here's a Newsweek Article on same topic: <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14325089/%5B/url%5D">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14325089/</a></p>
<p>I recently spoke to the Parents of HS graduate that seemed to be almost apologetic in reporting their DD's acceptance to Villanova (with good merit aid) - They felt the need to report on the Princeton ED deferral and RD wait listing, I guess to show she was "in the running" there.</p>
<p>I thought it was sad that they weren't focusing on the wonderful opportunity she had before her.</p>
<p>"Prestige Panic" can prevent parents from enjoying their childrens success.</p>
<p>By the way.
The Magazines are using this anxiety to attract attention in their Titles for articles:
Time - Who needs Harvard?
Newsweek - 25 New Ivies <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14325172/%5B/url%5D">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14325172/</a></p>
<p>Talking from both sides of one's mouth; panning Ivies while exploiting them to the max. Who needs Harvard? Why, the magazines of course. How else are they going to attract readers?</p>
<p>Society needs Harvard ... and UCLA, U-Georgia, U-Minnesota, Smith, Rice, and so on. We need a variety of excellent colleges if we want our children and their children to be well-educated and successful. To the extent this was the message of the article, then I agree we don't need Harvard. If the article's aim was to show Ivy League colleges are useless relics of a by-gone age, then I disagree.</p>
<p>Marite, really good point. [sigh]</p>
<p>Yeah, and it's too bad that in making their point, they have to put down Harvard, et. al in ways that are completely inaccurate. For example, they refer to the large lecture hall classes of Harvard (my son's classes were almost all under 20 students), they claim that students doing research there will be relegated to "washing beakers" (I guess my son and a whole bunch of other undergrads he knows must be hallucinating their hands on, cutting edge lab work), and they imply that one can get better research opportunities where there's no graduate program (say what?!). That's what I hate about these kinds of articles....they paint their black and white picture at the expense of getting the finer details right.</p>
<p>Having not read the article yet, only the summary, I had hopes that it was more a plea to end the prestige-grubbing that so many parents (and students) seem to be exhibiting now. I have hopes that my S#2 can proudly announce his choice next spring without people raising an eyebrow and giving him a shrug. (We live in a community where this <em>will</em> happen, I guarantee it.) There is no need to put down the wonderful schools at the top of our national lists in order to laud the qualities of so many more institutions... but I guess from what you're saying, the writers (and certainly the headline writers) fell prey to that approach. </p>
<p>How can the media encourage a more wholesome attitude without resorting to negatively stereotyping or inaccurately portraying the fine schools at the tops of the lists? (I do smell dozens of Parents Forum-inspired letters to the editor of Time this coming week...)</p>
<p>I did not read it as a put down to Harvard at all and I think some people are oversensitive to that.</p>
<p>I know my sons visited Seattle University and the tour guide was an engineering student. He mentioned the professor had the entire class over to his house for dinner a couple of times last year. All 10 of them.</p>
<p>They kind of liked that</p>
<p>I read the entire article, thanks to richs73cas’ post above. I didn’t pick up on any real negative shots at Harvard, other than a vague reference to discriminatory admission practices of the past. If you want to get a real eye-opening view of the evolution of admissions at HYP is in Jerome Karabel’s “The Chosen” – it is really quite shocking.
The article does address the fever that overtakes parents seeking admission to prestigious schools for their kids. The best advice in the article: treat the college search like a romance, not a race – where the goal is to be happy, not first.</p>
<p>Karabel's book is shocking--but it's about the past, not the present. </p>
<p>Now, how many copies would the magazine sell if the headline said: Who needs top 20 schools, or even top ten?" If the name "Harvard" sells magazines, we ought to feel some sympathy for the students and parents who fall for its name.</p>
<p>Quote: "The professor had the entire class over to his house for dinner a couple of times last year. All 10 of them."</p>
<p>That sounds great. At Brown, where my d. attended, there were regular opportunities to have dinners at profs homes. Not so sure that it's as frequent an opportunity at Harvard, but again, this is not a feature that distinguishes lesser known schools from ivies or other elites.</p>
<p>Just to be clear...I think the essence of the article is fine and something that's needed. I just object to backing up the points with misleading characterizations of the top schools (starts to feel like sour grapes).</p>
<p>I agree Marite -- and I also think, it's precisely these kinds of articles that ELEVATE the Ivies. Which isn't to say that the Ivies don't deserve it, just that these kinds of articles, me thinks, they protest too much.</p>
<p>One of the great things about America is that where you go or don't go to college isn't the final, nor infact the most important, determinant of your future status or financial/professional success.</p>
<p>What a great article. For once, I'm happy with the media.</p>
<p>There's definitely a deplorable tendency in the popular media to not be able to say "here's an interesting alternative" without saying, and "this other alternative is total junk". I too hate that black and white kind of thinking. I noticed in the latest KV thread, we were on the whole able to discuss the pros and cons of Harvard's decision to make her an advisor without it turning into a referendum on Harvard itself, for a change. That was nice. Go us.</p>
<p>Why is Harvard bashing so acceptable? Curious. </p>
<p>I need Harvard. I adore my friends, family and colleagues who went there--they were immeasurably enriched by their experience at the school. I SOOOOO wish there was the B team equivalent of Harvard so that my boys could attend as undergrads. It's a great school with an amazing faculty, an amazing campus, in an amazing city with an amazing student peer group. </p>
<p>I didn't need Harvard to become who I am. I've had a wonderful, successful, intellectually enriched life without Harvard-- but I can't help feeling a little wist-full when I visit that campus. I could have happily spent a few years there.</p>
<p>Yes, there are a hundred different paths to take, especailly if you embrace international paths. Those options and that diversity does not diminish the greatness of Harvard. Not by one millimeter. So says me.</p>