I personally believe that the amount of success that students at Princeton University have can be due to the parenting ways of the parents. To attend Princeton, students are not paying the price we pay here at Shippensburg. The kids attending Princeton usually have parents that have high paying jobs, which are also very good jobs. They are more likely to raise their kids similar to the way they were raised. With that being said, I think they push their kids to become “Future Workaholics of America” and become the best of the best. The students are putting so much effort into their schoolwork that they have no time to get involved in larger issues. This could be an issue in the future because if every student is putting all their time into school, how is a student suppose to follow politics, or get involved in crusades?
The author also mentioned in the article that these students are extremely respectful to authority. I believe a big part of this deals with not only Princeton students, but also people all over the world. Our society has a “norm” that everyone wants to follow. It is not a part of the “norm” to argue or disobey people of authority. We can see this early on in out childhood years. If we were told in kindergarten to get in a straight line, we all followed the teacher’s directions and formed a straight like. As a college student if we are told to hand in a paper on a specific date we do what we are told and turn in the paper that day.
I agree that many of them will go on to become the best of the best and there in lies the problem. There education is no better than ours because accounting is accounting, and management is management. We all use the same textbooks. A lot of it is the name, but that goes a long way in this country. The one thing I disagree with is that most of them are putting in tons of effort. Many are going on their parents' dime and lack responsibility. For many it is party time. A professor once told us of a student at Harvard that skipped an entire semester worth of classes to prove a point that it is impossible to fail out of an Ivy League school. After successfully failing every class he received a letter from the Office of the President. It said due to his outstanding academic performance he was not going to be expelled but would rather continue to work towards his degree at Harvard. In thi case outstanding academic performance meant his parents made a huge donation each year to the school. He tried to fail out but couldn't. That pretty much sums up my feelings towards Ivy League Schools. The education is bought and paid for literally.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said “Future Workaholics of America.” It is very true that this is how our society is becoming. What is interesting is that on Thursday I attended one of the finance meetings in which alumni came back to talk to us about the “real world.” One of the men there was so pessimistic and began by telling us that we do not stand a chance against those from particularly Asian countries. He said their work patterns were even more intense and they would be found sleeping in the offices they worked at. I really hope that my life never amounts to that, but now that we are global how else can we compete for jobs?
ReplyDeleteI never thought about their focus on school work as a problem, but I agree. If they are not able to stay up-to-date with politics, how are they supposed to 'run our country' in the future like Brooks suggests?
ReplyDeleteIt's such a sad fact that we have molded in a robotic type student. We now don't do so much for the enjoyment or value in things, but only if it will benefit us in some way or improve our resume. These kids may be the "best of the best" but I too agree thats a loose term because in some caes they do lack a lot of responsibility. This has happened because their parents have paid for their education and everything has been handed to them on a silver platter. I liked Dale's opinion of accounting or management is the same everywhere regardless of name. The "Organizational Kid" reflects so many of us these days but we need to remember being a diverse person is just as good as a resume booster these days.
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