I'd really like to think I'm not a zombie.
In fact, as a current Harvard undergraduate, I'd really like to think that I'm not any of the things Mr. Deresiewicz broadly attributes to Ivy League students and institutions in his recent article .
After watching this scathing commentary circulate my newsfeed and finally reading it myself, I immediately see why everyone is upset. Not only is this article insulting and wildly inaccurate (spending one day on Harvard's campus and attending one admissions information session would discredit over half of his claims), but he generalizes his limited personal experiences at two schools to the experiences of thousands of other students, professors, etc at many other schools where he's never spent any time. Yes, these schools may share certain traits in common (such as being part of the Ivy League) but they are very different schools full of thousands of different students with unique stories. While the opinions and experiences here are completely my own, friends of mine at Harvard, at other top US institutions, and at the schools with which Mr. Deresiewicz is affiliated have told me they feel the same as I do about their college experience.
1) We're not zombies. We actually look for fulfillment in our education. I don't take Creative Writing or Dramatic Arts classes because I think they're going to be the key to my future career. I take them because I love them and because I feel they enrich my education, fulfill my creative side, and help me learn and grow as a person. Isn't that the point of college?
2) 2/3 of Harvard undergraduates are receiving some amount of need-based financial aid. This is no longer the world where top universities consisted of only of upper class, wealthy students who could afford to pay full tuition. Students of every socioeconomic class can and do come to Harvard and students from every socioeconomic class receive purely need-based aid for a variety of reasons. There is more diversity at Harvard, socioeconomically and otherwise, than people realize and hopefully this will just continue to improve.
3) College admissions is not just about the metrics. Yes, grades and essays matter, but the process is equally about who the applicants are as people and how they fit together into a community.
4) The last thing I would use to describe my peers is having "a stunted sense of purpose". I've never met more driven, shoot-for-the-stars, high-reaching, goal-striving people anywhere in my life.
5) We are quite often not successful - I've been rejected from the same campus job twice, and many of us take classes we know will be a struggle because we find them interesting. We take risks that sometimes don't pay off. But while failure obviously isn't fun, it doesn't send us into existential crises.
6) "Elite schools like to boast that they teach their students how to think, but all they mean is that they train them in the analytic and rhetorical skills that are necessary for success in business and the professions." - I have learned more from my professors and my peers about how to view the world, how to question the world, and how to question myself and my beliefs than I ever thought possible. Midnight intellectual conversations in the dining hall or discussing creative staging plans for a show over dinner or debating the accuracy of the portrayal of mental disorders on Law and Order: SVU may never be useful for "getting a job in business" but that isn't why we have those conversations. We have them because we like to think and to question and we want to learn from the experiences and opinions of the incredibly diverse group of people around us. Curiosity about the world combined with a desire to learn will help you succeed in any profession.
7) "At least the classes at elite schools are academically rigorous, demanding on their own terms, no? Not necessarily. In the sciences, usually; in other disciplines, not so much". - I challenge him to take a Harvard Intro to Psychology exam. Or Neurobiology. Yes, these science classes are incredibly rigorous. But also try taking any foreign language course. English. Dramatic Arts. History. I challenge him to take just about any of our classes, science or not, because they all demand more than nightly homework. They demand thought, consideration, contemplation, and immersion into the material on a daily basis, which makes them all incredibly rigorous and rewarding.
8) "Professors are rewarded for research, so they want to spend as little time on their classes as they can" – This might be the most inaccurate statement yet. I have been so fortunate to have amazing professors who, yes, do plenty of top-tier research, but they also could not be more excited to teach. They literally beg us to come chat with them during their office hours. They come to dinner in our residential houses. One of my professors brought his entire family to see a play I was working on. They love what they do, they love their students, and I have yet to meet a single professor who cares more about their research than their classes.
9) "I don't think it occurs to the people in charge of elite colleges that the concept of leadership ought to have a higher meaning, or, really, any meaning." - All it would take to disprove this statement is a 5 minute conversation with any 2 or 3 people on campus. The people I've met don't want to start companies or work on films or engineer water systems in third world countries just because that's what leaders are expected to do. They want to change the world, make it a better place, and use their passions to make an important difference. They care.
10) "Instead of service, how about service work?" - I could probably count on one hand how many people I know at college who DON'T do some type of service work. It's an important part of my week and of most of my friends' weeks, even when it involves getting up at 6 am (insanity to a college student) or travelling for an hour to get to the schools/offices/programs where we volunteer.
11) "Not being an entitled little shit is an admirable goal" – On this point, Mr. Deresiewicz and I are in complete agreement. So it's a good thing I really haven't met anyone like this at school.
Zombie or not, there isn't a single day when I don't realize how incredibly fortunate and thankful I am for my education and for the people and opportunities in my life. I'd bet that most of my friends would agree that being at an Ivy League school hasn't been the soul-sucking, mind-numbing, future-zapping, awful experience Mr. Deresiewicz makes it out to be. Instead, it's been the best experience of our lives.
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