The Ivy League, Mental Illness, and the Meaning of Life

[orriskitten]

I think I need to come back and read this later with a more open mind... When I'm not seeing red and my head isn't screaming "boo hoo poor little rich kids."

[summer]

Sept 7, 2015 15:26:18 GMT -5 orriskitten said:

I think I need to come back and read this later with a more open mind... When I'm not seeing red and my head isn't screaming "boo hoo poor little rich kids."

I worked with very poor kids and very rich kids. Both were challenging in different ways. It taught me to never underestimate how messed up rich and privileged people can be. And they often end up in positions of power so hopefully they get themselves sorted at some point before they get to us.

[orriskitten]

Sept 7, 2015 16:17:59 GMT -5 summer said:

Sept 7, 2015 15:26:18 GMT -5 orriskitten said:

I think I need to come back and read this later with a more open mind... When I'm not seeing red and my head isn't screaming "boo hoo poor little rich kids."

I worked with very poor kids and very rich kids. Both were challenging in different ways. It taught me to never underestimate how messed up rich and privileged people can be. And they often end up in positions of power so hopefully they get themselves sorted at some point before they get to us.

I do know how messed up rich and privileged people can be, but in my own experience I have a hard time with it. I went to an expensive private university with kids who were very rich and very privileged and so incredibly fucked up. But they could skate through and do drugs and graduate. I busted my ass and fought constantly to make sure my scholarship went through (financial aid gave me constant issues. My mom was so poor that we didn't file taxes because she didn't have enough income, only a very small disability income and financial aid made me bend over backwards every semester for weeks each time) and keep my gpa up to stay in my program, while the rich boys came to class and at the last class of the semester announced "guys, this is my first class I'm in sober." Things like that crushed me. And it was 3 guys in a class of 10 doing this.

I do hope for them and the roles that they'll fulfill in their futures that they can find the help they need to think for themselves and learn to do what they love, rather than just their duties. It's just hard sometimes.

I'm happy to see a couple of them have gotten their acts together some and seem to be informed citizens no longer in a drug haze, though.

[erbear]

Sept 7, 2015 15:26:18 GMT -5 orriskitten said:

I think I need to come back and read this later with a more open mind... When I'm not seeing red and my head isn't screaming "boo hoo poor little rich kids."

That's a pretty big generalization. I went to an Ivy League school and I am not wealthy by any stretch. I worked my ass off in high school and college, and I knew many many people like me. Sure, there were privileged assholes, but there are privileged assholes everywhere.

I didn't really agree with this article. I had a great college experience, I feel like I got a great education while being able to make mistakes and learning from them. Maybe this applies to some people, but I don't feel like it was the norm at my school (at least among my crew, which was a reasonably diverse group of students).

[ttt]

The thing is, this article kind of blames the kids and parents but this is precisely the situation that these elite colleges have set up. If you don't get all As in every top level class, if you aren't captain of the team (make that at least three teams), if you aren't superior in every way, you don't stand a chance at these schools (even if you do do all of that, you still probably won't get in). The admissions committees leave zero room for anything less than perfection, particularly from middle class kids. And they're the ones promoting the idea that their schools - and their schools alone -- are the guaranteed path to success, they are a middle class kids ticket to the big leagues, into a better life and a life of excellence and success. They're the ones encouraging more and more kids to apply so they can take in those application fees and increase their rejection rate, thus raising their spot in the latest college rankings.

So maybe it's time for some self reflection from these schools.

[LoveTrains]

Sept 7, 2015 15:26:18 GMT -5 orriskitten said:

I think I need to come back and read this later with a more open mind... When I'm not seeing red and my head isn't screaming "boo hoo poor little rich kids."

That's not how I interpreted the article and I'm sorry your college experience was characterized by self important assholes.

However I understood the article to be saying that the kids at elite institutions are being trained to be sheep and just jump through the next hoop. The colleges and their pre-college experiences are failing to prepare them for actual critical thinking, innovation, creativity and leadership.

As a product of that type of environment (although I did not attend an ivy) I agree. I've said for years that I feel that my education and upbringing taught me to do just that - jump through hoops and follow a plan that someone else developed. And I keep doing the next thing because it's what I was supposed to do. Now I want to do something else. I don't know what it is but it's not what I've been doing.