Upstairs-Downstairs at College

[msmemory_archive]

Harvard's noticing, maybe Wellesley won't be far behind. This is exactly the disparity that I dream of addressing if I ever win the Lotto and can set up a specific fund at my alma mater, with the addition of fee-based lessons such as riding or music.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/education/11harvard.html
Many Harvard officials, Dr. Faust said, feared that cost was driving the choices students made about graduate school and careers and that it had created what amounted to a two-class system among Harvard undergraduates. Mr. Fitzsimmons referred to it as “the upstairs downstairs syndrome.”

The officials said, for example, that often only the wealthy students can afford to pursue highly valuable but unpaid research opportunities with professors, take unpaid summer internships, study abroad or even spend time with their friends.

Comments

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I will search for the link, but there's another NYT article today that says many of the Ivy hopefuls are taking up squash -- a fairly expensive and exclusive sport -- because it gives them an edge up on admissions because there just are notg a lot of top-level squash players around.

Cheek (tongue in)

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

How far we've fallen. Whatever happened to polo as the exclusive, expensive prep sport? People can't afford horses any more?

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

My father hoped I would have filled my Phys Ed requirements with sports that would help me get ahead socially and professionally after college, by which he meant squash, tennis, or golf. Instead, I took fencing, archery, and swimming.

[laurion]

Heh. For entertainment value I took squash as a PE at Brandeis, and I play with some friends most weeks.

None of us are top-level, but we are all shmart people just having a fun time and getting some exercise.

I'm not sure where the expense comes in, unless it refers to the relative scarcity of courts to play on, requiring one to pay some sort of club membership to get one. The racquets can be found inexpensively online ($20 on ebay even!) and the balls are no more expensive than baseballs or soccer balls. Even going new, you can get a racquet for $50, which is a smaller investment than a normal hockey, baseball, or football player might incur.