msmemory_archive: (wellesley lamp)
msmemory_archive ([personal profile] msmemory_archive) wrote2007-12-11 09:52 am

Upstairs-Downstairs at College

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.

[identity profile] msmemory.livejournal.com 2007-12-11 05:33 pm (UTC)(link)
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.