The modern university began in Bologna, IT (1088), followed by Paris (c.1150). then Padua, IT (1222). As Europe crawled out of the Medieval Age, and city-states emerged, having a university became the status symbol of the time, much like major league sports stadiums are today (and by many contemporary accounts, almost as useless).
Early curricula centered on three professions: the clergy, the law, and medicine. Those studying for the clergy did so to serve God. Those studying for the other two did so to become Gods.
It took less than fifty years for these fine fellows to pioneer the modern stereotype of the hard-partying, dissolute, iconoclastic, professional student made famous in Nixon's characterization as being "campus bums". Their existence is credited to the practice of primogeniture, e.g., affluent families needing a place to dump their non-first-born sons into some kind of respectable profession, and adopted it as a lifestyle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
its skewed towards the rich and priveledged, and they wanna keep it that way, dammit - i don't understand it either. on another note, i wish they'd bring back free university, like we had for a hot minute under whitlam (i think it was him)
Rich alumni are the ones who can cough up the fat checks and fund scholarships, chairs & endowments!
In the old days when a university like Harvard had to find funding for research, facilities and staff, it might have been understandable. But now Harvard has an endowment worth $42,000,000,000. That's billions with a B.
There's no longer any excuse for this, other than to maintain the "Good ol' boys" network of alumni conduits to prime jobs. Which is the main reason you go to a school like Harvard. And further disproof of a meritocracy.
As an Australian, I'm genuinely shocked by the very concept of legacy admissions. You get preferential university admission because a relative already went there? Da fuck?? When we started building universities that was the standard approach we received from Britain. How else would you explain Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg?
Legacy preferences HEAVILY skew towards white applicants. I don't think this is driven by "oh no, black people are starting to benefit from this too" so much as "this is a grossly unfair admission policy and ending it will help level the playing field more for nonwhite applicants".
"Have these places never heard of quality control or standards? They're gonna place their reputation for excellence in the hands of third-gen fuckups and failsons because...?"--------------------Nepotism is the american way, LOL.
It's all about the money. rich Alumni donate lots of dollars, and they'll continue to do so especially if their kids get in. Admitting the commoners doesn't get them donations.
Legacies are poop, and also the related fact that almost half of the student body went to private high schools (for the Brits - "public schools"). Ugh.
Semantic quibble--I'm pretty sure Charles Kushner did not attend Harvard, so Jared was not a legacy; his admission was flat-out bought.
A few years back, I decided to put my crackerjack title examiner skills (not at all what they taught me at HLS, which I had to get into without a $2.5 million donation, woe is me) to use checking up on Jared's extracurriculars while he was occupying that bought seat. To my surprise, I found my own handwriting on some of the documents. It turns out I had met him and even remember the closing. He was playing real estate developer and hired a lawyer who was not a shining example of the real estate bar.
The lawyer messed up the property description in the condo master deed by including property that Jared's LLC didn't own. Had he bothered to look at the site plan, he might have figured it out, but he didn't. We ended up having to have his secretary email us the master deed (which had already been amended and restated once to fix mistakes), and I rewrote it to create another amendment and restatement to have the correct property description and have it signed properly (yeah, he screwed that up, too). As I recall, Jared just sat in the corner and kept his mouth shut.
I mean, even so, that’s a fuckton of affluence.
The modern university began in Bologna, IT (1088), followed by Paris (c.1150). then Padua, IT (1222). As Europe crawled out of the Medieval Age, and city-states emerged, having a university became the status symbol of the time, much like major league sports stadiums are today (and by many contemporary accounts, almost as useless).
Early curricula centered on three professions: the clergy, the law, and medicine. Those studying for the clergy did so to serve God. Those studying for the other two did so to become Gods.
It took less than fifty years for these fine fellows to pioneer the modern stereotype of the hard-partying, dissolute, iconoclastic, professional student made famous in Nixon's characterization as being "campus bums". Their existence is credited to the practice of primogeniture, e.g., affluent families needing a place to dump their non-first-born sons into some kind of respectable profession, and adopted it as a lifestyle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
its skewed towards the rich and priveledged, and they wanna keep it that way, dammit - i don't understand it either. on another note, i wish they'd bring back free university, like we had for a hot minute under whitlam (i think it was him)
then the colleges might have to start looking at their stupid over priced fees - oh noes!
Vey iz mir.
Rich alumni are the ones who can cough up the fat checks and fund scholarships, chairs & endowments!
In the old days when a university like Harvard had to find funding for research, facilities and staff, it might have been understandable. But now Harvard has an endowment worth $42,000,000,000. That's billions with a B.
There's no longer any excuse for this, other than to maintain the "Good ol' boys" network of alumni conduits to prime jobs. Which is the main reason you go to a school like Harvard. And further disproof of a meritocracy.
Um...That's why many universities for Blacks even exist.
As an Australian, I'm genuinely shocked by the very concept of legacy admissions. You get preferential university admission because a relative already went there? Da fuck?? When we started building universities that was the standard approach we received from Britain. How else would you explain Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg?
Legacy preferences HEAVILY skew towards white applicants. I don't think this is driven by "oh no, black people are starting to benefit from this too" so much as "this is a grossly unfair admission policy and ending it will help level the playing field more for nonwhite applicants".
"Have these places never heard of quality control or standards? They're gonna place their reputation for excellence in the hands of third-gen fuckups and failsons because...?"--------------------Nepotism is the american way, LOL.
You may have misspelled "mediocrity."
It's all about the money. rich Alumni donate lots of dollars, and they'll continue to do so especially if their kids get in. Admitting the commoners doesn't get them donations.
Legacies are poop, and also the related fact that almost half of the student body went to private high schools (for the Brits - "public schools"). Ugh.
Semantic quibble--I'm pretty sure Charles Kushner did not attend Harvard, so Jared was not a legacy; his admission was flat-out bought.
A few years back, I decided to put my crackerjack title examiner skills (not at all what they taught me at HLS, which I had to get into without a $2.5 million donation, woe is me) to use checking up on Jared's extracurriculars while he was occupying that bought seat. To my surprise, I found my own handwriting on some of the documents. It turns out I had met him and even remember the closing. He was playing real estate developer and hired a lawyer who was not a shining example of the real estate bar.
The lawyer messed up the property description in the condo master deed by including property that Jared's LLC didn't own. Had he bothered to look at the site plan, he might have figured it out, but he didn't. We ended up having to have his secretary email us the master deed (which had already been amended and restated once to fix mistakes), and I rewrote it to create another amendment and restatement to have the correct property description and have it signed properly (yeah, he screwed that up, too). As I recall, Jared just sat in the corner and kept his mouth shut.
To my knowledge, he doesn't live in Cambridge any more, so you'd have to have someone track him down and drag him back.
Maybe you can answer the question that has haunted me for years--why do students take his classes?