Class Warfare

I do think there is an Orwellian nature to some of opinions put forward on the College Confidential site about students who attend elite boarding schools, do gap years, or travel to many destinations around the world, and are essentially global citizens. From my admittedly cursory read on any of the threads on the site, it seems  that having had access to the best facilities, teachers, ad educational opportunities is somehow looked upon as elitist in the worst sense of the term.

There is no doubt these students receive opportunities few do, but they were once applauded for doing so. It now appears that there are some at least who think that they are spoiled rich kids. And I have certainly met my share of these over the years. But the vast majority of the students who attend top schools all over the world are bright, interested in learning, and grateful for the sacrifices their families have made to give them these opportunities. It could be I am mistaken about the general tone of the site. I hope so. I will let you know

The next words are from another writer on the site. What follows is my response. I think my tone may be a little strong but I felt that my daughter would be one of those people that admission offices and educational professionals would assume to be a rich kid taking an extended gap year instead of a young woman whose life and outlook and very way of being was changed. I guess the moral is: don’t mess with my kid.

I have to agree with (another writer). The problem with these deluxe "service" trips is that they are usually more about fulfilling the needs of the rich high schooler than about the needs of the recipient. I don't have any problem if you want to jet off to Africa and spend thousands of dollars to teach English to orphans for a couple of weeks and then head off for a fancy safari. Just don't expect me to applaud you for doing so.

This summer my son did a scuba diving program in the South Pacific. As part of the trip they did a couple of days of carefully orchestrated service work. It didn't hurt anyone, and I'm always in favor of honest work, but to tell the truth they could each have hired a local to do the work in exchange for the money the teens spent on sodas and snacks at the end of the day. I can just envision the admissions eye rolling when some poor kid writes his college essay on his life changing experience painting a school in Fiji. What, we don't have schools with peeling paint here?

My son has learned a whole lot more about the world by volunteering for the last few years at the food pantry in our wealthy town. Working there hasn't cost him a thing other than time. It's opened his eyes to hidden poverty and the struggles people are experiencing in our own back yard.

And here is my response:

Class warfare. I think the assumption of many people is that these trips constitute 'poverty tourism' and in some cases that is what they start off to be. But not in many others.

I think to assume because students' parents have the economic means to support their children's education outside of the traditional classroom is the kind of stereotyping that is injurious.

It makes those who cannot go feel better and discourages people from going. Would you say the same about work in a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter or the SPCA? Why not? It's easier and sometimes equally if not more cynical since there is no huge economic investment.

I think, like most things based on sweeping generalizations, we clump thousands of people into one category. We forget each student has a name and a different experience. Assuming the majority, from the outset, are not useful trips and experiences seems unfair. Do you have data to support this or are you just giving an opinion?

Wouldn't it make more sense to say some of these trips end up as a waste and others life transforming? It is not the trip; it is what is in the heart and mind of the student. If a student is open to change and learns to care more about the world, then isn't that good, even if it costs quite a bit?

No matter where you go, there you are. In other words, it is not about where in the world, but why and: Are you teachable?

My daughter just finished a gap year. While doing so she wrote a blog. It was featured as a link to a major research university. a Pulitzer prize winning author commented positively on it. The experience changed her life and improved her writing and interpersonal skills.

Now that she is back she is having problems learning to live again in a society in which superficial conspicuous consumption is the order of the day, rich and poor alike.

And yet you encourage people to assume she is spoiled and rich. I disagree. It was coming back that has led her to see this all around her in this country. She finds it appalling that many of the 'smart' (if by this you and others mean high SAT and grades) students’ she will live with next year know next to nothing about the outside world.

They get the wrong continent when she tells them about some of the places she was in. Should she assume that everyone is the US is so ignorant? No, she tries to give each person a chance, but it has been a sad education coming back when so few care anything about global politics and human rights except as a way of sliding into a selective school.

And yet it seems that according to the common wisdom, her trip would be just another rich kid jetting off. I wonder if we would make the same kinds of sweeping statements about all other forms of activity?