How do you reflect the best? Where are you? Some people like my mom or dad think best when they are sitting on their desk, that is where they get things done. Some friends of mine get creative while walking, they get their ideas together and they are all ready to work just by walking around back and forth. You know where I think the best? The shower. That’s right, for some weird reason, when I need to get work done and get inspired, taking a shower is what gets the ideas flowing.
"If you get into a good university, half of the job is done". That is what my sister said about 2 months ago.
However, not everyone can get into these universities, only "Super People" like quoted in the book "Excellent Sheep the Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life" by William Deresiexicz. In this book, William describes "The stereotypical ultra-high-achieving elite college students of today" as Excellent Sheep. These are the students that dream(if they get any sleep), eat, breath, and live just to get into an IVY league. The ones who pull all-nighters to ace a test, the ones who take 9 AP exams, the ones that are class presidents, have 11 extracurricular activities, and somehow manage to become the president of an organization in school that helps people in need, all at once. Do ANYTHING to get more credit and try to get into a prestige university.
Something surprised me while being here in Penn. One afternoon, the Dean of Admissions, Eric J. Furda, came and did presentations to all of the pre-college students and said something that made me think about the book. "If you live with only those eight flags (the IVY universities' emblem) in your mind, you are close minded and are doing it wrong". The dean of admission of one of the most prestigious universities IN THE WORLD just said that if you only live to get into those universities, you are doing it wrong. You don't need to kill yourself studying so you can get into that university. "It has to do with what you like" he added. Nevertheless, "Very few were passionate about ideas, Very few saw college as part of a larger project of intellectual discovery and development, one that they directed by themselves and for themselves," says William.
William talks and describes them as something negative. How they are "Both, in other words, are forms of infantilization" as if they are both negative. But, aren't those the only types of parenting there are? The way I understand William explains it, is that they are both bad. So what is the right way to raise your kids without implementing this idea of fulfilling oneself dreams?As I read this book, my eyes have opened to something that was hidden from me. A reality that I was not aware of, but the doors for the world that values one's self more than the University they attended to, are still closed. Reading this book has not changed the world, it is still the same and it will not change. A sophomore student at the University of Pennsylvania worked at one of the local restaurants near where I lived. He worked there after studying for his biomedical classes the whole day so he could earn some money for his apartment. He said, "If you graduate from Penn you are almost certain to get a good job, if you graduate from Harvard, you are guaranteed to have a job of your choice." I am sure that stays true. Society sees that good university equals good job. The owner of that company you are trying to get hired for will most certainly look at the university you go to because it matters. If it didn't then why do you need to put in your resume that you attended to X college or university? I will still try to go to a good university, in my applications there will be an IVY league or two.
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