Twitter? Yes, me too..

Yes, I've been drawn into Twittermania as well, but to my defense I plan to make my Twitter account as functional as possible. Here's a brief article, titled "The Six Twitter Types" about the various types of Twitter users. I'm aiming to be a cross between a Brand and a Maven. You can follow me at @malcolm_evans.

The downfalls of an attending an Elite Institution?

Have you ever taken a second to consider the downsides of attending an elite institution such as UPenn, Harvard, Yale, etc.? Aside from the strongly held, "If I was going to a different school, my GPA would be better" belief, I posit that few of us, including myself, have had this conversation. The other day at work, my co-worker, Daniel Patton, shared an article with me titled The Disadvantages of an Elite Education. The article explores the reality of the aforementioned question while also offering myriad possible disadvantages. Although I don't agree with all of the author's theories, there are a few that I believe to be worthy of mention. The first possible disadvantage is that an elite education "makes you incapable of talking to people who aren't like you." While this may seem extreme, there is certainly an "homophilic" effect that occurs amongst elite spheres, which makes it difficult for certain people to relate to those outside of their social circle. The best example that comes to mind is taxes. Many of my peers struggle to see the benefit of taxes due to an inability to relate to the primary societal and individual beneficiaries of tax increases. A second downfall is that "an elite education inculcates a false sense of self-worth." This is perhaps the most obvious downfall. There is nothing wrong with congratulating oneself, and in fact self-gratulation has been shown to increase one's well being, however, it has been my experience that many Ivy Leaguers often parade around with an elitist viewpoint. A paradigm that we are in some way "better" than others. A final disadvantage is that elite educations often tend to deter students from pursuing non-high paying jobs, thus essentially closing a world of possibilities. As the author mentions, students often ask the following questions: "How can I be a schoolteacher—wouldn't it be a waste of my expensive education? Wouldn't I be squandering the opportunities my parents worked so hard to provide?" In the process of answering yes to these questions, students may miss their "true calling." In all, although I'm not certain about the validity of everything the author posits, the article does effectively bring awareness to an aspect of elite education which is rarely touched upon.