Shut up about Harvard. Why the media talks too much about elite institutions

[outoftown]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/shut-up-about-harvard/

I think this is an interesting article about the (lack of) media coverage of some political realities in university education vs the high coverage of "elites" problems.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

Toss in the fact that most of those "elite" institution are near the media centers (radio/TV/publishing) like New York.... so they get attention and even better ratings....   I found it interesting that on one TV program I watched about colleges (CNBC maybe )  they were saying the price of those educations don't really pay off EXCEPT in a few professions such as Wall Street ones where it is the contacts they made and not really the education that is the big issue...   I have met several Ivy League type people that I was very under-impressed with... 

I have talked with some oil company personal here  that even said they preferred grads from public colleges over private ones because they were mostly hard-working people that knew how to work  which was not the case in a lot of grads from expensive private colleges who seemed to think they deserved "special" privileges or consideration.  [ hello SMU ] There are exceptions in both directions but employers often  just play the odds on recent grads..  

 

Edited March 30, 2016 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[GTWT]

It all depends on what you want from an education.  If you want to work for The Western Company Harvard or Rice may not be where you want to go.  Remember though, education is about preparing you for life - not just getting a job.  Harvard is mentioned a lot not just because it's old (& near media centers) but because so many of its graduates have accomplished a great deal in life.