Our daughter is a high school junior with excellent test scores so we're well into the selection process. This article confirms a lot of what we're observing. Wealthy Northeasterners are opting for the likes of Alabama, Georgia and SMU for social and political reasons, with elite athletics considered a benefit. Our daughter wants to stay fairly close to home in Dallas so U. of Arkansas and Texas A&M are leading candidates. Our nephew took the National Merit Scholar route through U. of A. and is now in his last year of orthodontist school with excellent prospects and no debt. His parents paid almost nothing for the bachelor degree and two levels of grad school.
We don't see any value in the Ivy's and near-Ivy's over a decent state school. The prestige doesn't count for much in our midwestern middle-class society. I don't want to expose her to radical campus craziness and she doesn't want to go that far from us. The availability of a faithful Lutheran congregation in Fayetteville or College Station is a significant factor in our decision. If it weren't for her interest in the sciences, we would probably be attending a Lutheran college or Hillsdale.
So much to digest but great piece. A few random thoughts on items discussed:
Ivy Leagues - the only time I worked with Ivy Leaguers was on Capitol Hill early in my career. Generally they were entitled, not particularly hard working, and there were plenty of people from non-elite schools that were just as smart. I would rather have a team of Big Ten grads working for me than from Harvard.
Sports - I am a big believer in the value of sports for developing mental resilience and teamwork, and like the idea of colleges taking participation into account, but with the emphasis on participation rather than too much on achievement. As a parent of HS and MS aged kids, the sports arms race these days is absurd compared to when I was their age to be competitive for a varsity slot for basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, etc.
Disparate impact - needs to be struck down by SCOTUS, as it's an awful doctrine that handicaps the effectiveness of our workforce in many critical areas. This is going to be tough because along with the assault on DEI, it's going to primarily affect blacks and reduce the number of stable middle class jobs they can get. This is definitely a hill the left is willing to fight and die on, and I think Barrett and Roberts instincts will be to split the baby on this, which is effectively letting it continue.
Yes indeed. Now that Roe v. Wade is gone, it's time to take on Griggs v. Duke Power (and that other under-vilified destroyer of American stability, Reynolds v. Sims.)
Great write-up, I learned a number of things I didn't know. And thanks for calling this out, Aaron. I'm subscribed to Tom Owens but sometimes miss his pieces.
Maybe someone can back me up, but I seem to recall a story where one of the Ivies hired consultants perhaps 20-40 years ago to find where they were missing out on talent and what could be done to secure it. And the answer, naturally, was "middle class white boys from Flyover Country". Not really the answer they were looking for, so they didn't do much with it. Surely it's still the same answer today.
Though I do think some elite schools changed their financial aid formulas in the early 2000s (around when I was applying to schools) to try to bring in more students from the middle class. They were finding that the upper class could easily pay full price (often supplemented by donations), while the lower classes were getting a full ride, but middle-class parents were more or less expected to take on a second mortgage to pay for their kid's college. I wonder how this looks today.
I can 100% vouch anecdotally for the growing pipeline from the northeast and upper Midwest to SEC schools. And many of these kids come from very solid upper-middle class backgrounds. When I drive through a certain SEC college town with which I'm familiar, I see a lot more kids in $40,000+ SUVs and pick-ups than entry-level sedans. I went to a better, private college than any in the SEC, but almost none of us were being subsidized at that level by our parents.
Our daughter is a high school junior with excellent test scores so we're well into the selection process. This article confirms a lot of what we're observing. Wealthy Northeasterners are opting for the likes of Alabama, Georgia and SMU for social and political reasons, with elite athletics considered a benefit. Our daughter wants to stay fairly close to home in Dallas so U. of Arkansas and Texas A&M are leading candidates. Our nephew took the National Merit Scholar route through U. of A. and is now in his last year of orthodontist school with excellent prospects and no debt. His parents paid almost nothing for the bachelor degree and two levels of grad school.
We don't see any value in the Ivy's and near-Ivy's over a decent state school. The prestige doesn't count for much in our midwestern middle-class society. I don't want to expose her to radical campus craziness and she doesn't want to go that far from us. The availability of a faithful Lutheran congregation in Fayetteville or College Station is a significant factor in our decision. If it weren't for her interest in the sciences, we would probably be attending a Lutheran college or Hillsdale.
This is excellent. I learned a few things I should have already known, which will be helpful in general and in specific. Thank you Tom (and Aaron).
So much to digest but great piece. A few random thoughts on items discussed:
Ivy Leagues - the only time I worked with Ivy Leaguers was on Capitol Hill early in my career. Generally they were entitled, not particularly hard working, and there were plenty of people from non-elite schools that were just as smart. I would rather have a team of Big Ten grads working for me than from Harvard.
Sports - I am a big believer in the value of sports for developing mental resilience and teamwork, and like the idea of colleges taking participation into account, but with the emphasis on participation rather than too much on achievement. As a parent of HS and MS aged kids, the sports arms race these days is absurd compared to when I was their age to be competitive for a varsity slot for basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, etc.
Disparate impact - needs to be struck down by SCOTUS, as it's an awful doctrine that handicaps the effectiveness of our workforce in many critical areas. This is going to be tough because along with the assault on DEI, it's going to primarily affect blacks and reduce the number of stable middle class jobs they can get. This is definitely a hill the left is willing to fight and die on, and I think Barrett and Roberts instincts will be to split the baby on this, which is effectively letting it continue.
Yes indeed. Now that Roe v. Wade is gone, it's time to take on Griggs v. Duke Power (and that other under-vilified destroyer of American stability, Reynolds v. Sims.)
Great write-up, I learned a number of things I didn't know. And thanks for calling this out, Aaron. I'm subscribed to Tom Owens but sometimes miss his pieces.
Maybe someone can back me up, but I seem to recall a story where one of the Ivies hired consultants perhaps 20-40 years ago to find where they were missing out on talent and what could be done to secure it. And the answer, naturally, was "middle class white boys from Flyover Country". Not really the answer they were looking for, so they didn't do much with it. Surely it's still the same answer today.
Though I do think some elite schools changed their financial aid formulas in the early 2000s (around when I was applying to schools) to try to bring in more students from the middle class. They were finding that the upper class could easily pay full price (often supplemented by donations), while the lower classes were getting a full ride, but middle-class parents were more or less expected to take on a second mortgage to pay for their kid's college. I wonder how this looks today.
I can 100% vouch anecdotally for the growing pipeline from the northeast and upper Midwest to SEC schools. And many of these kids come from very solid upper-middle class backgrounds. When I drive through a certain SEC college town with which I'm familiar, I see a lot more kids in $40,000+ SUVs and pick-ups than entry-level sedans. I went to a better, private college than any in the SEC, but almost none of us were being subsidized at that level by our parents.
Fascinating, thank you for sharing