The Ivy Dilettante
My blogs
| Industry | Education |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Professor |
| Location | College Town, Midwest, United States |
| Introduction | I am a professor at an Ivy League peer institution. I have taught at five similar schools. I earned my Ph.D. from the same Ivy that awarded me my college degree. Prior to that, I went to prep school in Boston, an immigrant's kid with no legacy or financial advantage. Given this, I want readers to understand what makes these places tick, and why you may or may not want to travel this particular rabbit hole (admissions, the institutions, and the mythic Ivy degree). I derisively call myself a "dilettante" because I didn’t learn enough of one subject to claim any expertise. But we know enough to navigate a cocktail party. Universities now prepare students for a narrowing professional world in hopes that alumni will return the favor down the road. But we can be better than this transactional relationship - all of us - and I think it starts at the top. Harvard worries over a $35b endowment while tuition has risen 35% over the last five years, easily outpacing inflation. No wonder kids pursue unsavory jobs to pay their outlandish debts, deferring dreams formed before college. I want to talk about this fundamental flaw, and with many of you, fix it. |
| Favorite Movies | Taxi to the Darkside, The Empire Strikes Back, A Village Called Versailles, The Hangover, The Spanish Apartment, Cavite, Heat, The Godfather II, Taken, Inside Man |
| Favorite Music | The Roots, Amos Lee, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Joshua Redman, The Doobies, The Police, Pearl Jam, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, James Taylor, Babyface, Ella, R.E.M., Journey, Ben Harper, Hall & Oates (yeah, I said it), Stevie Wonder, The Eels, Bruce, U2, Peter Gabriel, Vertical Horizon, Miles Davis, Chuck D, KRS-One |
| Favorite Books | Blue Angel, Invisible Man, No-No Boy, Look at Me, The Lone Ranger & Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, A Mercy, Where Men Win Glory, Their Eyes Were Watching God, American Son, Dogeaters, Southland, That Noble Dream, The Cultural Front, Playing Indian, Race Matters, Beyond Ethnicity |