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Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Thomas Sowell :: Townhall.com Columnist
Prestige Versus Education
by Thomas Sowell
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High school seniors who want to go to a selective college in the fall of 2008 should already be making arrangements to take the tests they will need before they apply ahead of the deadlines for such schools, which are usually in January or February.

One of the consequences of taking these tests is that, if you do well, you may be deluged with literature from colleges and universities all across the country.

Some students may feel flattered that Harvard, Yale or M.I.T. seems to be dying to have them apply. But the brutal reality is that the reason for wanting so many youngsters to apply is so that they can be rejected.

Why? Because the prestige ranking of a college or university as a "selective" institution is measured by how small a percentage of its applicants are accepted. So they have to get thousands of young people to apply, so that they can be rejected.

While we are on the subject of reality and prestige, one of the tragic misconceptions of many students and their parents is that you have to go to a prestigious, big-name academic institution to really get ahead and reach the top.

Some students get sunk deep into depression when they are notified in April that they have been rejected by some Ivy League school that they had their heart set on. When they are accepted, some parents go deep into debt to finance the education of their offspring at the college of their dreams.

Seldom is either reaction warranted.

Stop and think: What is an academic institution's prestige based on?

Academic prestige is based mostly on the research achievements of the faculty. Places like Harvard or Stanford have many professors who are among the leading experts in their respective fields, including some who have won Nobel Prizes.

Good for them. But is it good for you, if you are a student at Prestige U.?

Big-name professors are unlikely to be teaching you freshman English or introductory math. Some may not be teaching you anything at all, unless and until you go on to postgraduate study.

In other words, the people who generated the prestige which attracted you to the college may be seen walking about the campus but are less likely to be seen standing in front of your classroom when you begin your college education. Continued...
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Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of The Housing Boom and Bust.
 
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Reply # 1
Date: Oct 27, 2007 - 11:31 PM EST
Me Too
I applied to MIT for undergraduate studies (back in 1964). I was rejected. I didn't take it badly, and I went to a decent local private college, Tulane University in New Orleans, where I got a fair deal, particularly in math.

Eventually I applied for admission to a total of five fairly prestigious graduate schools in physics--- having been rejected by such a school as MIT I thought it would be difficult to get into such graduate schools.

However I soon found myself offered admission to all five: SUNY Stony Brook (then prestigious in physics), Univ. Cal. Berkeley, Univ. of Mich., Yale and Stanford.

I chose the latter, and did eventually get a Ph.D. there in physics.

I AM WRITING TO TESTIFY THAT EVERY THING THAT DR. SOWELL SAYS IN THIS ARTICLE IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT.

At Stanford the employee manual for faculty of the late 1970's boldly stated that prospects for advancement, for tenure, were to be based primarily on what members of the candidate's field of research who were not at Stanford thought of the candidate. In other words, what prestige the candidate could bring to the University. Getting an award for teaching excellence was the kiss of death for anyone hoping for tenure.

I was a teaching assistant, for undergraduate laboratories. I am writing to testify that the professors for whom I worked showed up at the teaching laboratories only part of the time. Experiments done there were designed and apparatuses were constructed entirely by hired, non-Ph.D. staff.

I essentially coasted there on what I had learned as an undergraduate at Tulane. After the first three quarters of graduate school I basically learned absolutely nothing from my professors, although it took nearly a decade for me to get my Ph.D. I was simply a low-paid laboratory worker on my "professor"'s government grant project.
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Reply # 2
Date: Oct 26, 2007 - 6:10 PM EST
Prestige Schools
I agree with Dr. Sowell that students do not need to go to prestige schools. But, if you are going to another school make sure that you do extra homework. Many of the lesser schools will take anyone who breathes. Many of these "students" are not known for their study habits. I taught freshman chemistry at a community college, and I had trouble getting the students to do any homework. I had a student make the following comment: "I was told to come to a community college because it was cheaper and easier." I replied, "you do not want easier because if you go over to the university you want to be at the same level as those students."

I believe that the top students in any school will compete well with other top students in other schools. However, the difference comes in when you start dealing with students that are not top students.

If you are not going to go to a "prestige" school for under graduate work, please make sure that you go to a prestige school for graduate work. I received my doctorate in chemistry from Texas Tech University several years ago and I have not been able to secure suitable employment. I really doubt I would of be having employment problems if I would of went to Texas A&M, University of Texas, University of Colorado, or any other top tier school in chemistry. I have always been one that did the extra homework, and spent more time in the laboratory than was needed.

Good luck in your education pursuits.
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