Elite Education?

I have been pointed to a wonderful article by William Deresiewicz, “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education“, which is worth a read whichever university you attend/ed. It’s a long article, but it’s worth getting through the whole thing. He puts forward several arguments supporting his point and I believe everyone will have one in particular which speaks a little louder to them.

As for me, I found my resounding point in the 5th section of the article. To paraphrase (perhaps a little simplified), we often perceive an elite education as a door-opener. Opportunities abound for the elite-educated graduate – riches and fame are within your grasp. But what we fail to realise is how many doors we graduates ourselves close, because of this elite education. We deny ourselves the opportunity to not chase riches and not chase fame. We chain ourselves to notions of guilt (“wouldn’t that be a waste of my expensive education“) or shame (“[w]hat will my friends think“). And above all, that very sense of elitism to which we are accustomed (“[i]sn’t it beneath me“).

This is such a profound and valid point. Certainly, it is a generalisation – many of the elite-educated go on to pursue careers they are truly passionate about, salary and public opinion be damned. A rare few are truly passionate about a career that involves riches and fame, yet these they view as incidental to the job – not the purpose of the job itself. Others yet find a way to sojourn away from high-paying-high-pressured careers, to live out a few years of meaning through programmes like Teach for Malaysia. Some go on to fulfill legal (and moral) obligations to undertake particular work to serve out scholarship bonds.

But for all of us who fall short of these categories, what do we do with these “elite” degrees we wield? Or more pertinently, what do we allow ourselves to do with this education? Once you have tasted the actual joys of daily, intellectual challenge, would you really be willing to seek opportunities that call for more heart and hands, rather than head?