On College acceptance

Here's an article telling high schoolers not to stress out about college.

And from Apt 11D "I've taught now at an elite university and a plebian university, and truthfully I liked the kids at the plebian university better. Sure, there were a few that couldn't write an essay or analyze a text, but for there were also some that were smarter than me. In addition to brains, they had a hunger and a drive that I never witnessed at the elite university. And because I really liked them, I bent over backwards to help them.

Perhaps I'm too idealistic about education. My friend, Margie, thinks I am. She says that her husband would have succeeded faster if he had gone to Harvard, rather than a state university. Name recognition and connections would have boosted him up the ladder faster. Perhaps. But, also maybe, he wouldn't have had the same drive, the same hunger and been undone early on by a sense of entitlement."

I tend to completely agree with all of this. Especially the part about success later in life being more about finding a love and a passion than being a well-rounded individual, the in term while I was looking into colleges.

The other thing mentioned that I think is overlooked, even in Apt 11's assessment, is the sense of entitlement among young folks. I've noticed amongst my peers, both from elite schools and from plebian schools, that a lot of them have these high fallutin notions of themselves and feel super entitled to all money, power, fame, etc. It's odd and I think somewhat more intense in our generation than in prior ones.

I was reading the Production History file of Rio Bravo today for a research paper I'm working on. In all the notes and correspondence and writings, everyone seemed so much more polite and humble, and with the attitude, "gee, i'm just happy to be here." I get the impression John Wayne could have been just as happy being a set builder than the highest paid movie star of his time. I don't get that impression these days. In fact, I get the impression that considerably more people my age feel entitled to be a star of some sort, non John Wayne-like, but 15 minutes fame at least...and 9 out of 10 of them not only won't be - but can't be, by the very definition of what they desire. And the worst thing is that I completely get it myself sometimes and I find it so stupid. I'm not sure if it's where I'm from and who I hang around or whether it's more endemic of our entire generation.

I tell people I'm going to film school to make a career in the movies and everyone jokes that my name will be in lights someday. I guess that's maybe what I want them to think. But I know math and I know my name will most likely never be in lights. I just want to make a living making movies in one capacity or another.

I've diverged from the original point, but there is something about the sense of entitlement amongst a lot of gen x and sub gen x folks that I'm wary of. This topic will be explored again.