1DO0vxU

Colleges have an opportunity to dramatically shift what it means to be educated, but they won’t
be able to do this while acting as a finishing school for those who have a high school diploma.
College can’t merely be high school, but louder.
So, that said, here are some thoughts from a former adjunct professor, an alum, and a parent of
future college students (no football here, sorry).
125.The famous-college trap
Spend time around suburban teenagers and their parents, and pretty soon the discussion will
head inexorably to the notion of going to a “good college.”
Harvard, of course, is a good college. So is Yale. Add to the list schools like Notre Dame and
Middlebury.
How do we know that these schools are good?
If you asked me if a Mercedes is a good car compared to, say, a Buick, by most measures we
could agree that the answer is yes. Not because of fame or advertising, but because of the
experience of actually driving the car, the durability, the safety—many of the things we buy a
car for.
The people who are picking the college, though, the parents and the students about to invest
four years and nearly a quarter of a million dollars—what are they basing this choice on? Do
they have any data at all about the long-term happiness of graduates?
These schools aren’t necessarily good. What they are is famous.
Loren Pope, former education editor at the New York Times, points out that colleges like Hiram
and Hope and Eckerd are actually better schools, unless the goal is to find a brand name that will
impress the folks at the country club. His breakthrough book, Colleges that Change Lives,
combines rigorous research with a passion for unmasking the extraordinary overselling of
famous colleges.
If college is supposed to be just like high school but with more parties, a famous college is
precisely what parents should seek. If we view the purpose of college as a stepping stone, one
that helps you jump the line while looking for a good job, then a famous college is the way to
go. The line for those good jobs is long, and a significant benefit of a famous college is more
than superstition—associating with that fame may get you a better first job.
A famous college might not deliver an education that’s transformative to the student, but if
that’s not what you’re looking for, you might as well purchase a valuable brand name that the
alumnus can use for the rest of his life.
But is that all you’re getting? If the sorting mechanism of college is all that’s on offer, the four
years spent there are radically overpriced.
Stop Stealing Dreams Free Printable Edition 89