Author Malcom Gladwell, growing up in Ontario, Canada, never fully understood the elite and exclusive natures commonly paired with American Ivy League schools. Back in Canada, all it took to get into the school you wanted was to rank the schools in your province based on order of preference and then to fill out a two-page form consisting of your activities and interests. There were no SAT scores, recommendations, or college essays to worry about. Gladwell juxtaposes the college admissions in his homeland with those in the United States, highlighting how everything is much more competitive and selective in particularly American Ivy League schools. He focuses primarily on Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, which are some of the most revered and renowned schools in the world. Gladwell tackles this topic with a scientific approach, just like in his books Outliers, Blink, and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.
This scientific approach facilitated the use of data and statistics to support Gladwell's argument. He starts off his essay writing about the history of Harvard's admissions expectations, stating that in 1905, Harvard would accept virtually any academically gifted high school senior who could afford the school. However, things changed in 1922, when the school's Jewish population made up over 20 percent of the entire freshman class. Harvard's admissions history showed that a high concentration of a certain group in the school meant for a more selective means of choosing what students were accepted and what were not. Gladwell's purpose in writing this essay was to bring attention to the "high class" air to Ivy Leagues and analyze the social sciences behind it. Although this essay is meant for anyone, it could particularly appeal to an audience of high school students because it exploits the false ritz and glamor the world puts on upscale, highly selective schools.
No comments:
Post a Comment