Why Do Elite Colleges Pu…
Metadata
- Author: @david_perell on Twitter
- Full Title: Why Do Elite Colleges Pu…
- Category:tweets
- URL: https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1604462545749712898
Highlights
- Why do elite colleges pump students into the same five industries: law, medicine, tech, investing, and management consulting?
For answers, let’s turn to the philosopher René Girard.
(View Tweet) - Modern childhood is structured like a conveyor belt. Every kid progresses at the same speed, no matter how much they learn. Follow the conveyor belt and you’ll be successful. High school leads into college, which leads into graduate school, which leads into a prestigious career. (View Tweet)
- Whenever I meet a college kid, I ask: “Would you rather get a C in a class but actually learn the material, or an A in the class without learning anything?” Most kids conform to conveyor belt logic and reluctantly choose the A. (View Tweet)
- Sure, some students like the conveyor belt. They like knowing what they need to do and when they need to do it. Generally, these conformists are more interested in the rewards of good grades than the fruits of knowledge. They’re good students and good employees. (View Tweet)
- Other people, like me, loathe the conveyor belt system. They feel like the rewards aren’t worth the effort. They don’t want to follow the syllabus in class and certainly don’t want their instructional manual for life to come from bureaucrats and school teachers. (View Tweet)
- René Girard says there are two kinds of desire: physical and metaphysical desire. Physical desire is wanting an object for its inherent qualities, like a glass of water because you’re thirsty — or learning for the sake of learning. This is healthy.
(View Tweet) - Metaphysical desire is different. Acquiring the object only brings you joy because of the person it makes you become. You only care about it because of what it says about you — like learning for good grades or a diploma. This is unhealthy. (View Tweet)
- People driven by metaphysical desire think achievement will bring them complete satisfaction. They think Straight A’s and an impressive job will fulfill them. But no matter what they achieve, and no matter how much they progress down the conveyor belt, they still feel empty. (View Tweet)
- The conveyor belt runs on the fuel of metaphysical desire. We copy other people’s desires and mistake them for our own. Eventually, we can no longer hear the whims of our inner voice. Our desires undermine us and go against our best interests. (View Tweet)
- Too many students are numb to the inherent joys of working. “Learning” is only a worthy endeavor when it helps them advance to the next stage. Their satisfactions are fleeting and followed by emptiness. Like a mirage in the desert, they never quench their thirst for achievement. (View Tweet)
- There’s a scarcity of physical desire and a surplus of metaphysical desire. Even after a 16 years in the classroom, too many students are unaware of who they really are and what they really care for. They have no sense of curiosity and no clue what interests them. (View Tweet)
- Intuitively, they know something is off. They’re ruled by metaphysical desire. As a student recently told me: “I feel like nobody enjoys school. They all just put up with it. I feel like nobody likes this shit, and I’m at a point in my life where I can’t put up with it anymore.” (View Tweet)
- Kids who follow the conveyor belt path have mirroring desires, which leads to stress and anxiety. Each year, more and more high schoolers dream of getting into Ivy League schools that promise salvation, but cap their acceptance numbers like a Berlin nightclub. (View Tweet)
- With the conveyor belt mindset comes a fear of failure. Fall off and you fall behind… so don’t make any mistakes. One poor test, and their report card will be forever tainted. One poor semester, and their chances at an Ivy League education are gone. (View Tweet)
- And since your advancement has capped upside, why be creative? Real life doesn’t work like this though. There is no speed limit. An interesting life has no default path. News flash: Life doesn’t end at 30. Learning is crucial, but perfection isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. (View Tweet)
- If we’d explicitly designed an environment for Mimetic competition, we’d build a system like the one we have today: insane competition for limited spots, and the pursuit of meaningless rewards, and undifferentiated students who compete for the same scarce status symbols. (View Tweet)
- Meaningless prizes lead to brutal rivalries. Reflecting on his time at universities, Henry Kissinger once said: “Academic politics are so vicious because the stakes are so small.” https://t.co/4wthM2oM7j (View Tweet)
- Why is differentiation important? Peace and stability. People don’t envy those who are very different from them, which is why people have historically envied their neighbors and friends more than billionaires. “Love thy neighbor” can be harder than loving someone distant. (View Tweet)
- The worst fighting happens amongst equals. The first line of Romeo and Juliet says: “Two houses, both alike in dignity.” The hatred between the Montagues and the Capulets is so fierce 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 they are so similar. (View Tweet)
- For Girard, a lack of differentiation sows the seeds of violence. Facebook’s mission of connecting the world is something to fear instead of celebrate. Global visibility increases the scale of imitation and the potential for Mimetic rivalry. (View Tweet)