Where are all the wealthy kids at?

Can probably be filed in your "Well, of course. I kind of already new that" folder.

Roughly one in four of the richest students attend an elite college – universities that typically cluster toward the top of annual rankings (you can find more on our definition of “elite” at the bottom). In contrast, less than one-half of 1 percent of children from the bottom fifth of American families attend an elite college; less than half attend any college at all.

MSU occupies a small space in one of the figures. In that same figure, Michigan's other Big 10 school occupies a bigger space. Interesting data, and also interesting to see the schools that draw from both the upper and lower percentiles.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html?smid=tw-upshotnyt&smtyp=cur

Turtleneck wrote:Can probably be filed in your "Well, of course. I kind of already new that" folder.

Roughly one in four of the richest students attend an elite college – universities that typically cluster toward the top of annual rankings (you can find more on our definition of “elite” at the bottom). In contrast, less than one-half of 1 percent of children from the bottom fifth of American families attend an elite college; less than half attend any college at all.

MSU occupies a small space in one of the figures. In that same figure, Michigan's other Big 10 school occupies a bigger space. Interesting data, and also interesting to see the schools that draw from both the upper and lower percentiles.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html?smid=tw-upshotnyt&smtyp=cur

as a parent in the midst of college visits and more college discussion than anyone in our family would like to participate in, this is interesting stuff - not necessarily eye-opening to those of us who have paid attention over the years, though.. interesting, nonetheless.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:Can probably be filed in your "Well, of course. I kind of already new that" folder.



MSU occupies a small space in one of the figures. In that same figure, Michigan's other Big 10 school occupies a bigger space. Interesting data, and also interesting to see the schools that draw from both the upper and lower percentiles.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html?smid=tw-upshotnyt&smtyp=cur

as a parent in the midst of college visits and more college discussion than anyone in our family would like to participate in, this is interesting stuff - not necessarily eye-opening to those of us who have paid attention over the years, though.

I hope you're making time for more important discussions like "Will Bridges come back for a second year?", and "We need more five stars, dammit!"

Turtleneck wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote: as a parent in the midst of college visits and more college discussion than anyone in our family would like to participate in, this is interesting stuff - not necessarily eye-opening to those of us who have paid attention over the years, though.

I hope you're making time for more important discussions like "Will Bridges come back for  a second year?", and "We need more five stars, dammit!"

between international study abroad programs, consortium agreements, grad school placement rates, faculty-to-student ratio, public transit investment and proximity to metropolitan/cultural events, athletic success of the schools in question ranks very high.

With the exception of a few I knew years ago and my youngest met over the last 5 years almost all the rich kids I met at MSU were children of MSU grads who had gone on to successful business careers.

Compared to umaa, MSU Medical School was established in the mid 1960's while umaa had a bit more than a 100 year head start with its medical and law schools. MSU also lagged in graduating engineers until post WW2.

MSU, Iowa, IU, Illini and Wisky all put out quality grads every year but none act like one particular public university.

GRR Spartan wrote:With the exception of a few I knew years ago and my youngest met over the last 5 years almost all the rich kids I met at MSU were children of MSU grads who had gone on to successful business careers.

Compared to umaa, MSU Medical School was established in the mid 1960's while umaa had a bit more than a 100 year head start with its medical and law schools. MSU also lagged in graduating engineers until post WW2.

MSU, Iowa, IU, Illini and Wisky all put out quality grads every year but none act like one particular public university.

GO GREEN!!!!

Not to make this conversation too serious, but a couple things I thought about after seeing that data.

The first is that, although very important, the liberal arts education has been sidelined. By liberal arts I mean exposure to political, economic, and social and cultural ideas and issues delivered through the social sciences and humanities, and exposure to the critical thinking skills required to analyze those ideas and issues. This data shows that the schools that still very much privilege that exposure are dominated by a very small percentage of the population in terms of wealth.  The kids who equally need that exposure - they are less well off and from more vulnerable communities, whether rural or urban - are not getting it.

The second is that within the context of rising college costs, liberal arts degrees are better suited for those who can afford such degrees. The economy does not reward liberal arts degrees like it does other degrees. So guess what? This makes draining the swamp nearly impossible. Why? Because higher education perpetuates elitism. The people truly competent enough to govern are going to have to be drawn from a very small pool of people, which is not exactly inconsistent with how things were intended to work.

Turtleneck wrote:Not to make this conversation too serious, but a couple things I thought about after seeing that data.

The first is that, although very important, the liberal arts education has been sidelined. By liberal arts I mean exposure to political, economic, and social and cultural ideas and issues delivered through the social sciences and humanities, and exposure to the critical thinking skills required to analyze those ideas and issues. This data shows that the schools that still very much privilege that exposure are dominated by a very small percentage of the population in terms of wealth.  The kids who equally need that exposure - they are less well off and from more vulnerable communities, whether rural or urban - are not getting it.

The second is that within the context of rising college costs, liberal arts degrees are better suited for those who can afford such degrees. The economy does not reward liberal arts degrees like it does other degrees. So guess what? This makes draining the swamp nearly impossible. Why? Because higher education perpetuates elitism. The people truly competent enough to govern are going to have to be drawn from a very small pool of people, which is not exactly inconsistent with how things were intended to work.

astute observations.

I think much of society - at least the parts of society I want to associate with - value liberal arts education. Also, for those who erroneously believe that a college degree is basically a work permit, a lot of employers value a liberal arts education because critical thinking skills, problem solving skills and the ability to communicate are often the backbone of a liberal arts degree - the expected outcomes of the curriculum are rooted in these attributes.  Most employers that I know of value these skills more than the actual day-to-day tasks of a particular position (aside from degree-specific jobs) because they can teach the person the job.. they value the more intangible skills that, often, a liberal arts degree can help enhance in a student and subsequent citizen of a globally diverse world.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

GRR Spartan wrote:With the exception of a few I knew years ago and my youngest met over the last 5 years almost all the rich kids I met at MSU were children of MSU grads who had gone on to successful business careers.

Compared to umaa, MSU Medical School was established in the mid 1960's while umaa had a bit more than a 100 year head start with its medical and law schools. MSU also lagged in graduating engineers until post WW2.

MSU, Iowa, IU, Illini and Wisky all put out quality grads every year but none act like one particular public university.

GO GREEN!!!!

Why do you always do "Go Green" in a color other then green? Are you intentionally mocking it?

CheesySpartan wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote: GO GREEN!!!!

Why do you always do "Go Green" in a color other then green? Are you intentionally mocking it?

Maybe it is like those orange or pink MSU shirts I see. Those are weird.

Turtleneck wrote:

CheesySpartan wrote:

Why do you always do "Go Green" in a color other then green? Are you intentionally mocking it?

Maybe it is like those orange or pink MSU shirts I see. Those are weird.

I agree. My wife and I ironically wore MSU red ones to the Summerfest music festival here 5 straight years on "Badger day" (Wear red and get in free=$30 value per year). Got alot of WTF looks but it was always fun. We went with a bunch of UW grads I grew up with.

As for Bob, well I'm confident he's not a Spartan or a Spartan sports fan---He has an undergrad from somewhere other then MSU---He actually prefers UM.

He can prove me wrong if he wants but he'll instead ramble incessantly...

CheesySpartan wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:

Maybe it is like those orange or pink MSU shirts I see. Those are weird.

I agree. My wife and I ironically wore MSU red ones to the Summerfest music festival here 5 straight years on "Badger day" (Wear red and get in free=$30 value per year). Got alot of WTF looks but it was always fun. We went with a bunch of UW grads I grew up with.

As for Bob, well I'm confident he's not a Spartan or a Spartan sports fan---He has an undergrad from somewhere other then MSU---He actually prefers UM.

He can prove me wrong if he wants but he'll instead ramble incessantly...

Bob reports live from the MSU spring game. For real. Last year he was reporting the spring game live on tSwill. Then he abruptly stopped. Pretty sure he passed out in his seat or something.

Turtleneck wrote:

CheesySpartan wrote:

I agree. My wife and I ironically wore MSU red ones to the Summerfest music festival here 5 straight years on "Badger day" (Wear red and get in free=$30 value per year). Got alot of WTF looks but it was always fun. We went with a bunch of UW grads I grew up with.

As for Bob, well I'm confident he's not a Spartan or a Spartan sports fan---He has an undergrad from somewhere other then MSU---He actually prefers UM.

He can prove me wrong if he wants but he'll instead ramble incessantly...

Bob reports live from the MSU spring game. For real. Last year he was reporting the spring game live on tSwill. Then he abruptly stopped. Pretty sure he passed out in his seat or something.

LOL! Are you a Bob schick?

CheesySpartan wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote: GO GREEN!!!!

Why do you always do "Go Green" in a color other then green? Are you intentionally mocking it?

yes.

Turtleneck wrote:

CheesySpartan wrote:

I agree.  My wife and I ironically wore MSU red ones to the Summerfest music festival here 5 straight years on "Badger day" (Wear red and get in free=$30 value per year).  Got alot of WTF looks but it was always fun.  We went with a bunch of UW grads I grew up with.

As for Bob, well I'm confident he's not a Spartan or a Spartan sports fan---He has an undergrad from somewhere other then MSU---He actually prefers UM.

He can prove me wrong if he wants but he'll instead ramble incessantly...

Bob reports live from the MSU spring game. For real. Last year he was reporting the spring game live on tSwill. Then he abruptly stopped. Pretty sure he passed out in his seat or something.

this is true.

my wife was out of town - didn't have anything else to do. I logged into tSwill and reported live from the Tin Can.. chugged a few Old Style's. Went over to the game.. saw a guy wearing a camera on his head - which struck me as odd. Checked in from the south endzone.. it was sunny and warm, as I recall.

Stayed through the first quarter or so.. walked back home and took a nap on the couch. It was a solid nap, too.