the BIG ?: Are we whack? Continued...
Friday's BIG Question with New Orleans students sharing their thoughts on life at Harvard was apparently another success, and I want to offer this thread as a continuation of that discussion. A few follow-up questions from one of the organizers:1) To what degree are the characterizations of us by the New Orleans students true? (E.g., that we often leave no free time in our schedules or feel guilty when we are not doing something 'productive.') If so, do such qualities make us whack? =)Whether or not you went, you can probably imagine the way the discussion went, so whether or not you went, SHARE SOME WISDOM!
2) To what extent is it expected that we do not live perhaps the most normal or balanced lifestyle? Isn't this how we were brought up? Isn't this what got us here? Isn't this what places like Harvard are ultimately designed around?
posted by andrew golis @ 10:22 PM
2 Comments:
one interesting thing that came up in one of the discussion groups is the idea of extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivations. many of us did a million things in high schools because of parental and other pressures. and many of us now seem to have other sets of extrinsic motivations now for that real/imaginary life resume we are always putting together in the back of our minds. to what degree is our supposedly intrinsic pursuit of "success" (like that described in the "Success" magazine that was recently dropped in our doorboxes) merely about fitting into an extrinsically-constructed mold?
maybe an obvious question to all you lefty types out there, but would be interested in thoughts...
i would like to say that the average harvard student lacks community. they are part of organizations, but it's the rare person who finds community at harvard.
what organizations demand is productivity, end results, and beauracracy/leadership. what community needs is for its members to spend the quantity time needed to get to the quality time of people really making connections. but with time at such a premium for a harvard student, to be spread out thinly over muliple obligations, community never develops.
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