The article in the url below questions the ambitions of students from prestigious U.S. colleges (Harvard in particular) who automatically pursue high-paying careers in the financial or consulting industries:
“As Adam M. Guren, a new Harvard graduate who will be pursuing his doctorate in economics, put it, ''A lot of students have been asking the question: 'We came to Harvard as freshmen to change the world, and we're leaving to become investment bankers -- why is this?'”
The article outlines the pressures students feel to enter such careers, while talking to those who are trying to stimulate a debate about the true value of these sought-after educations (Issues: Ethics, p227):
“Is this what a Harvard education is for?'' … ''Are Ivy League schools simply becoming selecting mechanisms for Wall Street?”
The universities are also engaging in this debate, sponsoring “reflection seminars” at Harvard and reducing the financial cost of attending these universities as a way of removing the need/incentive to pursue a high salary on graduation:
“This year, Tufts announced that it would pay off college loans for graduates who chose public service jobs. And officials at Harvard, Penn, Amherst and a number of other colleges say one reason they have begun emphasizing grants instead of loans in financial aid is so students do not feel pressured by their debts to pursue lucrative careers.”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
