"The conventional meritocratic recipe for success is simple enough: study hard in school, get good grades, be involved in one’s community, find an appropriate college, apply for jobs in your field of study, and everything else falls in place. But that’s not how it really works says Lauren A. Rivera, author of Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs. The path to success she sees is this: Be born to upper-middle-class or wealthy parents. Know what academic tracks to be on by the end of middle school — knowledge that one acquires from well-educated parents and school counselors with low caseloads. Get involved early in the competitive sports favored by elites, such as lacrosse, tennis, sailing, skiing, golf, cycling, climbing, soccer, and running. Test well enough to get into an elite university. Apply for a first job in an Elite Professional Services Firm (EPS), the “finishing school” for American elites. They include Wall Street, top management consulting, and exclusive law firms. After you’ve demonstrated that you’re “one of us” in the interview get on the EPS launching pad, which eventually leads to a high-status career in corporate America, politics, or the nonprofit world. Eventually, have children with a spouse of a similar class background, raise them in fine neighborhoods with top schools, sent them to elite universities, and the “virtuous” cycle of elite reproduction continues."
WHY ELITE STUDENTS GET ELITE JOBS
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4 comments:
Can you say class envy?
Less class envy and more 'I thought this was a meritocracy?'
If you want to be part of the elite, you need to go to the right schools, have the right hobbies, have the right opinions, and (lesser now) the right background.
My comment was directed at the writer of the piece. There is and always will be a wealthy class. Deal with it. That doesn't mean that hard work and a bit of luck won't let you break the barrier, but it's tough to do. I was looking at Bill Gates' early years. He came from an upper middle class family, father a lawyer, mother a banking exec. Not poverty, but certainly not of the Carnegie level. People who have what it takes to succeed become entrepreneurs, scratching for success, and maybe achieving it. I'm not surprised that high-level corporations dealing with elite customers would want employees equipped to deal on that level. It makes good business sense.
Interesting Captcha, this time. It had me selecting pictures of sandwiches. I guess if I missed one I'd be a robot...
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