Harvard Professor Urges Students to Consider Public Service Over Wall Street
A Harvard University education professor is challenging undergraduates at elite colleges to forgo high-paying consulting and finance jobs, for careers in public service.
The professor, Howard Gardner, is leading seminars at Harvard and, Amherst College in Massachusetts, and Colby College in Maine, to encourage undergraduates to reflect more seriously on the connection between their education and their aspirations, according to an article in The New York Times (“Big Paycheck or Service? Students Are Put to Test,” June 23, 2008).
“Are Ivy League schools simply becoming selecting mechanisms for Wall Street?” Gardner asks.
Gardner’s question has college officials at these schools contemplating whether too many of their top students, some of whom might otherwise choose to enter professions that aren’t measured by financial success, are choosing money over their ideals.
“We’re in the business of graduating people who will make the world better in some way,” says Anthony Marx, president of Amherst College. “That’s what justifies the expense of the education.”
Corporate Jobs Hold Big Appeal for College Graduates With Student Loans
Some universities, like Amherst, Harvard, Tufts University, and the University of Pennsylvania, are so concerned about corporate America’s hold over new graduates, that they have expanded their public service fellowship and internship programs.
This year Tufts announced it would pay off college loans for graduates who choose to work in the public-service sector. And officials at Harvard, Penn, Amherst, and a number of other colleges tell the Times that one reason they have begun offering financial aid packages that offer more grant money than student loans, is so their students don’t feel pressured to pursue lucrative careers just to be able to pay off their college debt.
While colleges and universities are taking steps to give graduates more freedom in choosing a career path by offering expanded financial aid, some students still prefer the safe, financially secure route.
Akshay Ganju, who wanted to become a doctor when he enrolled at Harvard four years ago, recently accepted a full-time job with Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm. The generous salary, he says, will make it possible for him to pay off his college loans.
“I don’t think the point of our education is to make us rich,” Ganju said. “We all feel we want to do something meaningful beyond just accumulating wealth.”