<p>Sure Hanna, you’ve exhibited traits like “Look if I’m smart enough to do the course by my own independent study and not go to class but look for the professors by myself and not bother myself with slightly slower classmates when this chapter is so easy and it’s a waste of my time blah blah” which is fine. I think Harvard is a great place to do that because 1. The resources are endless for those who want it and will do something to make full use of them and 2. Yes, nobody really cares if you don’t go to class as long as you meet the grade. Heck, John Nash never attended a class in Princeton yet he came up with The Game Theory entirely by his own. Pretty much proves your point.</p>
<p>But pause just a minute and consider what you just said. You make the LAC seem like a damn nursery. To me, that does not just show unjustified condescension coming from someone who prides herself/himself as being in-your-face and independent and etc etc etc., but that shows gross misinformation. The LAC can be for fiercely independent people (self-study programs, design your own major, overseas studies) but which emphasizes close interaction with the professors from Day One. Yes, if you insist, some professors will coddle, but many more others won’t. The pitch that LACs use is that the promotion of discussion among peers of simliar or greater intellectual ability will generate ideas, passion, and debate, as well as encourage kids with perhaps diffidence to SPEAK UP AND GROW UP AND BECOME MORE SELF ASSERTIVE.</p>
<p>The LACs are not nurseries. They believe in their own way of making leaders, intellectuals, and accomplished businessmen. To equate that with coddling, hand-holding, and indulgence is to say the least, wrong.</p>