Negative reactions regarding child attending BS

panpacific
Sun, 06 Mar 2016 18:59:23 +0000

@laenen In addition to the point of “disadvantaged in relative terms” I made earlier, specific to Andover, there are indeed a good number of students from disadvantaged background even I n absolute sense. While it’s true that the school’s FA program is very generous and in certain cases benefit even the higher income families, the truth is that it’s still a need based program. 13% of the students are on “full scholarships” which include not only tuition fees and room and board but also books/supplies, travel and even an allowance of spending money. It’s reasonable to believe that at least there are as many students on FA are from the “true” middle class families. In a school of Andover’s size, that means there are at least 300 or so students who are by definition from somewhat disadvantaged background, which is bigger than the size of the total student body of some smaller schools. If there are issues that seriously concern such a big group of students as a whole, they are likely concerning all 47% of students who receive FA and those that are barely able to be full paying. That’s why I think It’s meaningful to have discussions about equality on campus. Meanwhile, the reality is that in private schools and private colleges there are indeed an over representation of the well off. Although my experience at Andover is that it’s really not cool among students to flaunt wealth and good fortune they inherit from parents instead of intelligence and talents, we shouldn’t expect others to change their ways of life just to make us feel better. The differences are out there regardless how you feel. You just wouldnt get to see them in such a stricking way if you were not living in a dorm with a few daughters of investment bankers from Manhattan! As a matter of fact, some parents choose not to send their kids to private schools for exactly that reason, and I don’t blame them. It is a legitimate consideration.