Why does this matter? It matters because if we start by saying that a word that has been used in a certain context (in this case it refers to the adult “parents” in the residential colleges) for many years and has a long history of use in educational settings can “offend” and so must be removed, then we are just steps away from censoring books in the library, shutting down actual dialogue about race and politics and culture, being unable to have philosophical discussions about the use of genetics etc etc…
Have you read Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm? Why is this any different than Newspeak?
For the record NO STUDENTS actually call the house master’s “Master” when talking to them. Most students will use the word “Doctor” or “Professor” or Mrs or Mr. House Master is just the job title. So I have no idea how expunging the word Master from Harvard, Yale or Princeton lingo is going to help students of color feel more integrated. If they do not feel as though they are integrated then they need to be having discussions and working hard to shape the institution through intellectual and political discussions. In order to do that they can not be protesting and telling administrators to “Shut the F–k Up” the way one of the students at Yale did when an administrator was trying to engage her. They need to stop asking to be coddled and actually take the leadership reigns that they are being handed by being admitted to such elite institutions.
I can see why it might be offensive, but is it to a degree where there even is a name change? There’s a word for it, and I don’t see why it needs to be changed, honestly.
@gmtplus7 if you are going to call me IGNORANT you should at least check your facts first. It would be very helpful. I took my data directly from the Association of Boarding Schools web site. The average tuition of a boarding school is $51,025 plus technology, health fees,travel etc The total cost is probably much greater than the $60,000 I had previously suggested . One third of the students are on financial aid and the average grant is 30,974 which means the AVERAGE student pays $50,000 per year out of their pocket to go to a boarding school. I dont know many people who can afford $50,000 per year after tax dollars for a middle school and high school experience…
Black and hispanics represent 30.6 per cent of the US population yet only 11 per cent of the boarding school population. Again the boarding school data comes from their national association
These schools are NOT much more diverse than public schools as pointed out by the data above . They are much LESS diverse. On the other hand Harvard admits about 25per cent blacks and hispanics which makes it TWO AND HALF times more diverse than the average boarding school.
You refer to “American” boarding schools. Are you from the US?
@tiger1307, I am afraid you are making a case against yourself: “Not very many people go to boarding schools except alot of the kids of the very wealthy”. Please look at the FA numbers regarding FA at boarding schools. Some are entirely need blind, very similar to some Ivies. Many schools have over 40% of students on FA.
If you must make your Harvard-boarding school comparison, please compare Harvard as an ultra elite university with an ultra elite boarding school, not the boarding school average. If you do, you will find that such schools very closely follow their higher ed counterparts in minority enrollment. Phillips Exeter Academy, considered a Harvard feeder school, is @45% minorities, for example.
I caution you against a numbers war with @GMTplus7, who is a statistical beast.
@agincourt I posted my statistics in post 63. I posted the FA numbers for all boarding schools. You have not refuted that the average cost of boarding school is $50,000 per year after FA considerations nor my FA numbers. Dont use anectodal evidence to try and make generalizations.
Since you mentioned Phillips Exeter let me give you a few STATISTICS you may not be aware of . 15 per cent of PEs students are black or hispanic and 50 per cent come from private schools. That is not exactly a representative sample of students from the US
Not everyone on AVERAGE can spend 50,000 after tax dollars per year to go to high school(that is AFTER FA) NOT EVERYONE gets to go to a HS where half the kids come from private schools .
It is not surprising that boarding school students may find the sensitivity of minorities SILLY
If this is a matter of overly sensitive, self indulged students, then where are they in all of this? I have not heard of any Harvard protests. No offices were taken over, no students were filmed shouting obscenities in the courtyard. This seems to me to be an executive decision. Which takes the edge off of some of these diminutive comments towards youth flying around here…
So your generation couldn’t solve the world’s problems, guess there’s no point in trying anymore right, @TomSrOfBoston?
Maybe some of you will better understand this view coming from an older, white male? Here’s the Baltimore Orioles manager on the protests there last spring: “I’ve never been black. I’ve never faced the challenges that they’ve faced. It’s a pet peeve of mine when somebody says, ‘I know what they’re feeling. Why don’t they do this? Why don’t they do that?’ You have never been black. Okay? So slow your roll a little bit.”
@tiger1307, the statistics you cite are hardly yours, they are well known and accepted. Boarding school costs range widely but many are on par with Ivy League costs. So?
Yes, I am aware of PEA’s demos (I am sure you meant 15 not .15 per cent) and that 50% come from private schools. This is comparable to elite universities.
Yes, not everyone can spend $50,000 plus to go to high school and not everyone can spend that much to go to college either. Most people can’t, in either case.
My point, if you choose to take it, is that elite boarding schools resemble elite universities more than you suggest. Black/Hispanic underrepresentation is a challenge for boarding schools as well as for universities. Private high schools continue to provide significant percentages of accepted applicants at elite universities. So?
None of this proves sensitivity or lack of it.
As regards to “It is not surprising that boarding school students may find the sensitivity of minorities SILLY”, where is your statistical evidence for this statement? Perhaps you might heed your own admonition: “Don’t use anecdotal evidence to try and make generalizations.”
We Didn’t Start The Fire,
It Was Always Burning Since The World’s Been Turning.
We Didn’t Start The Fire,
But When We Are Gone, Will It Still Burn On, & On, & On,
We Didn’t Start The Fire,
It Was Always Burning Since The World’s Been Turning.
We Didn’t Start The Fire,
No We Didn’t Light It, But We Tried To Fight It.
We Didn’t Start The Fire,
It Was Always Burning Since The World’s Been Turning.
We Didn’t Start The Fire,
No We Didn’t Light It, But We Tried To Fight It.
We Didn’t Start The Fire
@TomSrOfBoston Ah so let’s just ignore racism, if it’ll always exist why try? Easy for a non-marginalized person to say. Racism doesn’t affect you on a daily basis.
Compmom,
Not only are there female housemasters but the co- housemasters of Lowell House are actually a female married couple so both co-masters are female!!!
@TomSrOfBoston How about instead of white people dictating what is a bigger issue for black people, we let those black people protest the issues they want to? And not ridicule and belittle them for being “whiny and narcissistic” when they do?
@agincourt boarding schools do not represent harvard as much as you would suggest. At Harvard Blacks and Hispanics represent 25 per cent of the student body not 15 per cent. Harvard gives financial aid to two thirds of their students not to one third as boarding schools give . Harvard is also more generous with the amount of their financial aid. Harvard admissions is not need aware, most boarding schools are need aware .
Alot of the boarding school group wind up in final clubs
This has devolved into off topic posts about gun control, what happened in Baltimore, and feuding between 3 members about it all. These have all been deleted. Either things get back on topic and the personal bickering and name calling stops or the thread gets closed.