I got to college thinking that “high earners” were the people in my neighborhood who owned small businesses. A carpet store. An egg and dairy distributor. A butcher who supplied all the high end restaurants in Boston in addition to a few retail outlets.
College wasn’t just an eyeopener intellectually and academically- it was a daily lesson in global economics which has served me well for my entire life. And taught me- quickly- the things that “rich kids” know which other people do not.
There was a burnt out light in the hallway of my freshman dorm. The “regular kids” decided to write a letter to the head of Housing after our many complaints to the housing office went unanswered– and we tried to replace the bulb ourselves but the fixture was clearly broken. One of us presented the letter to the “daughter of wealth” on our hall and she shrugged and said “give me the letter”. She walked in to the office of the Dean of Students (knocked first- told the receptionist “I don’t have an appointment but this will only take a minute”) and half an hour later- an electrician was rewiring the light and it was fixed.
There were two very popular courses which had their final exams scheduled at the same time. Most of us were trying to figure out from the course catalogue “How do you take a make up exam when you have a scheduling conflict”, while the “prep school kids” had already had a sit-down with the provost- and two days later, the finals were rescheduled.
I spent weeks working on a research paper freshman year and wasn’t getting anywhere- the primary sources I needed just didn’t seem to exist. One of my classmates asked “did you get professor X’s POV on your topic?” I said ‘No, why?” and she said “Just meet with him, tell him the trouble you are having, and he’ll tweak the topic to something similar but where there’s tons of material”.
I had spent my HS years avoiding any grownup contact. My HS class was over 1200 students- if a teacher singled you out, it meant you were in trouble. And if a guidance counselor singled you out, it meant law enforcement was waiting for you outside the building. And now I’m learning that professors are there to help you? Make things easier? Get you to an A paper in the most efficient way possible? Amazing. The things those “rich kids” learned in their prep schools that we were never taught!!!
So yeah, really tragic to be at a college with kids who understand how the “system” works and know how to “operate” the system! Who knew that the provost was the most important person in the faculty hierarchy- and could make changes with the stroke of a pen! Nobody in my HS knew what a provost was!