Beauty and Greatness of Our Colleges

Now is the time that many high school seniors are making, along with their family members, difficult decisions as to which college/university to matriculate at.

It is a time of some stress, serious decision-making, but also a time, hopefully, about excitement for the future in terms of new experiences and a wonderful higher education.

Now is also the time of second visits to campuses for accepted students and the beauty of spring season is surrounding us.

Last weekend,  I was at my husband's undergraduate alma mater, Lafayette College, which is located on a big hill (aren't many colleges, it seems) in Easton, PA, which is about an hour from Philly and from NYC.

My alma mater (4 degrees worth)  is Brown University and I met my husband there when he was a PhD student in physics and I was an undergraduate -- yes, he is smart! And, speaking of smart, another set of rankings, posted in Forbes, has Lafayette in the top 25 colleges with the smartest students, at number 22, along with many of the usual suspects -- Harvard, MIT, Stanford, U. of Chicago, etc. Forbes' own ranking with nice photos of college campuses can be accessed here.

Lafayette College is unique because it combines liberal arts with excellent courses in engineering and science with faculty working closely with students -- hard to be absent from a class when the faculty know you and my husband still stays in touch with a former physics faculty member  of his who lives in Easton but has retired.

There has been a lot of discussion lately as well as press regarding college choices -- in terms of cost, quality of education, and even the value of life-long networks. I blogged a while back about Zac Bissonnette's book, Debt-Free U. The incoming President of Lafayette, which was established in 1826, is Dr. Alison Byerly, and she will be its first female President. She wrote a great recent column in InsideHigherEd.

I believe that the value of a residential college campus experience and education is huge  besides the courses, research experiences, and extracurriculars, including sports and community service,  that one can engage in there are numerous opportunities for leadership. The 4 year undergraduate experience is special and US educational institutions are renowned for this (and with college admissions becoming ever so competitive given the introduction of the Common App and the increase in the volume of international applications) something to truly appreciate. As I noted previously, it is remarkable how many liberal arts colleges have produced true leaders --including several Ivy League university presidents!

The photos below were taken at Lafayette College this past weekend, which has just this month hosted such world leaders as Tony Blar, Jane Goodall, and, yesterday, former President Jimmy Carter. I enjoy art and architecture and appreciate beautiful environments, which I hope that I have captured, in part, below.

 

 

 

The photo above was taken at Lafayette Colleges' Kirby Library, which was noted as one of the most beautiful libraries in the world, and I agree! A TEDx conference was taking place on the first floor featured below The photo above the Kirby library is of the Skillman Library, another  beautiful building..

We also attended a crew regatta off campus and saw Lafayette compete against Lehigh -- great fun.My college room-mate at Brown, Teresa Davila, was on the varsity crew team and I helped to start the women's track and cross country teams with Linda Tanner.

We finished the day by attending a banquet in Marquis Hall at which students who participate in crew  and their coaches were recognized.

And, as UMass Amherst, where I teach, is celebrating its 150th birthday this year with numerous events, let me leave you with a link to the new book by Professors Max Page and Marla Miller, members of the architecture and history faculty, Beauty, Cravings, Virtue: A Celebration of the Architectural Legacy of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

 

For the Love of Education -- Chinese in US Private Schools and Deerfield Academy

The month of March is when applicants hear of decisions as to their school acceptances, whether by high schools, especially private "prep" schools in the U.S., many of which are elite boarding schools, as well as colleges and universities.

Three years ago, I was speaking in Vienna, Austria, and my family had joined me. We had revisited Innsbruck, Austria, where we had lived when I was on a Fulbright, and then traveled by train to Vienna where I was speaking on global supply chains at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. While in that gorgeous city, my daughter received notices of admittances to two private schools in the U.S. She was going to be a day student wherever she went since we live in Amherst, Massachusetts and there are enough good schools in the area.

When we returned to the U.S., as I was showering, she checked the mail and there was the letter of acceptance from Deerfield Academy (DA). Having attended the wonderful Bement School in Old Deerfield from kindergarten through 9th grade, she had learned how to swim at DA and had even had track meets and field hockey games there. Moreover, she had attended the DASAC arts summer camp there.

We visited again all the schools that she had been accepted to, and the second visit day at DA (one of these took place again last Friday at which my daughter was a day student representative panelist) , among other experiences, people, and data, convinced Alexandra that DA was the school for her.

She has loved the education that she has received and the friends that she has made at DA.

The Atlantic has an article on how the Chinese from the mainland have discovered U.S. private schools and Deerfield is singled out in the article, along with the mention of the admissions director, Ms. Gimbel. Even in elementary school at Bement, my daughter had female classmates who were from China and Korea.

The article, written by Helen Gao, who is herself a Deerfield Academy graduate, is titled: "How China's New Love Affair with U. S. Private Schools is Changing Them Both." In the article, a Chinese mother, Zhang, hopes that her early efforts will lead to a good life for her son, which she believes lies in America. She mentions the country's more leisurely lifestyle and its comprehensive healthcare system. But its greatest promise, she says, is the culture of fairness, which rewards diligence and talent first. "In China everything is based on connection. Things like getting a promotion depend on too many factors. In America, as long as you work hard and deliver results, you will distinguish yourself."

Not only are U.S. private schools now international magnets and, one must remember, that there is only so much capacity in them, but the US colleges and universities are as well.

I do not envy the hard-working high school student with all the challenges today and pressure to succeed and all the competition, which has become international. When students with 8 AP courses and grades of 5 on all such exams get rejected from elite colleges, I truly wonder.

But then again, it is, ultimately, what you accomplish after you receive your education that matters and the mark that you leave on the people, your community, and the world.

Next Friday, one of my doctoral students, Min Yu, who is from China, will be defending her doctoral dissertation on time-sensitive supply chains at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. She is an outstanding student and scholar with an exceptional work ethic and generosity of spirit as well as kindness and thoughtfulness -- all of which will serve her well as she assumes a faculty position in the Fall.