Perhaps, but the legitimacy of the complaint really doesn’t ammount to a hill of beans.
That’s the way of the world. Life is, always has been, and always will be grossly unfair. There will always be some jerk who breezes through life, taking opprotunities away from others just because of who he is, who he knows, what clubs he belongs to, or where he went to school. There will always be people who are given “extras” that if things were fair would go to those who worked hard and deserved them. But things don’t come to you in life because you deserve them. You don’t always get what you earned.
Let’s be serious though, the have nots are still going to Harvard and getting a Harvard education. They are already well on their way to making themsleves better off. Are they really going to be demoralized or marginalized by a maid service they can’t afford? I just do not understand what is the issue here? Moping “have-nots”? Hostile “have-nots” fomenting the fires of discontent? The editorial is nonsense.
Slight hijack, but since multiple posters have asked about how one becomes a UC Regents Scholar: (Warning, this information may be out of date, as I went through the process in 1983). It’s like a scholarship or fellowship. You interview for it. I was contacted after I was accepted to UCLA, presumably based on something in my application package, and went in for an interview. I didn’t get the scholarship. My sophomore-year roommate was one, and he said there was a second interview, and that was it.
[/end hijack]
I don’t think this is so much the have-nots complaining as the haves feeling guilty that they’ll be exploiting the have-nots. To which I say, they should feel guilty. Guilty enough to pay a little extra to those sad poor kids that are going to clean their toilets. How much of a tip will pity get you? For the maids’ sakes, I hope it’s a lot.
(Oh yeah and if you can’t tell I think this is a good idea, even if I really don’t see why it’s necessary to hire a maid to clean a dorm room. I’m all for separating rich college kids from their money. More power to the guy who thought this idea up.)
Regent’s scholars are based entirely on academics and are chosen from both within and outside the state of California. The theory is that these are the people who will do great things, get rich, and donate a bunch of money to the schools, so we ought to do anything possible to convince them to go to relatively lowly UC campuses instead of the Ivy Leage or whatever.
I understand the colleges need to woo people who will eventually give deeply, but that doesn’t justify giving them a random set of privledges that takes scarce resources away from everybody else.
The University of California can teach a lot more young people with a school than without. And its just one of those things in life that you tend to need money to run a school.
Whether you view it as a case of the school kissing up to rich people, or as a case of the school acting pro-actively in the behalf of its students so that they can have the chance to provide them with a future is just a matter of outlook. …I’m just more of a the glass is half-full kind of guy.
Here is the University of California system’s page on Regents Scholarships (note that there’s no apostrophe – just like Starbucks). Scholarships may vary from campus to campus, so here is the relevant UC Santa Cruz page.
sven, you are clearly a very intelligent young woman, and the UC system chose to recognize your potential and academic achievement by accepting you to one of their campuses, UCSC (maybe more than one – I don’t know your application details). This gave you access to a huge academic infrastructure that is not available to everyone (not even all Californians), just those that UC determined were worthy. You have profited from this system, and I doubt that anyone reading this would begrudge you that benefit; all higher education systems have a certain degree of academic elitism, in order to somewhat limit access to resources to those who will benefit most.
Now, it so happens that the UC system deems some candidates so worthy – based on academic excellence and promise – that it awards them a Regents Scholarship with certain privileges (a stipend, special housing, and class-registration priority). This is merely an extension of what you were offered. If you want to complain that “academically-gifted people should not have preferential access to educational resources”, then you will have to deny all of the benefits that you yourself gained by being in the upper ranks of graduating HS students in California.
I doubt that your ‘theory’ that Regents Scholars become significantly wealthier than other alumni, and then donate large sums of money, has any evidence supporting it. I know several former UC Regents Scholars, and although they are all incredibly intelligent, money-making is not a highly-prized trait among them (they would make great Dopers, however!). If UC were going for large alumni donations, it would preferentially award Regents Scholarships in those fields (e.g. Business or Law) in which salaries tend to be higher, and I see no evidence that this is the case. I’m sure that UC wants to see their Regents Scholars excel in their chosen fields, but excellence does not always translate to financial reward. [Something tells me that you’ll agree with that last sentence!]
It is in the interest of the UC system to admit very smart students, even if they don’t end up as great financial benefactors.
[One can certainly debate whether or not it is a good idea to take a bunch of academic high-achievers and put them in the same dorm rather than let them mingle with the regular students. The times that I’ve been in Regents Scholar dorms, I’ve felt a massive increase in the local Geek Factor (rather like coming to the SDMB ), but I have to admit that it Felt Like Home.]
[nitpick] Colby College is in Waterville, Maine.
[/nitpick]
It may seem like a small point, but Colby (together with Bates and Bowdoin) have had a bit of a reputation as “finishing schools” for Massachusetts kids. This has led (in the past at least, I don’t know about now) to a discord between local students from Maine and the Massachusetts “outsiders”, who in general have been much wealthier (making this relevant to the OP) and have had a tendency to look down somewhat on the locals as being less sophisticated (this information courtesy of an ex-girlfriend of mine who was born and raised in Maine, and attended Colby).
When you factor in the historical perspective (that Colby was founded in 1813, and that Maine split off from Massachusetts in 1820 to become a new state), you can see where those of a certain sensibility might object to your otherwise-trivial error. It’s the equivalent of calling Harvard a British University!
I think it’s a great opportunity for those who want to choose that line of work. I am curious why someone would want to work for this guy when it seems like the cost of entry is pretty low and any student can ‘hang out a shingle’ if they wish to provide this service.
), but I have to admit that it Felt Like Home.]