Jared Kushner was admitted to Harvard the year after his father made a $2.5 million donation to the university. When the Chapo Trap House guys – the self-proclaimed spokesmen of the "Dirtbag Left"– wanted to talk about legacy admissions, Jared Kushner was the guy they zeroed in on. Not that he was an idiot or anything, but nobody thinks he would have gotten into Harvard if he had not been from a wealthy, well-connected family.
But he has done Harvard proud. He graduated with honors while running Somerville Building Associates in his spare time, earning $20 million before he graduated. He went on to marry Donald Trump's daughter and be a "Senior White House Advisor" throughout Trump's first term, during which he helped to negotiate the Abraham Accords. Now he seems to have played a key part in negotiating the Gaza cease fire. I suppose the real reason for this agreement was the exhaustion of the two sides, but somebody had to fly around haggling over the details, and it seems that Kushner helped to do this.
It drives many Americans crazy that Ivy League universities admit people like Jared Kushner. But seen from their point of view, it makes perfect sense.
No university has a mission statement that says, "we propose to educate the students with the highest test scores." They frame their missions in terms of the impact they want to have on the world.
Harvard thinks a Harvard education is an extremely valuable thing. You may disagree, but their strategy is based on that belief. They wish to bestow that value where it will do the most good. They are not especially interested in bestowing that benefit on nerds who go on to be doctors and professors. They would rather bestow it on the people who will lead America and the world.
And they know, from several thousand years of human experience, that people from wealthy, prominent families are much more likely to end up in leadership positions than the rest of us. You may think that is unfair, but it cannot be denied.
So they take in some not especially smart rich kids and educate them because they hope that when they end up in those leadership roles, they will do better because of what Harvard taught them.
That is the strategy.
Given that Trump seems bent on waging war against Harvard, it may be that their involvement with the Trump and Kushner families will not work out well for them. But I would bet that Harvard will survive this fight and go on much as it always has, and meanwhile one of their guys is peacemaking his way into history.
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But I would bet that Harvard will survive this fight and go on much as it always has, and meanwhile one of their guys is peacemaking his way into history.
A reminder that Jared Kushner is the man who said that Israel should remove civilians from the Gaza Strip so that its "waterfront property" could be developed into luxury resorts.
Do we call such men peacemakers, these days? Men who directly advocate for invasion and conquest, and then turn around and pretend to play peacemaker, taking false credit for something they had essentially nothing to do with? This is like an arsonist being credited for fighting a fire they moments ago were pouring fuel on, while all the real work of putting the flames out is done thanklessly by actual firemen.
We're back to the Nixon era, it seems, with our own modern day Kissinger (minus the intellect or charisma) being lauded for helping to "make peace"!
Harvard thinks a Harvard education is an extremely valuable thing. You may disagree, but their strategy is based on that belief. They wish to bestow that value where it will do the most good. They are not especially interested in bestowing that benefit on nerds who go on to be doctors and professors. They would rather bestow it on the people who will lead America and the world.
If if you believe this, John, then how do you account for the continued operation of all the various Harvard schools and divisions which do not produce leaders and politicians?
What is Harvard Medical for? Or Harvard Divinity? Or Harvard Law? Or the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences? Or the Graduate School of Education? Or the Graduate School of Design? Or the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences? Et cetera?
It seems very strange to imagine that Harvard only wishes to bestow their valuable education on people who will America and the world, when the vast majority of what they do has absolutely NOTHING to do with leadership roles.
...almost as strange as the fantastical notion that Harvard could somehow be able to tell if a prospective student will go on to be a leader of America and the world... based purely on whether or not A) they are rich enough to afford to bribe the university to give them preferential admission and B) their parents were able to do the same thing previously...
And they know, from several thousand years of human experience, that people from wealthy, prominent families are much more likely to end up in leadership positions than the rest of us. You may think that is unfair, but it cannot be denied.
This is circular logic, John.
You're saying that they are right to favor wealthy individuals, because historically wealthy individuals are the ones who end up in leadership roles. But what you neglect to observe is that the REASON why wealthy individuals wind up in leadership roles is because they are favored over less wealthy individuals when it comes to deciding who gets to receive something like a prestigious Harvard education, which is one of the criterion we use to select our leaders.
Next you'll be arguing for Divine Right of Kings, based on the faultless logic that elites must be favored by god, otherwise they wouldn't be so rich and influential, and thus so well equipped to obtain and keep crowns!
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