I don't know whether things have changed in this respect since I left Tigertown 30 years ago, but my impression was that the children of the pampered rich had no particular view of trhe faculty and were not very interested in them unless one or another was unusually entertaining.
The pampered rich were there to meet each other, learn the ways of wealth and Society, join an eating club, get drunk, fuck the "imports" -- I was there shortly after T-town went co-ed and the M-F ratio was probably 3-1, so most of the girls on campus were what were charmingly called "imports" from women's colleges, who were bused onto campus presumably, from theoir point of view, so they could snag a Princeton Man, and from the pov of the male pampered rich were there for more short term interests. (The then-small element of female pampered rich would generally select among the male pampered rich.)
The faculty were the interest of another minority, wierdos like me who thought we were there to learn something (as well as pursue other interests, short or long term), but we didn't view the faculty as hired help.
I bet Yale was the same way in your day, Doug.
On the other hand, I definitely get the sense that students at the law school where I teach do view the faculty is hired help there to assist them in promoting their ends. Perhaps that is natural for a vocational school. I would not be surprised if many students at Wayne State had the same view. Lots of students are very pragmatic, consumerist views toiwards education these days,
How was --- On Tue, 7/22/08, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] teaching the pampered rich at Harvard
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 3:51 PM
> On Jul 22, 2008, at 4:21 PM, Joseph Catron wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 2:39 PM, Doug Henwood
> <dhenwood at panix.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> I doubt many alums of WSU buy newspapers and cut
> the pay of
> >> contributors.
> >
> > Did you see that as the main point of Summers'
> essay?
>
> Well, sorta. To me, his point is that the pampered children
> of our
> elite go to places like Harvard to learn how to make even
> more money
> than they grew up with, and view the faculty as hired help
> that will
> assist them in that goal. According to my sister-in-law,
> who
> graduated from Harvard in 2006, he's right about the
> place, even if
> he does sound like "a fruit salad of sour
> grapes." I doubt that the
> student body at Wayne State is anything like that.
>
> Doug
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