My goal with the Dangerous Ideas series is to be provacative and shake loose some interesting discussion. I think I definitely succeeded with this most recent post on Paul Graham’s essay!
Thank you everyone who e-mailed or left a comment. Here’s the current summary of this feedback [Updated 9/8/07]:
- People are
overwhelmingfor the most part on Paul’s side on this one. - Your reading of his essay is that he was only making the point that we tend to overestimate the importance of where you went to school.
My thinking…
- I also agree! It’s foolish to use college attended as a crucial criteria for evaluating someone.
- My only caveat is that I’m wary when people go beyond that obersvation to begin to put down academic performance as both meaningless in terms of talent, and also indicitive of something negative; e.g., it means you’re a non-creative, obidient drone. I think that’s going too far. I read this subtext in the Graham piece. But, on the other hand, I’m hyper-sensitive to this issue as my book sparks this debate frequently. So it could just be me.
- Thanks for the good discussion!