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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNew York Teen Harold Ekeh Gets Accepted to All Eight Ivy League Schools
Good news story - loved how he got this far. Great kid!With no expectations, New York teenager Harold Ekeh applied to 13 colleges, hoping to "maybe" get into Stony Brook University, about an hour east of his home in Elmont, Long Island.
Then, in recent weeks, the cascade of reply letters came pouring in: Harvard. Yes. Yale. Yes. Princeton. Yes. Not only did he get accepted to all of the schools he applied to, those include all eight Ivy League institutions.
"It's very, like, stunning it's like getting hit with a brick, honestly," Ekeh, a 17-year-old senior at Elmont Memorial High School, told NBC News. "When you see congratulations, you're like, wow your hard work has paid off, definitely."
The straight-A student has accomplished the rare feat of getting into all of the nation's Ivies crediting his parents' work ethic for setting an example and a desire to strive in his adopted homeland after emigrating from Nigeria 10 years ago.
<snip>
Read more:
http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/harold-ekeh-17-long-island-gets-accepted-all-eight-ivy-n337506
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)The 1% intentionally select individuals to seed America with future success stories that can then be used to justify a meritocracy that does not exist.
The 1% own and control the system.
Make no mistake.
Heidi
(58,237 posts)Unless the world changes a whole hell of a lot before he graduates, I seriously doubt that the 1 percent is going to let him anywhere near the reins of power.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)The pedigree provides the appearance of success and credibility.
Token positions in the future but no real power.
melman
(7,681 posts)So you've got that going for you.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)"A Common Technique Used When Nothing Better Is Offered..."
Much as your unsupported statements, prognostications and prophecies about the student's future.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
romanic
(2,841 posts)as a "token". Cause ya know, there's not a lot of successful black people that work hard and earn good money out there. /sarcasm
Heidi
(58,237 posts)Unlike many in the 1 percent, this young man will have earned whatever success he achieves.
longship
(40,416 posts)You are projecting your political and emotional opinions on a situation that you know nothing about. Your claims are utter tosh.
Shame on you for maligning a person's motives, one who has obviously worked very hard to get to where he is.
How dare you!
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
romanic
(2,841 posts)You sound like one of those bitter cynics that never accomplished one whiff of success in the eyes of society. Don't shit on this young black man's hard earned success with your foil wrapped turd of an "opinion".
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)- Naval Officer
- Commercial Pilot
- BSEE
- MBA
Enough credentials?
romanic
(2,841 posts)Yet you lack the ability to congratulate someone else for achieving great success and instead want to make it into some conspiracy. That's very sad.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Officers having that attitude. I can see it now, "well why send him to C School when he may want to get a commission later on and be in the elite of the Navy". Can't have those nasty enlisted getting near me as an officer....how nasty would that be. I'd have to talk to them too. Yikes!
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)The youth at least in regard to career guidance because your replies seem to show contempt for success.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)have an immediate negative reaction to a young person who displays great effort and foresight? I have a number of friends who are officers and they would all read this story and feel good about the future of America.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)You don't know this kid. You have no idea what his motivations are, what he wishes to study, nor what he'll decide to do with that knowledge and power after he graduates.
Not everybody who attends a good school is a tool of the 1%.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)Point to some research that shows that "most" graduates of good schools go on to do nothing more than have an "appearance of success and credibility", as you say.
You're full of it. Many people work their asses off to get into these schools, and work their asses off to do well, and work their asses off afterwards to use the footing they've acquired to pay it forward.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)Yeah, there are many 1%ers at elite universities. That goes without saying. That doesn't mean there aren't also many diligent working class people attending such schools who have positive intentions to use the power gained through their education for good. Your tone in this thread delegitimizes the efforts of hard working students and the assertion that they're either tools or the spawn of the elite is blatantly incorrect.
There are countless flaws we can discuss regarding the culture of higher-education, especially ivy-league schools and their elite peers. Dismissing all students as pawns is an obnoxious way to go about it.
"One might not like the insight"
Perfect continuation of your pretentious attitude.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)"Many to most". I asked you to support that statement, you deflected. Figures.
mimi85
(1,805 posts)If so, I honestly feel sorry for you - bleeding heart that I am.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
starroute
(12,977 posts)It took me twenty years to figure out why I'd always felt like an outsider there, why I spent my free time hanging out with the geeks at MIT instead, or why Harvard left me with deep feelings of inadequacy that took me all that time to get past.
What I realized then was that the bright public school students like me and my friends were window dressing. The school was really run for the children of wealth and privilege who were being groomed to take over in the next generation. The most high-profile extracurricular activities were intended to train those people and not for the rest of us. And that the best we were being promised were well-paying careers -- and the chance that a tiny minority would enter the actual elite.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Reducing things down to some shadowy "1%" is also a cop-out.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I imagine many people believe anecdotal evidence is an actual conclusion-- though one may not like to hear it.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Rather he drop the acceptance and attend along Island CC to ensure he stays away from being in the 1 percent. I have seen outlandish posts before but this one takes the cake by a million.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)have to do with your point? That post is also in contradiction to your initial post in this thread.
tenderfoot
(8,438 posts)and that's all there is to it.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)LeftishBrit
(41,212 posts)MBS
(9,688 posts)... and not be swayed by other people's opinions or by distracting, irrelevant issues such as "prestige".
From the article, it sounds like he will make a good and wise decision, for the right reasons, and that he will make the most of his educational opportunities, as he clearly already has.
Good for him!
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Signed,
KamaAina, Y'85, cum laude
MBS
(9,688 posts)Response to KamaAina (Reply #26)
mnhtnbb This message was self-deleted by its author.
mnhtnbb
(31,408 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)It's not like it's that far. There's a ferry from Bridgeport (20 miles from New Haven) to Long Island.
mnhtnbb
(31,408 posts)(My youngest son is a first year grad student at Yale School of Drama.)
He loves it. Feels like he finally "found his people" as he said last fall.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)The University is known for it's Sciences, State Funding for Research, and a State Teaching Hospital. Of course, it doesn't have the name recognition of the Ivy's but.........
I went back to college in my 40's. Suffolk Community College. I cannot tell you how many SCC grads applied to Stony Brook with 3.0/3.5 GPA's and were rejected by Stony Brook as College Transfer Students. Surprised both them, and me. Count the number of your College Honor Societies? Maybe.
Good luck to him, wherever he chooses. He has a very bright future ahead of him.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Hope he chooses well and wisely and makes the most of his great opportunity. Given how smart this kid has to be, I have no doubt he will.
malthaussen
(17,217 posts)Back when I was applying for colleges in '73, the cost just to apply to an Ivy League school was non-trivial. Given that tuition has grown by what, a thousand percent since then, I can't imagine the application is cheap now, though admittedly I have no data on the subject. Sending off apps to all of them seems like overkill, but perhaps I just need a different perspective.
-- Mal
mimi85
(1,805 posts)I'm sure he'll be the recipient of grants, scholarships, etc. Or maybe he'll set up a GoFundMe page -
Initech
(100,108 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)wow, he must be smart!
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)Some of my favorite nurses have been from Nigeria, so if he has half of their compassion he is going to be a great physician.