There was a bit of excitement at Sciences Po yesterday. Some students from the public university broke into Sciences Po in public demonstration of Sarkozy's university reforms. While I believe the movement's gripes are more legitimate than those of the student strike last year, the demonstration yesterday was nothing if not counterproductive.
The demonstrators' number one target was the Sciences Po student body. They interrupted classes, forcing the university to temporarily close all of the buildings, and called the students incestuous perpetuators of an elitist, bourgeois system. I guess I should blame my parents for raising me with two many privileges on the farm.
The thing that got me was that they were more interested in tearing down Sciences Po than building up their own university. I believe in equality, but not if it means holding people back. Sciences Po has been the most progressive of the "elitist" schools in terms of active recruting in depressed communities. There is certainly room to improve, but I think that has more to do with access to better schools at a younger age to prepare students for the selective admission process.
The demonstrators' number one target was the Sciences Po student body. They interrupted classes, forcing the university to temporarily close all of the buildings, and called the students incestuous perpetuators of an elitist, bourgeois system. I guess I should blame my parents for raising me with two many privileges on the farm.
The thing that got me was that they were more interested in tearing down Sciences Po than building up their own university. I believe in equality, but not if it means holding people back. Sciences Po has been the most progressive of the "elitist" schools in terms of active recruting in depressed communities. There is certainly room to improve, but I think that has more to do with access to better schools at a younger age to prepare students for the selective admission process.
