In American society, however, we cling to the idea of desert. Equality of opportunity is of the greatest importance, and success is only admired if society imagines that it was genuinely earned and not inherited from a fortunate set of life circumstances. In order to maintain this sense of equality, we have a compulsion to tie important opportunities, like attending a prestigious college, to work previously done and, further, to conclude from this connection that those opportunities are deserved. We argue that such a perspective is fundamentally wrong.
There is no question that Duke students have all done very well in high school, nor is there much doubt that it took a decent amount of determination, hard work and sacrifice to get here. Congratulating students on past achievements, however, is not valuable without communicating to them that their societal responsibilities are even greater now that they are here. External parties, like recruiters from top financial firms, only serve to strengthen the excessive validation and reinforcement of self-worth that students at elite universities already receive in unhealthy and unproductive amounts. As a result, a divide between us—the students at Duke—and them—the students who were not admitted—emerges and fosters attitudes of condescension and disdain.
Perhaps Duke students do deserve to be here because of our efforts in high school, but in order to truly “deserve” the Duke degree, we need to do far more than passively coast through eight semesters of classes. There exists a temptation to become complacent and think that we have "already made it." The reality is that this approach to a Duke experience, even if it is not coupled with an attempt to engage with course material, is probably going to put Duke students in better stead than most students in the country, all because of the word "Duke" at the top of our transcript. Indeed, students at Duke are often sheltered from bigger social issues, making it easy for them to forget about those issues and instead turn to exciting, career-oriented pursuits.
Society does not owe us the opportunities associated with a top education. Instead, it invests in us because it deems that we have the potential to contribute to society. Desert is not what admissions officers look for when they evaluate a candidate. In the end, they select the candidates whom they feel are likely to gain the most from the University and produce the greatest societal return on investment. Because of the rich personal benefits that come from attending a top college, we remain very much obliged to give back to our communities.
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