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I'm friends with a gang of three Oxford graduates, who met each other there in the 80s. I know them through mutual interests and like minded mutual friends. The
by simonh 5y ago
I'm friends with a gang of three Oxford graduates, who met each other there in the 80s. I know them through mutual interests and like minded mutual friends. They're just part of the gang, get on with everyone regardless of background.
What you do notice though, is they absolutely know how to work their asses off. They're constantly organising things, writing stuff, offering to edit and help develop other people's work, coming up with new ideas and sharing them. They know how to dig deep into a topic and root out the interesting, fun and unexpected, and do something with it.
There are other people in the community who are much the same, it's a very collaborative community. It's not that they're the only people who stand out, but they're right up there.
- vr46 5y agoI hear you and it’s like this with my school alumni too, but I don’t think that the school and university can take too much credit for this, all these boys (and I went to a boys’ school, if that wasn’t clear) were very much like this at 11 or 13, education just refined and channeled them. This is why I find the self-selecting group quite odd, as membership is only one indicator of common ground.
- simonh 5y agoOh sure, to a large extent top selective schools have great results because they select the best pupils to start with. The question is are they adding the best value; are they the best environment for students that talented to go to. I would hope so, but I suppose it depends what the student wants out of it.
- vr46 5y agoThis is very much a given - start with the best and success is pretty much guaranteed. I am not sure many kids even know the difference between two schools, I certainly had no clue. Perhaps the costs these days - unaffordable - are making students more clued-up?