Harvard, the next generation

[Gob]

What are the views and experiences of the bright young things leaving Harvard University this summer?

These will be the movers and shakers in US society in the years ahead, many of them about to step into influential jobs in business and government.

Harvard's in-house magazine has provided a fascinating snapshot of this young US elite, based on a sample of about half of this year's leavers.

How do these offspring of the internet age view the world?

Perhaps most startling - and saying something about the pressures and practices of modern students - 42% had sought mental health counselling during their time at Harvard.

This is a profile of a year group by numbers - so there's no commentary to explain these figures.

But if these are going to be the politicians and financial leaders of the future, there are 17% who admitted to cheating during their studies. And they were suspicious of each other, estimating that 53% of their classmates had cheated.

Among those planning to enter government or politics, 39% have used marijuana while students.

There are 15% of Harvard graduates who are gay - and this survey shows widespread acceptance of same-sex marriage.

Among college leavers who identify themselves as "conservative or very conservative" there are 59% who support same-sex marriage.

In terms of politics, 80% of these youngsters who voted said they backed former Harvard student, Barack Obama at the 2012 presidential election.

They are much more liberal than the general population - with 59% describing themselves as liberal or very liberal, compared with 14% who are conservative or very conservative.

These graduates are also an example of a deep geographical divide, which in turn represents a social divide. They are disproportionately likely to come from four places - New York, Washington DC, Massachusetts or California.

And a huge 64% of them intended to live in one of these four clusters.

In terms of career aspirations, the most popular destinations are finance, consultancy and technology.

Only 26% of people planning to go into finance described themselves as "liberal or very liberal".

In this mosaic of US identity, fewer than two in five, 38%, are atheists or agnostic.

There are contrasting experiences among their private lives. There are 21% who will leave university as virgins - while 12% claim to have more more than 10 sexual partners while students.

The most typical response was to have had two sexual partners while at university.

Among male students, 48% said they regularly watched pornography, while 59% of female students said they never watched pornography.

For both male and female students, social life often involved drinking alcohol.

More than a third of ethnic minority students reported feeling "marginalised because of their race" while at university.

It represents a fragmented view of America's gilded youth, the people who could be mid-century US leaders - not really fitting into any neat categories and with sharply polarised personal experiences.

[Sue U]

Could not care less what this year's Harvard grads think. I'll tell you what I find shocking, though:

there are 17% who admitted to cheating during their studies. And they were suspicious of each other, estimating that 53% of their classmates had cheated.

So they believe most of their peers are cheaters and one in six actually admits to cheating. My experience has been that the people most likely to suspect others of general dishonesty are dishonest themselves. There appears to be a high slime factor in this class.

Also shocking:

Among those planning to enter government or politics, 39% have used marijuana while students.

***

There are 21% who will leave university as virgins - while 12% claim to have more more than 10 sexual partners while students.

Good grief, what a waste of four prime years; what else is university for?

[Big RR]

Among college leavers who identify themselves as "conservative or very conservative" there are 59% who support same-sex marriage.

That surprised me; apparently we have fiscal conservatives who eschew the tea party/religious right social conservative values. Maybe there is hope for the right side of the aisle.

[Long Run]

Doesn't surprise me at all, as the same sex marriage issue is mainly a generational/religious/flexible thinking issue, not a typical conservative/liberal divide. In fact, nothing in the survey surprised me, other than the high level of cheating (as Sue notes), with social results being normal for any college, and the political results fitting nicely into how the conservative press stereotypes the Ivy League. One might be surprised by what seems a high level of those seeking mental health counseling, but when you factor in treatment for conditions like ADHD, and that there are high expectations leading to added pressure, it is not surprising (and probably not that much higher than at many other non-Ivy colleges).

[Big RR]

I guess the reason it surprised me is that most people who self identify as "conservative" (or "very conservative") tend to be socially conservative and usually aligned with the religious right as well. I know some who identify themselves as "fiscally conservative/socially moderate (or left leaning)", but they usually say that to distinguish themselves from the teapartiers et al., and I didn't see that here. They seem to equate conservatism with something other than traditional family/religious values, something that I do think bodes well for future conservative movements.

[dgs49]

The gay marriage thing is definitely generational. This generation has been bred to believe that things that are not overtly "harmful" are fine and should be permitted. I expect that a generation from now, there will be few restrictions, if any, on gambling, prostitution, drug use, and so on.

Interesting that nobody mentioned the 15% gay number, which is off the charts when compared to the population at large, where self-identified gays are in the 2% range.

[rubato]

"... This generation has been bred to believe that things that are not overtly "harmful" are fine and should be permitted. ... "

How do you 'breed' people to believe something? Tell us how that is done. I would like to breed people to believe in empiricism and reject religion and other forms of superstition.


yrs,
rubato

[Scooter]

Interesting that nobody mentioned the 15% gay number, which is off the charts when compared to the population at large, where self-identified gays are in the 2% range.

Because the 2% number is bullshit, based on biased surveys using ridiculous criteria like excluding anyone who had even one opposite sex sexual encounter in the previous 10 years.