Ipso Facto

From running several student-oriented blogs, I know that lots of people are searching for information about grad school. The search keywords that show up in my traffic logs are telling. “Is -name of school- worth it”, “will a degree from -name of school- look good on my resume” or “will a degree from -name of school- help me get a good job” are three common examples that are typed into Google, and end up on my blogs.

But one thing I don’t see nearly as often are searches relating to the quality of the programs in question. This is unfortunate, not only because I spent years blogging about research, readings, classroom exercises, and hands-on projects (all indicators of quality and a window into the experience of the grad school programs I attended), but also because it tells me many people don’t care about quality. Rather, the focus is what hiring managers will think of seeing the diploma or school name on a resume.

It’s sad, because grad school can be a wonderful experience for people who feel passionate about a certain topic or hunger for learning. It’s also a hard academic journey that will derail people’s personal lives and careers.

Devin Cole, writing for the Boston Globe, has a nice take on whether or not someone should go to grad school. He writes:

You may be looking at grad school for engineering, art, or business. Whatever the field may be, go because you want to and are excited by thought of it. Go because you know its worth giving up whatever else you might do for a few years.

Don’t go just to boost your resume.

Don’t go because you think you’ll make more money.

And don’t go because you don’t know what else to do.

In other words, go to grad school for the right reasons. If it’s just about getting a few lines of text on your resume, or improving your standing in the eyes of friends, families, or coworkers, be honest with yourself about your priorities and what really matters in life.

I don’t tell people too much about my middle school experience. I attended a private school in Newton, Massachusetts, called the Fessenden School, which is currently embroiled in a terrible sex scandal. I’ll talk about my own experience first, before getting in to contents of a letter I just received from the school. The scandal goes much further than the initial reports of a single pedophile assistant headmaster at the school.

I attended Fessenden in the early 1980s. I hated it. It was the type of place where put-downs and other small cruelties reigned, and kids’ personality flaws were amplified. A strict social hierarchy emerged, with the jocks and some of the cruelest kids at the top, and the frailest and neediest kids on the bottom.

Some teachers were good, but there were a few who participated in the cruelty-based social structure. I remember one time being picked up by my lapels and screamed at by a teacher with his face just inches away from my own, for making the mistake of visiting one of my friend’s dorms during the day. He was the beloved “house master” of the dorm, and this was how he informed me that visitors were not allowed during the day. I was shocked and absolutely terrified.

A lot of the boys (there were no girls) were children of the wealthy, who were parked there by their parents who were seeking some sort of Americanized version of a British boarding school, with apple-cheeked young preppies marching around in blazers and ties. As a day student who lived nearby, I didn’t have to deal with the sleepover aspect of the Fessy experience. But it was pretty sad, especially for some of the youngest boys. If they were lucky, they got to go home for the weekend. If they weren’t so lucky, they were there seven days a week. Every weekend, I would see small packs from this group walking down to the local village center to buy candy and magazines. My parents, who still live in the area, tell me that the same sad ritual continues.

I have only a few positive memories of the school. There was a winter nature trip to Western Mass. with a small group of students led by a wonderful teacher named Mr. Olsen. There was also a hands-on experience learning about computers and programming from Mr. Carey, our British CS instructor and a roomful of Apple II+ and Apple IIe computers. That sparked an interest in technology that continues to this day, with my startup that is creating a Craigslist app.

But most of my time there was not fun. After 8th grade, I couldn’t stand Fessenden anymore, and happily returned to the Newton public school system. I haven’t had any contact with Fessenden School or my classmates for over 20 years. As a parent, I would never consider putting my own kids through such an experience, even before the news that just came to light.

A few days ago, there were some reports in the Boston Globe about abuse carried out by one of Fessenden’s assistant headmasters, Arthur Clarridge, in the mid to late 1970s. That was bad enough, but the letter I just received from the current headmaster David Stettler (reproduced below) is positively horrifying. It’s not just a case of one bad apple for a few years in the 1970s, but a pattern of alleged abuse and “inappropriate sexual behavior” at Fessenden or involving Fessenden students starting in the 1960s, continuing through the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. As recently as the late 2000s, a teacher was apparently engaged in sexual contact with a just-graduated student, and was fired in June 2010. Fessenden’s response? Informing the parents, and filing the “required documentation” with the state. It’s only after the Globe report that the school has begun to let everyone else know about the investigations, and to offer counseling to anyone who was victimized.

It’s too little, too late. In my mind, a hierarchical school culture that is buttressed by cruelty and physical bullying, aided by successive administrations who wanted to sweep allegations of abuse under the rug, led to repeated incidents of this nature, and needless emotional trauma for the victims. Although Fessenden undoubtedly wants this news to disappear, they should be doing everything in their power to:

1. Determine which faculty, staff, and students were responsible for sexually abusing other students
2. Report the incidents to the police and DAs office, not just to satisfy the minimum “required documentation” rules, but to help authorities prosecute anyone who has broken laws relating to abuse or sexual assault
3. Re-examine the cultural aspects that allowed this state of affairs to persist for decades, with an eye toward developing a plan to make concrete changes that will not only protect students, but also help them thrive in a way that truly brings out the best parts of their character and the best elements of the community.

The letter from the school can be viewed by clicking on the images below:

About: My name is Ian Lamont. I am an Extension School graduate and the co-founder of Invantory, which provides a Craigslist app for people interested in buying and selling furniture, computers, cars, electronics, tools, toys, strollers, bikes, and household items. For sellers, it’s safer and quicker than using a PC (just a minute or two to create a listing using a mobile phone!) and lets buyers discover interesting items to buy using alerts, photos, and maps. You can sign up for Invantory product updates or request service in your city or town.

Everest Institute is located in Brighton, just a few miles from Harvard. But unlike the folks who attend Harvard to get a liberal arts education or study business, law or medicine, most Everest students aspire to be medical assistants, working in doctors’ offices and hospitals. Almost all are women, most from working-class and/or immigrant backgrounds.

I became pretty well acquainted with the school through a family member who completed her medical assisting training at Everest, and even visited a few times to see what the curriculum was like and help decipher some paperwork. She recently received a letter from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office; apparently Everest (owned by Corinthian Colleges Inc.) is being investigated on several fronts. I observed a few problems relating to recruitment, job placement, and financing, as described in the linked blog post.

The first “real” post will come in the next few weeks. Stay tuned …