With the start of recruiting season for summer internships for Juniors, the words "connections" and "networking" have been thrown around so often that I think the two year olds in Leverett D-hall know how to say it. There is something about those two words that I greatly dislike. I don't like the idea of having to talk someone up, and acting like one is interested in something that they're clearly not into, to get a job. This type of attitude and life style was just something else that I was completely foreign to and had to adapt to.
Where I come from, being the realest a person can be is being the best a person can be. No one likes it when "anyone puts on airs" or "tries to 'rise above' their station" (Lecture 12: The Working Class). It is highly looked down upon to try to act like what someone is not. As mentioned in Lecture 14: Crossing Class Boundaries, "Lower income students talked about character traits as class advantages," they include:
• Hard work
• Appreciation
• Self-reliance
• Frugality
In lower class culture, it is believed that one should not rely on others for opportunities, that one should always work their hardest to get where they can instead of "shining another person's shoes" as in a Chinese saying. Yet, at Harvard this is the type of attitude one should use to secure a future in the career of their choice. This attitude and culture is just something that I do not necessarily approve of, but have come to accept as a way of life.
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