There has been a lot of debate in The Dartmouth this term about social class and the best ways to spend your time at Dartmouth. While a lot of angles have been debated, I think there have been some sides of the issue that have been skirted.
Like most of you, I came to Dartmouth to learn. And I have. Yeah, I learned about organic chemistry and Spanish grammar, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the kind of learning not taught in classrooms, or maybe even on the Dartmouth campus. I'm referring to a knowledge of the world that comes from experiencing it.
Scott Brown, Dean of the Tucker Foundation, recently wrote a column ["The Growing Economic Class Divide," Oct. 20, The Dartmouth] to raise awareness on campus about the widening differences between social classes in this country. Social class difference is an issue that is often ignored here on campus. I have noticed that people in this school have a lack of perspective on how the world really lives. Dean Brown was trying to combat the ignorance that was wonderfully expressed in Abiola Lapite's response two days later ["Inequality of Wealth is a Force for Good", Oct. 22, The Dartmouth.]
My point is that maybe students shouldn't talk about the amazing educational equalizer that exists in our school system until they've worked with high school students who have never been given a textbook. Or complain about sloth being the cause of poverty until they've seen people slaving to earn food, provide heat and pay medical bills without a single chance to save any income. When you have met people who cannot afford a telephone or electricity, you realize that there is no level playing field for them.
I have seen these things, and many more that are indescribable. I have seen them here in the Upper Valley, and I saw them in southeastern Kentucky last spring when I went on a Tucker fellowship to the Frontier Nursing Service. I learned more about humanity from a five minute visit with a family living in a cardboard shack in Appalachia then I ever will from a term of classes at Dartmouth. I am not debating that America is one of the easiest countries in which to move up the economic ladder, because it is. The American dream is a great thing. However, there are people in the world, and in this country, who can't afford to dream, aren't physically able to dream or were never taught to dream. The belief that intelligence does and should beget privilege has become a fundamental fallacy of American society today.
While giving all of your hard-earned cash to poverty is a nice idea, it doesn't get anyone too far. Giving time and energy is much better, but it will still only have a local effect. It is only when awareness is raised about the reasons behind poverty that something can begin to happen to narrow the economic gap between the rich and the poor in this country. It is institutions like Dartmouth that have the influence and ability to educate the next generation about such issues. There are numerous ways at this school to learn about poverty; many of them are offered through the Tucker Foundation. It won't be spoon-fed to you as a graduation requirement, but you'll learn a lot more than you will sitting in a classroom. And maybe if enough people start to look around them, personality traits such as "ruthlessness" won't be deemed values anymore.
