What is a 'good school'?

           There is an issue that every student becomes sensitive on hearing it: college. Since many students put a lot of meanings in which school they choose to go, choosing which school to apply is a very important matter for everyone. This episode of Revisionist History, Food Fight, is exactly dealing with the matter of what many students may be curious of: college food.

           In the podcast, Malcolm Gladwell specifically contrast the college food of Bowdoin and Vassar, which are both liberal arts college and also situated not that far from each other. Bowdoin is well known for their perfect chef and cafeteria, but food of Vassar is known as ‘depressing’. Until this point, Bowdoin is seemed to provide better service for the students, and perceived to be better than Vassar in terms of student life. However, actually the food of that college has a lot more meaning than just a simple food. The president of Vassar, Catherine Hill has a unique philosophy. She thinks that they should cut down their budget from other parts and focus more on financial aid so that poor smart kids can enroll their school.

           On hearing this podcast, the image of Eric from “Carlos doesn’t remember” overlapped with the image of Catherine Hill. They both had an intention of helping poor smart kinds so that they can actually survive in a competition between the privileged children.

           On the other hand, Bowdoin does not almost care about financial aid, but uses that money to support the college lives of children. For example, lobsters in school meal. Malcolm Gladwell’s point was that Lobster should develop the quality of school meal, but it can never develop the true value of the school.

           Malcolm Gladwell tries to convey his opinion with a quite exaggerated statement by saying that “Go to Vassar. Don’t go to Bowdoin, and don’t let people around you go to Bowdoin.” Some of my classmates said that it is hard for them to understand this statement. However, I totally agree to Malcolm Gladwell. This is not about going or not going. Vassar is in a difficult situation of having wealthy applicants who can fully pay their tuition since they are not able to provide the good living environment they used to live in compared to Bowdoin, which is placed near Vassar. Vassar needs this kind of students in order to maintain their school, but most of these students tend to apply to Bowdoin, which provides good food and good living environment.

           If Vassar fails to attract other applicants who pay their full tuition, they won’t be able to keep their school. But I believe that schools like Vassar should increase. The society should be easier for poor students to study. In order to increase schools like Vassar, the only thing we can do is to apply to Vassar. We don’t need perfect luxury food and living environment, but poor students need education, and they are desperate. We should make a wise decision so that our society becomes a better place for the minorities.