the elite university student ethics crisis™

matthew sun

@sunnydmatt

reboot 2023 student fellowship

*some caveats

you may not totally identify with this ethics crisis persona

but i have talked to many students who do feel this way

and perhaps some of the analysis will resonate anyway :)

exacerbated by...

conflation of work/self

inflated sense of self-importance

obsession with purity politics

conflation of work/self

• try-hard college students are likely to have internalized a system of self-worth that is based upon their output that is considered valuable and legible to gatekeepers of elite institutions
  • do you instinctively doubt whether you're "actually interested" in XYZ if you haven't joined/founded a club for it, interned at an organization in the space, or written an academic paper on it?
• reminder: most people hate their jobs
  • most people take it as a given that they are so much more than their job description!

inflated sense of self-importance

• because of [xyz accumulated awards], institutions tell you that you are a "leader of tomorrow" and, because of this, you have a special responsibility
  • maybe your parents didn't get a chance to get to college or have the opportunities you do
• you do have a responsibility to the world, and you do have a valuable credential! but "leader of tomorrow" often means getting your foot in the door, not necessarily being able to enact the change you want to see in those spaces
• tl;dr elite college students need to get over themselves a little bit. we're hungry and impatient for change, but collective action is not about individual heroes

obsession with purity politics

• purity politics reinforces a classic idea of an individualized, atomized conception of morality
  • morality is avoiding sin, staying "clean"
  • poorly suited for a world in which wrongdoing is shared & systemic*
• where does it work? (social value of shame - Greek life)
• where doesn't it work?
  • individual choices to abstain from working at FB, Goldman Sachs do nothing to dismantle those systems.
  • "Goldman Sachs doesn't care if you raise chickens"

obsession with purity politics

• purity politics enforced by a culture (particularly at elite universities) of intense judgment / critique of institutions

  • very destabilizing when sense of self has historically been derived from external sources - institutions, peers

  • critique is often not accompanied by a straightforward answer for how to move forward, so exposure to critiques is also particularly difficult for students who have been trained to believe there is a single right answer.

    • "Goldman Sachs is problematic" does not mean "avoid Goldman Sachs" is the only solution

  • identifying a valid critique is important and essential!

• importantly, the point is not to reject the critique because it makes you uncomfortable but to internalize it without becoming paralyzed by guilt

conflation of work/self

inflated sense of self-importance

obsession with purity politics

my sense of worth is derived from my work output.

my responsibility to the world comes from my individual intellect & talents.

the best way to correct problematic institutions is to distance myself from them.

my moral worth comes from my work, art, relationships, family, beliefs, politics, and everything else that matters to me.

my responsibility to the world is derived from my position in a deeply interconnected society.

i will recognize and engage with critique without defaulting to avoidance as the answer.

the end.