Princeton FML

July 29, 2010 | 13 Comments | Post Comment

Score: +8 / -17

• Truth 3:14 am on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  

  Actually it seems pretty accurate to me. Princeton IS full of “toolish” kids. Surprise! You’re probably one of them and felt offended.

• This Guy 3:17 am on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  

  Hey, David Brooks is a pretty smart dude, and I generally respect his opinion. So while I think he might have jumped the gun on this one, at the same time, even though he noted a physics professor’s comments, I feel that due to his field, he would have had more connections in the politics/econ/woody woo areas of Princeton, where a greater abundance of tools generally reside.

  That, and these students were students recommended by professors. It’s an honest question to wonder what type of student a professor would welcome to a journalist who would thereupon write an article that would represent his employer : a protesting, unconventional, quirky one, or one that behaves well, and fits nicely into a “good,” clean, sanitary view of things. So when you consider that his conclusion of students as driven “by the carrot, not the stick,” it’s somewhat more reasonable, because a lot of students in those majors want some sort of “establishment” position, and they seem pretty geared towards the “business professional” way of life.

  I probably can’t speak for the whole school, but I feel that if he had spoken to a different portion of students, the odds of finding different perspectives would have vastly increased. I know, for instance, that a lot more math/science than econ/orfe majors want to study their subject for the sake of their subject, or want to legitimately change the status quo (in terms of breaking new academic ground), and help the world.

  • PHY 3:48 am on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    

    +1. My life at Princeton doesn’t involve constantly running from one scheduled commitment to the next, nor do I want it to. There isn’t a single Princeton “type”.

    • not phy 11:51 am on July 29, 2010 Permalink
      

      +1 for samesies

    • Do you see what you did there? 3:00 pm on July 29, 2010 Permalink
      

      Irony FTW, “not phy”?

• hahaha 4:21 am on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  

  “They are facing, it still appears, the sweetest job market in the nation’s history. Investment banks flood the campus looking for hires.”

  oh how times have changed

• Nine years too late in your outrage 7:35 am on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  

  Get over it, the article is from fucking 2001.
  And of course it was completely overgeneralized, but if you can’t see the truth in some of what he says you gotta open your eyes.

• Anonymous 9:34 am on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  

  Crew practices are not at dawn. Fail

  • ehhhh 4:32 pm on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    

    I have some friends on the girls’ crew team, and near the end of the year, I’m not sure if they had “official” practices early in the AM, but I know that some boats would definitely have to be out there

• blah blah blah blah blah blah blah 10:25 am on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  

  OP, don’t say that about Brooks. I may not always agree with him, but I’m fairly sure you yourself cannot compare to him.

• well... 11:11 am on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  

  Who better to examine the outside world’s view of Princeton than someone *from the outside world*? How would Princetonians know what the “outside world” really thinks of our school (aside from what we hear in passing)?

  Besides, a lot of what he’s saying is true. Though the perspective may be skewed, spending a few minutes browsing PrincetonFML will confirm the idea that many people here are generally goal-driven and “toolish” in some respect. I’d like to think I’m not a tool but the more time I spend examining my behavior and motivations the more I find I may be more of one than I’d like to admit.

• David Brooks is a moron. 5:53 pm on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  

  http://www.phillymag.com/articles/booboos_in_paradise/
  http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/03/everything_david_brooks_says_a.html
  http://crooksandliars.com/2008/06/03/memo-to-david-brooks-applebees-doesnt-have-a-salad-bar

  Although the article in question is tolerable.

• OP 6:41 pm on July 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  

  As a physics/mathematics major, I probably see Princeton one-sided. I hardly notice the “tools” that Brooks describes. Either way, it’s disgusting. Tools, fyl

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