The Top .05%
One of our students is getting conducting an internship at a nonprofit this summer. It's actually a "lipstick on a pig" type of situation, in which a fancy consulting outfit runs this very competitive "summer consultancy program" in which it farms out ivy leaguers to financially strapped organizations. "Buddy," the student in question, would never have chosen this gig if it hadn't been dubbed a "consultancy," and if he hadn't been rejected by the real consultants at McKinsey, Monitor, and all the other places where they only hire juniors and seniors.
All of our students get a site visit at some point during the summer to ensure that all is well in intern-land. In general, intern-land tends to be pretty sweet. Many of our 20-year-old students work with computers, and they get paid a lot (the record so far is $35 an hour.). The students who work in finance or who actually get the McKinsey/Monitor consulting jobs also get paid big bucks and live for free in penthouses in NYC and see clients in high-rise buildings with orchids in the lobbies.
Well, Buddy's "client" is a 4-person nonprofit organization that operates out of an inner-city warehouse. He is getting a stipend of $2,ooo, which works out to $5/hr. . And his project is to develop software for an inventory system. To his enormous credit, Buddy is not a computer science major and has never developed software before.
Somehow he has figured out how to do this, and he very proudly told me about his work and how the experience has really changed his career interests and that he is now interested in social enterprise and small business development. I was thrilled until he said, "But the organization is getting the sweetest deal ever. I mean, it's ridiculous. I'm in the top .05% of the smartest people on this planet, and they're getting me for $5/hr."
I was stunned. I retorted that he was getting not just $5 but experience, connections, learning, exposure, blah blah, but in retrospect so are his classmates that are getting $35/hr. It is lame that he is getting paid so little. But the lameness has nothing to do with his unbelievably arrogant (though probably accurate) assertion of his brilliance. I may follow up with an email that says that everyone deserves to be fairly compensated for his/her work. And that while he may be in a very high percentile of brilliance in a certain genre of smarts, he may be way down there in kinesthetic intelligence, emotional intelligence, social intelligence (definitely) ... and as we all know there are many ways to be smart. And on top of everything? He's had an exceptional level of privilege to hone and develop his gifts. There may be a ton of people he encounters every day, getting paid minimum wage at the mall, who could have the same abilities as he does, but not the opportunities to develop them at a fancy school. He may not be quite as unique as he thinks.
If you have anything else I should add to the email (other than "you arrogrant bastard," let me know).
Posted by Dori at 9:44 AM
3 Comments
Damn, you threw me off with the stipulation of "no arrogant bastard."
It shouldn't amaze me that the level of entitlement is there. I always tell the girl chldren (when I or someone else compliment them on their cuteness or prettiness, "It's better to be smart than pretty, and it's better to be kind than to be smart." I don't want to downplay the fact taht they are cute, but top emphasize that it's not everything in life. Sounds like this kid has never been told that smartness is not always the most prized asset. And, if the company is getting a better deal, he needs to remember that it is a deal he signed up for. I think my niece may very well be as smart as this boy, but she has Asperger's which certainly screws with the social skills. Even without a diagnosis, I think some really smart people don't communicate very well.
I know many very smart people making far less than $35 an hour. Way too many, in fact.
PS--Just started reading the book "This is ZMY Daughter" you recommended. I'll let you know what I think.
He should pay for that comment with some sort of social skills offender mandatory training. Perhaps a week in a "real" low wage job ... fast food, maybe?
If you haven't already addresses his arrogantness, I would add that smarts only get you so far in the world and in life because what a lot of slightly less smart people realize is that their ability to truly work hard to accomplish something are more likely to beat him in the long run. While being intelligent is a gift not to be undervalued (along with the privilege that gets you the opportunity to enhance your intelligence) the ability to apply yourself to a project that you think is out of your league and be successful at it can get you a much better education than someone who "knows" how to do something already. He should know that by now given that he's doing something he's never do before and is probably working for the first time. But, a gentle reminder that those who are in the top 1% of the world's intelligence are just a bit of effort away from taking his job.
And if he's "so smart" why didn't he get the $35/hr "prestigious" job?
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