Friday, August 20, 2010

Postscript

Here is a another thought about going to prestige colleges that I had today; it is related to the posting I did Wednesday. A motivation for parents spending the extra money to sent their children to prestigious colleges is the "making friends of/finding a marriage partner of higher social class" issue.

At one time many young people found marriage partners in college. Those who went to more prestigious colleges, colleges which cost more to attend, tended to marry into families of higher social class.

This is less true today as many wait until in their 30s to marry, a fact of which parents are not completely aware. It is still true that many students make lifelong friends in college, particularly if they join a fraternity or sorority.

Social class is, of course, one of those elephant in the room issues in America. Most people recognize its existence but talking about it isn't polite. Here at COTTonLINE we talk about social class.