Posted on 06/04/2006 7:06:09 PM PDT by Brilliant
DEHRA DUN, India -- At the Doon School, near the foothills of the Himalayas, life is spartan. The 500 boys enrolled here bathe together in communal showers. In winter, they pore over textbooks in rooms with no heat. Cellphones are forbidden and parental visits are kept to a minimum.
For 71 years, Doon has supplied India with business leaders and well-known writers such as Vikram Seth. Even Rajiv Gandhi, the late prime minister, suffered the school's famously bad food. Now Doon is taking its uniformed students in a new direction: up the U.S. corporate ladder.
The head of Citigroup Inc.'s North American credit-card business is a Doon alumnus. So too is a Merrill Lynch & Co. senior currency executive. From Raytheon Co. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Doon is supplying a new old boys' network in an increasingly international business world.
Many of the Doon alumni say they are still driven by the school's humbling culture. Vikram Malhotra, head of McKinsey & Co.'s New York office, recalls the pain of failing to earn one of the school's coveted blazers, awarded for excellence. "Imagine 500 boys, homogenous in what they wear, and the only way you could stand out is if you wore a blue blazer if you were good in sports and a black blazer if you were good in academics," says Mr. Malhotra...
Even as Doon graduates penetrate the upper ranks of corporate America, the school draws criticism that it is out of step with the times. The headmaster is pushing for reforms -- such as heating the study rooms -- but he faces some opposition from alumni.
And proposed national legislation may mandate that private schools set aside a quarter of their places for underprivileged students...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Hard work, discipline, pride, effort, commitment...
Damn those Indians!!
America is for sale to the lowest bidder.
ping
"The head of Citigroup Inc.'s North American credit-card business is a Doon alumnus. So too is a Merrill Lynch & Co. senior currency executive.
Somehow, I don't think these guys were selected because they are willing to take a low salary.....
Our American schools were once as good, but then RAT-based socialism and gummint interference ruined the schools and dumbed down the nation's students. When will America wake up? When will Bush close down the Dept. of Education as he promised? When will parents eliminate the teachers Unions? When, exactly, will the porkers begin to fly so I can get my camera ready?
Aren't we really missing the important question.. what do these policies do these kids self esteem?
India, don't make us bomb you. Know your role.
Somehow I don't see the correlation between giving the names of two foreign educated CEOs and my statement that America is for sale to the lowest bidder. Are you claiming that the massive outsourcing of American manufacturing and tech. jobs to the lowest bidders is a myth? Are you claiming that the unbridled influx of millions of illegal aliens isn't allowed by government so they can work for cheaper salaries than American citizens?
Yes, let's deport all those Eton grads running around Wall Street. They might be illegals.
If they're "running around Wall street", I'll assume they have legit jobs, are registered with the government, are paying income taxes like everyone else, aren't driving uninsured cars, and aren't drawing welfare benefits, education benefits and getting free medical care. But if they are illegals, deport them all, whether they're "running around Wall Street" or living eight families per apartment in Texas.
i would take articles like these with a pinch of salt. india is notorious for its hierarchical society. this school is probably for wealthy kids. i doubt if merit or fair selection had a say in this.
They say in the article that it's mainly wealthy kids, but that they are under increasing pressure to increase the allotment of their admissions of the untouchable class. I suppose that they don't have much difficulty finding enough rich kids who are smart, though, in a nation of 1 billion.
india has a large affirmative action program. probably the largest in the world. i am sure there are many rich "untouchables". india is an example of why quotas are a bad choice. i believe quotas in some colleges are 70%. which leaves only 30% of the seats for general admission!!
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