“’I’ll roast and burn them,’ an angry McDonald said Tuesday, saying Harvard offered an ‘insulting’ $7,500 for a collection that includes Greener’s 1870 Harvard diploma and was appraised at $65,000.”
No matter for how much they're appraised, they're worth precisely what someone is willing to pay for them.
Nonetheless, there is some reason to wonder whether he's telling the truth. From the same article:
“A Harvard spokesman declined to comment on the ultimatum, but a university source familiar with the negotiation says it offered McDonald ‘significantly more’ than $7,500.”
In any event, if he feels Harvard has made an insufficient offer, he's free to sell them to whomever he wants.
The threat to burn the documents is irrational. If he can get a higher bidder, then he can take that amount and thumb his nose at Harvard, if he so desires. If no one offers more than Harvard did, then he (and his appraiser) were mistaken in the true value of the documents in the first place.
This, though, is egregious bullshit to emotionalize the issue:
“McDonald, an African American whose own education ended at Calumet High School, says he just wants a fair price for what’s left of the collection ‘so my 9-year-old twins can have the chance I didn’t and go to college if they want to.’”
If Mr. McDonald doesn't make much money, there are many programs that will provide financial aid to his children. If they're relatively-average, but college-ready kids when they graduate high school, they may not be able to afford toney private universities that will take them, but they will likely be able to afford, at little or no expense, community college and then state university.
If they're much brighter than average, there will be public and private schools that will offer them affordable scholarship packages.
If they're really, really smart, they will have offers to go to school for free.
If, for example, his kids can get accepted to Harvard (no mean feat), unless he's making more than $65K per year, they're going free. And frankly, that's pretty much the case at most of the elite colleges and universities in the United States. If you can manage to be admitted, and your household income is pretty much right around the median income for families, you're going to go free or nearly so.
At Harvard, financial aid doesn't completely phase out until your family has family income of nearly $250K per year, or you have a bunch of financial assets outside your retirement accounts.
sitetest
Threatening to burn them was wrong. I’m only saying they should be sold to the highest bidder, and offers from Harvard should be rejected (even if they’re the highest) because they insulted him with their offer.
I made no further claims than that, other than FReepers should stop pretending they’re John McQueeg by badmouthing other FReepers.
If you’re looking for bullshit, it’s right there in Harvard’s low-ball offer. I don’t give a rat’s patootie about Harvard’s financial aid policies.