There Is More To Life Than I-Banking

To the editors:

Reading Phoebe Kosman’s recent column “Just One Word: Plastics,” I found myself frustrated with the author’s narrow view of acceptable career paths ( April 23 ). Not cut out to be an investment banker? That’s fine, and it doesn’t mean that grocery bagger (which, I hasten to add, most certainly does count as a career for many people not so fortunate as Kosman; her dig there counts not as humor but as classism) is the only option left.

One of the frustrating things about going to school here is the way people approach the word “success.” Success means many things, and remuneration is only the most short-sighted one.

There are so many people at Harvard doing incredible things—for the advancement of knowledge, of public health, of education, of access to services. There are also plenty of people who are working hard to make the most of the unparalleled intellectual opportunities being part of this community offers.

Yet, because none of these people spend their time highlighting dog-eared copies of the Wall Street Journal, they do not count as success stories to Kosman.

The author quotes the Office of Carrer Service (OCS) guide to the future; while the Guide and OCS can be helpful resources, both are geared toward the I-banking and consulting recruitment process. Other fields, such as education, receive less publicity and attention. This is a product of the way money works, but it needn’t be the arbiter of value. After all, some of our most famous alumni were public servants—FDR and JFK spring to mind.

And while the economny slumps, there are fields where the demand for workers is not slacking: education, health care, public interest law, advocacy for those without access to basic services. True, these kinds of work do not promise penthouses in Manhattan immediately upon graduation.

I do not mean to imply that pursuits like investment banking and consulting are unworthy; I simply mean to remind Kosman—and the Harvard community at large—that success is a broad term. Or, to adapt a phrase, success is found in the eye of the beholder. When we let others’ judgments of success determine our own happiness, we are almost guaranteed to feel as though there is always more ground to cover.

NORA F. GUYER ’03

April 24, 2003