Skipping class

摘要

READING John F. Kennedy's application to Harvard College is a study in mediocrity. The former president graduated from high school with middling marks and penned just five sentences to explain why he belonged at Harvard. The only bit that expressed a clear thought was also the most telling: "To be a 'Harvard man' is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain." America's premier universities, long the gatekeepers for the elite, have changed greatly since their days as glorified finishing schools for scions. But perhaps not as much as thought.