The College Fix

‘The solution is simple: be nicer!’

A student writer at The Harvard Crimson recently declared that Harvard has a ‘kindness problem,’ and that students there need to “be nicer” and start exhibiting basic manners.

Before coming to Harvard, “I assumed training through boarding schools, country clubs, and cotillions would produce well-mannered undergrads,” senior Jenna Gray writes at The Crimson.

Those assumptions were dashed upon attending Harvard, Gray writes. “This past August, I returned to campus after eight months away. As I toted moving boxes to my dorm, doors were slammed in my face and couldn’t-be-bothered-to-help bystanders greeted me upon my arrival. While I scanned my surroundings in a search for basic human decency, I could practically hear my peers saying, ‘Those boxes look heavy. Lol, have fun!'”

“Harvard students’ lack of manners pops up on all corners of campus, in every form of action,” Gray states:

There’s the classic “acting brand new,” when people like to pretend that they don’t know you. It doesn’t matter that you’ve shared the womb with someone; some impenetrable force requires Harvard students to evade eye contact with you and refuse to say hello. Don’t bother providing an oral history of every class and extracurricular you’ve been in together — they’ll still introduce themselves to you as if you’re just meeting for the first time.

The signature Harvard misbehavior occurs in matters involving commitment. In life’s bakery, Harvard students are croissants: typically European in origin, but more importantly, supremely flaky. With them, there’s little use in setting a date and time for plans; your planner will become most useful when thrown into a fire, heating your flaked-on self.

“Any kindness we exhibit on this campus is selective. If and only if you can advance my social status, get me a job, or pose as my attractive friend in Instagram photos, I will deign to treat you nicely,” Gray claims.

“The solution is simple: be nicer!” Gray writes, adding: “I suggest this quick fix with the understanding that doing so might be contrary to the Harvard ethic.”

Read the whole op-ed here.

MORE: At one campus, thousands of students pledge to respect each other

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