The "snowflake" (yale student) with a Purple Heart.

[Ronni]

This article is about a retired Navy Seal assigned for 22 years to Naval Special Warfare Command, who attended Yale for the first time at age 52.

It's a compelling article and gave me chills. Here's an excerpt.

"In my opinion, the real snowflakes are the people who are afraid of that situation. The poor souls who never take the opportunity to discuss ideas in a group of people who will very likely respectfully disagree with them. I challenge any of you hyper-opinionated zealots out there to actually sit down with a group of people who disagree with you and be open to having your mind changed.

I have sure had my mind changed here at Yale. To me there is no dishonor in being wrong and learning. There is dishonor in willful ignorance and there is dishonor in disrespect."

It's an amazing read. The author, that 52 year old soldier, the "snowflake with a purple heart" is my hero.
Read it here

 

[oldman]

After reading the OP and then the article, I came to the conclusion that it took this man 52 years to learn what most of us already knew. I graduated college with a double major and although I did not attend an Ivy League school, I probably received the same amount and quality of education as an Ivy Leaguer would.

The reason why anyone goes to a highly notable institution is because the name on the diploma that we receive sometimes determines the quality of the job we seek. If I’m applying for a job as an attorney with a notable New York City law firm and I’m one of the candidates going up against a graduate of Harvard, who do you think will get the job?

Name recognition of your diploma means a lot out in the real world. I have seen this happen time and time again.

 

[Warrigal]

I appreciated the wisdom that the author highlighted and I've shared it with Aussie forum friends.

 

[AnnieA]

This article is about a retired Navy Seal assigned for 22 years to Naval Special Warfare Command, who attended Yale for the first time at age 52.

It's a compelling article and gave me chills. Here's an excerpt.

"In my opinion, the real snowflakes are the people who are afraid of that situation. The poor souls who never take the opportunity to discuss ideas in a group of people who will very likely respectfully disagree with them. I challenge any of you hyper-opinionated zealots out there to actually sit down with a group of people who disagree with you and be open to having your mind changed.

Love that quote! One of the things I've learned and loved most in life's journey is to enjoy conversations with people who hold views different from mine. I went straight from a small town regional university with a student population much like the people I'd known all my life to a very large, diverse one in a graduate program with appx half international students. Then into healthcare with people from all walks of life.

The downside is that once you realize the joy of having real conversations with friends who often have completely different ideas from you, small talk with your former homogeneous 'set' becomes tedious!

 

[Ronni]

The downside is that once you realize the joy of having real conversations with friends who often have completely different ideas from you, small talk with your former homogeneous 'set' becomes tedious!

Truth. I welcome discussions with well informed people whose views are different then my own. I despise being talked AT by folks who are spouting dogmatic rhetoric that they barely understand but are good little robots so they parrot the party line. And I’m not talking about politics here. I’m referring to any discussions on any subject where honest in depth research is replaced with the self-feeding brain loop of ingesting, to the exclusion of all other information, ONLY ideas that agree with ones own.