Squash Racket Gives Privileged Children “Let” in College Admits
"What's squash?" someone once asked over brunch at my eating club. "It's like tennis, but richer and whiter," someone else replied. Yeah, that's pretty much it. But I would add the detail, "people named Khan."
An article in the New York Times, part of its obsessive catering to the anxiety-wracked parents of the almost college-aged, reveals squash to be not the abstract pursuit of extracurricular excellence we all thought it was, but rather something more worldly. The Times explains:
Squash, an indoor racket sport long associated with private clubs and old-boy networks, is so esoteric that it barely qualifies as a back door. In terms of the number of actual spots on college rosters, it might be more of a pet door.
Squash tends to be played by people who live in places like Greenwich, Conn., and not -- to use an exquisitely Times-y euphemism -- "young people from the inner city." In other words, the cultivation of a relatively esoteric sport like squash becomes a way the affluent can leverage their affluence into improving their child's shot at getting into an Ivy.
This is because squash, while a definite "pro" on an admissions app, requires things only available to a certain minority -- leisure time, equipment and access to courts, club membership or boarding school attendance, or even a certain degree of cultural capital.
As one parent puts it:
Parents, Mr. Sher said, like the idea "that not everybody can play it, not everyone can afford it - it's almost like it's a more upscale product."
So what is squash? Is it a quasi-nefarious way for "rich, white people" to circumvent the otherwise meritocratic standards of modern college admissions, or just an esteemed niche sport caught up in the craziness and ruthless market pressures of same modern college admissions?
Sam Jackson, didn't you go to Exeter? Weigh in on this.
After the jump -- the article in full, nothing actually, because the Times has informed us that posting the article was a violation of copyright.
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December 10th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/22286
December 10th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Were you guys just looking to check that I still read IvyGate? : )
I used to have some more commentary on squash and its related brethren @ Exeter on my blog but I don’t know where it has gone. I am working on a big paper through friday but will mark this down as a to-do — I can comment on squash from the new england boarding school perspective at least a little bit, coming from a school that had more squash courts than Harvard (I think that’s the figure, at least… or maybe that’s what it will be if they finish those extra courts, and make the number 16. a lot, basically).
I redesigned my website over the weekend, by the way, check it out!
December 10th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
what about rowing?
December 10th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
These upper-middle class folk think squash is an elite sport? My, you can’t even play with a monocle!
Stick to your base racket sports while the real elite play polo and yacht.
December 10th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
True football (what you all call soccer) is where it’s at.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:04 am
Rowing is expensive and based in clubs too, but it has wider participation than squash.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:15 am
Rowing frequently would still be classified under the “athletic advantage for rich people” style dan golden affirmative action incl polo, squash, etc. wider participation that squash doesn’t mean much :)
December 11th, 2007 at 3:15 am
Sam – I think we have Exeter beat. Harvard has 16 (really nice!) courts at the Murr center (by the football stadium). And there are tons of not-as-nice courts scattered throughout campus – some in Dunster + Lowell basements, others at the law school + business school.
Interesting article, I just started playing squash a few weeks ago and love it so far.
December 11th, 2007 at 8:57 am
squash? elite? how can any sport that is available at fitness plus as well as your local YMCA be elite? polo, on the other hand, requires stings of ponies, silly out of africa helmets and tailgates featuring champagne in equal opportunity plastic cups.
December 11th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
daniel — that makes sense. I always smelled bs when people dropped that line. hey, at least we have more per capita… I did play club squash one term to make use of the courts, expensive as they were. it’s sad because they have as many courts as they do and then there is just this space allocated to more courts if someone cares to donate the money. millions that could go to such better causes…
squash is fun, though. very punishing to new players if they aren’t playing with someone nice, though.
December 12th, 2007 at 1:06 am
“the otherwise meritocratic standards of modern college admissions”
Otherwise mertiocratic? Pull your head out of the sand.
December 12th, 2007 at 1:08 am
“the otherwise meritocratic standards of modern college admissions”
Otherwise mertiocratic? Pull your head out of the sand.