Pakistani undergrads in the US

For an Indian with little or no sense of American history and cultural heritage, it is often very easy to confuse the Ivy League as a formal sports conference with its history and indeed the original sports league - the first college football game was between Princeton and Rutgers (Ivy till formal organization of the sports body in 1954) ...

In any event those who wish to read more about the originb

http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0101_Christians_Started_I.html


How Christians Started the Ivy League

..Columbia, William and Mary, Rutgers, Brown & UPenn

The first president of New York`s Columbia University, first known as ``King`s College,`` at one time served as a missionary to America under the English-based ``Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.`` The Church of England established the College of William and Mary, near today`s colonial Williamsburg. Dutch Reformed revivalists founded Queen`s College (later Rutgers University) in New Jersey. Brown University originated with the Baptist churches scattered on the Atlantic seaboard. With the exception of the University of Pennsylvania, every collegiate institution founded in the colonies prior to the Revolutionary War was established by some branch of the Christian Church.

Even at UPenn, however, an evangelist played a prominent part. When Philadelphia churches denied revivalist George Whitefield access to their pulpits, forcing him to preach in the open, some of Whitefield`s admirers, among them Benjamin Franklin, decided to erect a building to accommodate the great crowds that wanted to hear him. The structure they built became the first building of what is now the University of Pennsylvania, and a statue of Whitefield stands prominently on that campus today.

Though the Ivy League schools eventually turned secular, they fed into the mainstream of society in those earlier days a great army of graduates who could claim Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, and who left a strong impact on our nation. Their presidents and their faculties helped to set a high spiritual tone, and at times their campuses in turn felt the impact of revival. The educators of early America understood that the moral climate of its schools, colleges and universities would shape its future generations, and could ultimately decide the course of the nation.

Reprinted from The Rebirth of America, published by the Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation.


..

From wikipedia...

The Ivies have been competing in sports as long as intercollegiate sports have existed in the United States. Boat clubs from Harvard and Yale met in the first sporting event held between students of two U.S. colleges on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, in 1852. As an informal football league, the Ivy League dates from 1900 when Yale took the conference championship with a 5-0 record. For many years Army (the United States Military Academy), Navy (the United States Naval Academy), and to a lesser extent Rutgers were considered members, but dropped out shortly before formal organization. For instance, Army traditionally had a rivalry with Yale, which some assert is set to resume in the next few years, and Rutgers had rivalries with Princeton and Columbia, which continue today in sports other than football

I must say i enjoyed this article..although it was offensive at imes, probably cuz it hit close to home...i agree with most of it...

khair..i wanna know who wrote it and which category do they think they belong too...

re sarwari #99:

Aisha:

I am glad that you`ve decided to write something for everyone.I am looking forward to reading it. As much as I disagree with some of the emotions you`ve expressed in your reply I just don`t have the heart to criticize them.I`ll wait for your article.

``Do your parents know that you bully nice girls?``

Unfortunately they do and that`s why they don`t take me anywhere :)

later

-sac

This was a wonderful article. Humrous yet correct. how about one with Paki Grad students :)) (I fall in that category)

Anyway, i must say that i really enjoyed reading the article. good work.

re: post 74

Sac,

Assalmlaikum.

Sure I`ll accept your ``gesture of friendship” and write what a Pakistani Identity means to me however just so you know, in friendship, you start by being a friend, so cut out the smart comments, because I am either to dumb or too smart to understand the:

[P.S: Do your parents know that you like bad boys? ;)]

You wrote:

[As a gesture of friendship I`d like to request you to write either or this board or as a separate article as to what makes a ``true`` Pakistani. And what pitfalls await those who forget their ``roots``]

I must admit, that was one thing I assumed I could always logically explain, but what came out was,

“ True Pakistanis are Pakistani because they want to be one. It`s the ISLAMIC Republic of Pakistan and even though it may be below its target of being one, doesn`t mean that our arms are weary and we won’t hit much higher up again, (keeping in mind gravity). I think it`s the most fun and true country on the face of this earth, and I like it because I like the word Impossible. Pakistan was once words and Ideas and now it’s a beautiful reality, and no matter what anyone says, I see boundaries being broken everyday, by the very people who are committed to their concern of creating a true Islamic state, in positive light.(watch us!)”

Well... that`s what came to my heart, my mind was like a dormant bacteria in the fridge. With heartfelt matters, regardless of the strength and magic they possess, they must not fall apart when put on paper. Don’t get me wrong, my explanation above means the world to me, but I can do better than that. So I carefully wrote what I thought was less fallacy ridden and challengeable... knowing the butchering nature of chowkwalas.(I`ll have to clarify, eventually, so let me do it now, I think its good for development, reminds me of a line by Khalil Gibran, “As it crowns you, so shall it crucify you”, probably inappropriate here)

It`s being peer reviewed now, if it`s not up in the next 2 months, let me know, I`ll send it to you...that is, if you are still as keen as you were to know what ``I`` think.

BTW, do your parents know you bully nice girls?

Wassalam,

-Aisha

PS: I kindly request the rest to abstain form putting words in my mouth, I chew my cud (joke tha joke) :&@

Hey, ylh. Here is something for you.

Rutgers Varsity to introduce IT courses in India

Pune, June 30: Information technology courses from Rutgers University`s Rutgers University Internet Institute is being introduced in India. Infotech Global Inc, New Jersey, USA has tied up with the Rutgers University to offer their entire range of IT education courses in India at Indian costs. This will be implemented through Infotech Global India Ltd, its 100 per cent subsidiary of Infotech Global in India. Around 20 such centres are expected to come up across the country by March 2001. The first of these centre has come up in Pune following an alliance between Infotech Global India and Adarsha Shikshan Mandali, a leading education institute in the city. Adarsha will be imparting Rutgers University IT courses at its Adarasha Institute of Information Technology. These courses will be designed by the Rutgers University and the centres will be set up as per the Rutgers guidelines. Examinations will be conducted online by Rutgers with students receiving certification directly from the Rutgers Institute.

To Fuzair

Yes Inshallah for Pakistan and for Pakistanis

I will keep MSA (known as ISRU Islamic Students at Rutgers University) out of it ....

Pakistan Zindabad

went to a northeast ivy league school as an undergrad, interacted with students at dozens of other schools in the northeast and midwest, i think all the eight categories were hilarious, i work in dawn in lahore right now (moving back soon to khi) and showed your article to my editor, he was in fits over it ! heheh

gimme a break, rutgers is, well, what can i say, it might have been offered to be part of the ivy league (so some say) but that was in 1953 and as anyone who went to the ivy league knows that it primarily started off as a sports association to play football, but now its a bit more than that and im quite sure rutgers wouldn`t be offered to be part of it now

omar quraishi

actually, i hope this isnt misconstrued or anything, but sac you should write for our newspaper, i work in dawn and you could email any stuff that you want to get printed to thirdeyebind@hotmail.com

omar quraishi

Reading this article, i was reminded of the immortal, though slightly cynical words of Mark Twain,..(paraphrased) ``We are letting our schooling interfere with our education``. The two must be kept separate. accha kher.

Good effort sac. Very entertaining, and almost too hilarious. indeed some of the replies were perhaps even more so, specially the ones trying to make a federal case out of Mr Sac`s personal observations, and attributing all sorts of ill-informed, speculative judgements.

The fact that Mr Sac got some flak for comparing the hitherto not undertaken classic/definitive work viz-a-viz pakistani undergrads, and their relative success(or the lack thereof) in getting laid at US universities, is rather unfortunate. I still recall, the grave expression on my fathers face, as he bid me farewell at the airport, asking me ``to be good, and honest to oneself; and not to indulge in unnecessary extra-curricular activities which might interfere with one`s primary objective, that of getting a quality ``foreign`` education. I thought that it was rather gentlemanly of him to leave ``it`` at ``that``.

I had watched the other half of my class, getting forced engagements to some cousin or whatnot(promises of nubile 16 yr olds waiting for the prodigal sons return back home, much like the promised houuris), in a desperate bid by their parents to ensure their chastity, given the firangi aurteinn, have nothing better to do, than to revel in the enormous love-making experience of these ``confident`` Romeos. Sheer Irony at its frigging best.

Re: ylh

Yaar Ylh, these guys are taking you for a ride. I have to concur with your indian friend, about his stand on education, tools, and self-reliance; that any University (excluding perhaps pakistani ones)is merely a venue for the tools and resources, one needs to get in order to achieve something which might lead to success.

The more you write about Rutgers, the more they will ridicule you. Instead like me, just dont mention that I go to Stanford, and then they will not harm you. Small joke :) Such is their psyche;a supposedly big name university affiliation, has the remarkable effect of silencing most of one`s critics, provided the critics had not had a chance to attend the same or better University. It`s all about the perceived value of education, and perhaps not necessarily about the education itself. It is the so called elitist factor, that sac tended to emphasise upon. ``Pakistani undergraduates also get very focussed upon which university they graduated from and start to exert a certain apartheid towards others who may not have had a chance to attend their university,. thinking and invaraibaly equating the unfortunate opponents inability to get into a top school as commensurate with that person`s capabilities.

No wonder the hyper factor is required by the top most universities, the ivy leagues and what have you nots, to create the illusion for future success for wards of the most influential, rich people. We, pakistanis do not want to be outdone by mere exorbitant costs of such a priveleged education. YUes we have money enough, official state coffers, inherited wealth, old wealth, nouveau riche, etc, who are willing to cough up the 40K or more, it takes to go here. And US universities in general have mastered the art of hype, hyperbole, and outright creation of delusion of grandeur. By that i mean, certainly in UK, Norway, and France, not to mention China, they have excellent insistitutions, but nobody recognises the fact that they even exist. Because, those old fools still think that academia and universities must perhaps be made accessible to all sections of the community, and not just to the incredibly rich, and therefore necessarily not so bright. Or perhaps more importantly that Academnia and Universities is a responsible, and honourable profession, one which does not need hype, hyperbole, and misinformation, or frequent deliberate references in popular vogue movies, to enhance the worth of a degree from say LSE or Cambridge University.

I hope you catch the gist of my ramblings. If not, then then it must be surely attributable to my first class schooling and concurrent ``US education``.

BTW, SAC,

Contrary to your belief that PMA, etc are complete useless, i think they have one good use. One does get free, often reasonably cooked desi meals courtesy of the muslim pakistani sisters.

Cheers.

Whats an article. A great scathing comment. How true. I go to the University of Virgina, went to the Burger Karachi Grammar School, and what a time I`ve had at college. From Sarah to Michelle and Katy and Sandra and Jessica, you name it baby and I`ve done it all. Got to say that I a great part lies to my chiselled body (can bench more than 350) and my looks and ofcourse my junior who is always restless. I`ve given him a break for the past 2 weeks, though. However, he doesn`t like any desi chicks beacuse they are ugly and more hairy than me. ``Oh my God, yeh tum nay kya khe diya, touba touba`` thats all they say.

To YHL

Look I have nothing against you, personally. I just found the responses written by ferozk extremely funny.

I will give you one thing though, Rutgers is not a bad school.

Also, on a public forum, its best not to reveal personal information. By doing so, you become vulernable to personal attacks, which may or may not be vindictive in nature.

Regards,

AD

great article

re tahmed321 #110:

My dear sir:

Don`t get me wrong but your constant desire to come across as a level-headed customer with `real` solutions sometimes overlooks the blatantly OBVIOUS.

The last thing you want in Pakistan is a marauding band of reservists ready to march behind the messiah to rescue Kashmir or Bait-al-Muqaddus from the occupation at the hands of the infidels. The Pakistani army made heavy use of these `reservists` in Afghanistan and operations Gibraltar and Kargil. You see even the heartless blood-suckers in GHQ do not like too many body-bags wrapped in the green and white flag arriving in Chakwal and Jhelum. After retirement army personnel act as `reservists` anyway. Having nothing better to do they are following the current messiah(Akram Awan) for eventual glory in after-life. The entire population of certain areas in NWFP(when its not the hash season) can be pressed into active duty very quickly. The well-trained boys(and girls) of the NCC can handle uzis better than most green berets. What else do you want in terms of cannon-fodder?

later

-sac

More power to you, YLH, if you can keep the MSA scum out of PSA.