Thanks Jeanne. Though I try to avoid generalizations, I think this is on the mark. Class issues are still difficult for many to address for a variety of simple & complex reasons. Tony Del Plato
On 7/24/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Here is another and very related way in which elitism manifests itself.?? > Linked and excerpted > > > Jeanne?? > > > > http://www.theamericanscholar.org/su08/elite-deresiewicz.html > > ? > > ? > > ? > > <<The first disadvantage of an elite education, as I learned in my kitchen > that day, is that it makes you incapable of talking to people who aren't > like you. Elite schools pride themselves on their diversity, but that > diversity is almost entirely a matter of ethnicity and race. With respect to > class, these schools are largely-indeed increasingly-homogeneous. Visit any > elite campus in our great nation and you can thrill to the heartwarming > spectacle of the children of white businesspeople and professionals studying > and playing alongside the children of black, Asian, and Latino > businesspeople and professionals. At the same time, because these schools > tend to cultivate liberal attitudes, they leave their students in the > paradoxical position of wanting to advocate on behalf of the working class > while being unable to hold a simple conversation with anyone in it. Witness > the last two Democratic presidential nominees, Al Gore and John Kerry: one > each from Harvard and Yale, both earn > est, decent, intelligent men, both utterly incapable of communicating with > the larger electorate. > > But it isn't just a matter of class. My education taught me to believe that > people who didn't go to an Ivy League or equivalent school weren't worth > talking to, regardless of their class. I was given the unmistakable message > that such people were beneath me. We were "the best and the brightest," as > these places love to say, and everyone else was, well, something else: less > good, less bright. I learned to give that little nod of understanding, that > slightly sympathetic "Oh," when people told me they went to a less > prestigious college. (If I'd gone to Harvard, I would have learned to say > "in Boston" when I was asked where I went to school-the Cambridge version of > noblesse oblige.) I never learned that there are smart people who don't go > to elite colleges, often precisely for reasons of class. I never learned > that there are smart people who don't go to college at all.>> > > > > > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > -- "Justice is what love looks like in public." ~ Dr. Cornel West _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
