In Defense of Elitism

I picked up this book while doing research for a paper on Gifted Education. Having been told by the Principal of my son's school that my query about gifted kids was elitist and, frankly, tantamount to asking whether, hopefully, classes were segregated racially, I have sought understanding of the assumptions underlying his egregious statement, in order to fight them. In this wonderful book, William Henry lays out arguments for meritocracy and blows to smitherines all the PC, multi-culti, egalitarian lies you've ever hated. A short quote will sufficiently illustrate this: "The very essence of school is elitism. Schools exist to teach, to test, to rank hierarchically, to promote the idea that knowing and understanding more is better than knowing and understanding less. Education is elitist. Civilization is elitist. Egalitarianism celebrates the blissful ignorance of the Garden of Eden." In a way he probably did not intend, this book is also a glimpse into the sea change of a soul. Mr. Henry is, at this point, a proud ACLU card-carrying liberal. If he were alive today, I imagine Mr. Henry would be at the forefront of the Common Sense revolution.

This book argues that some people are more competent than others and that some cultures are more valuable than others. Henry discusses the manner in which American institutions elevate egalitarianism, derogate elitism, and end up as incubators of mediocrity. He offers seven criteria by which one can identify a superior human culture. In doing so he offers mettlesome arguments against many of the dogmas that afflict the academe and the rest of our society. He offers the idea that people should be judged not on politicized identifiers like gender or race but on merit alone, and he defines, rather plausibly, what "merit" is. Even if you don't agree with Henry, or if you're annoyed with him for speaking up in this manner, you have to admire his precise and unafraid writing. He is someone you must consider.

Though the author takes some extreme views that I do not agree with( such as that the life of handicapped person is not worth as much to society as the life of someone who is not disabled) and though he overreacts in some aspects of his critique (namely in his tirade against home photography), this book is without question a work of pure genius. Reading this book opens the readers' minds to the many ways in which egalitarianism is sucking the very life out of our society. I urge everyone to read this book. Though few will agree with everything that Henry says, none will be able to read this book without thinking a lot about the structure of American society and the nature of their own world view.

I love this book because it's praise of meritocracy flies in the face of political correctness. William Henry would no doubt agree with Margaret Thatcher's theory that not all men are created equal. Some of smarter or more ambitious than others. It is these stalwarts of society who lift up the rest of us.

In two sittings, I became familiar with one of the least appreciated and most forthright books of the decade. I do hope it is one day revisited, for William Henry has written what can only be described as a blistering attack on the self-righteousness and intellectual bankruptcy of the contemporary American scene. Inflicting his venomous attacks on both the Left and Right, Henry demonstrates that what threatens America is not a lack of "morality," but rather an unhealthy obsession with mediocrity. He sees Americans for the fat, complacent, utterly jaded people that they are; childishly cynical, self-promoting, and appallingly ignorant of anything even remotely resembling enlightened thought. Henry rightly indicts our leanings toward softness and the elevation of a "bottom up" philosophy; a process which uses a perverted populism to attack achievement, distinction, and the very idea of quality. Postmodernism certainly leads the pack in terms of blame for this mess, but there are enough failing grades to go around.