Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class

Ross Gregory Douthat insightfully tells us that today's "ruling class," composed of the graduates of Harvard and other elite institutions, has lost its sense of noblesse oblige. This is so because our country has become so meritocratic. Douthat tells us that Harvard students feel they deserve to be there because they are the most talented and have worked so incredibly hard in high school to compile an impressive enough resume to get in. "They belong exactly where they are---the standardized test scores and college admissions officers have spoken, and their word is final." Our meritocratic society has reduced the arbitrariness of a student's acceptance at elite schools, and there will be less arbitrariness than in days-gone-by about a Harvardian's place in America's elite when he or she graduates. This attitude contrasts with that of Harvard students and graduates of 100 years ago ("in the days before Verdun and Passchendaele"). In those days students were accepted and attended because of birth, i.e. their parents had the money, their families had social connections, etc. Douthat tells us that ideals of noblesse oblige grew from the "knowledge that God (or blind chance) had given the elite much that was not necessarily deserved." Douthat goes on to tell us that "on Harvard's campus reminders of that vanished era are everywhere...in inscriptions, on bridges and gates, that offer exhortations redolent with late-Victorian themes of honor and chivalry, patriotism and piety...ENTER TO GROW IN WISDOM, Dexter Gate tells those who pass through, and DEPART TO BETTER SERVE THY COUNTRY AND THY KIND." However, Douthat also tells us that "No one speaks like this anymore---not at Harvard...." Because at today's Harvard, according to Douthat, knowledge of the source of noblesse oblige "has been wiped away. The modern elite's rule is regarded not as arbitrary, but as just right and true, at least if one follows the logic of meritocracy to its logical conclusion." As a result, Harvard students are concerned only with themselves and their personal success, and Douthat's memoir points to apparently real life characters, like Suzanne Pomey, as examples of the troubled path down which this attitude can take us. Douthat's comparison of her with Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby is well done. "Society gets the sociopath it deserves," warns Douthat, and for this reason Harvard alumni, students, faculty and administration should read this well written memoir. A novel that contains an excellent contrast of a pre-World War I Harvard graduate with a late 20th Century Harvard graduate, and the themes from Douthat's book that I have discussed above, is "American Blue Blood" by William C. Codington.

Ross Gregory Douthat insightfully tells us that today's "ruling class," composed of the graduates of Harvard and other elite institutions, has lost its sense of noblesse oblige. This is so because our country has become so meritocratic. Douthat tells us that Harvard students feel they deserve to be there because they are the most talented and have worked so incredibly hard in high school to compile an impressive enough resume to get in. "They belong exactly where they are---the standardized test scores and college admissions officers have spoken, and their word is final." Our meritocratic society has reduced the arbitrariness of a student's acceptance at elite schools, and there will be less arbitrariness than in days-gone-by about a Harvardian's place in America's elite when he or she graduates. This attitude contrasts with that of Harvard students and graduates of 100 years ago ("in the days before Verdun and Passchendaele"). In those days students were accepted and attended because of birth, i.e. their parents had the money, their families had social connections, etc. Douthat tells us that ideals of noblesse oblige grew from the "knowledge that God (or blind chance) had given the elite much that was not necessarily deserved." Douthat goes on to tell us that "on Harvard's campus reminders of that vanished era are everywhere...in inscriptions, on bridges and gates, that offer exhortations redolent with late-Victorian themes of honor and chivalry, patriotism and piety...ENTER TO GROW IN WISDOM, Dexter Gate tells those who pass through, and DEPART TO BETTER SERVE THY COUNTRY AND THY KIND. No one speaks like this anymore---not at Harvard...." So, at today's Harvard, according to Douthat, knowledge of the source of noblesse oblige "has been wiped away. The modern elite's rule is regarded not as arbitrary, but as just right and true, at least if one follows the logic of meritocracy to its logical conclusion." As a result, Harvard students are concerned only with themselves and their personal success, and Douthat's memoir points to apparently real life characters, like Suzanne Pomey, as examples of the troubled path down which this attitude can take us. Douthat's comparison of her with Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby is very well done. "Society gets the sociopath it deserves," warns Douthat, and for this reason Harvard alumni, students, faculty and administration should read this well written memoir. A novel that contains an excellent contrast of a pre-World War I Harvard graduate with a late 20th Century Harvard graduate, and the themes from Douthat's book that I have discussed above, is "American Blue Blood" by William C. Codington.

Ross Douthat's book Privilege is, simply speaking, a wonderful book. It is well worth the short time and small investment of anyone interested in university education, the social lives and personal attitudes of the rising generation, the nature of modern meritocracy, and/or, frankly, American society at large (to name a few of its subjects). Douthat's book is an amalgam of memoir and punchy but sympathetic social analysis. On the first front, Douthat describes his experiences, particularly those experiences that illuminate the way the modern university and its students live. Chapters on his and others' rooming experiences, academic lives, romances (or lack thereof), and so forth are all both fully credible and wonderfully enlightening. Through it all, Douthat carries his writer's duties with wisdom and a humble wit. He chastises, but always himself first. Douthat has a unique and highly admirable way of admitting his own flaws without seeming treacly. This willingness to point to the beam in his own eye first lends credibility to his apt portrayals of Harvard, his classmates, and the meritocracy. Douthat interweaves his social criticism elegantly in with his recollections. His political-social perspective fits neither conventional American liberalism nor conservatism. Yet readers from both sides will find it on target. Liberals will appreciate Douthat's suspicion of, well, privilege, not to mention money, social snobbery, and so on. Conservatives will appreciate his skewering of the fluff that sometimes passes for academic rigor and his evocation of an honorable past. Both sides should see in his depiction the flaws as well as the charms of the rising generation, perhaps the first to be so decidedly influenced by meritocracy. All in all, simply an excellent book by an author who will be sure to produce even more in the future.

I read this book over the past weekend and it gets my absolute highest, six star recommendation. I am sure it will wind up as one of my favorite one or two books of the year. Don't think of it as some dry tome giving postmodernism a kick. It's not that. It's really a fun, current, personal and thoughtful college memoir with terrific writing. Think of it as the best Ivy League memoir since Prozac Nation (though actually, it's much better than Prozac Nation). The book kind of has two aspects. First, the book is about the culture of the modern university. So it involves political dialogue on campus, academic standards, the ideology of postmodernism, the culture of irony, grade inflation and attitudes toward sex, diversity and political correctness. Douthat's discussion of these issues is always rooted in real situations with real people involved, so the discussions are not dry at all. This aspect of the book is a very interesting survey of the key issues on campus today. It is specifically about Harvard but the observations are applicable to almost any major US university. Then there is a much more personal story about an individual, an outsider really, growing up in the social environment of the American elite in the 90's and 2000's, pre and immediately post 9/11, which yields a fabulous mix of privilege, competition, disappointment and elation, much of which is relatable to anyone who has been through that time of life and all of which is fascinating.

This is the second excellent self-deprecating book about Harvard I have read. The first one is "Harvard Schmarvard" by Jay Matthews, a must-read college guide for any one going through the college admission/selection phase. On the other hand, Ross Douthat book is not a college guide, but it is a fascinating insider documentary on one's Harvard education experience. Contrary to what we believe, Harvard is not an academic pressure cooker. Grade inflation is actually so rampant, that a notorious professor decided to adopt a dual grading system. Thus, he decided to give his students two grades, the first one is the grade they truly deserved. This grade is known by no one else but the students themselves. The second grade is curved reflecting Harvard's grade inflation and is the one that will go on the transcript. Thus, you could have a bunch a B- students graduating with very impressive A - GPAs going on to the top business, law, and med schools in the country. The author explained this process is the result of the inevitable commercialization of grades. In other words, GPAs now mean access to the top graduate schools, and thus mean a lot of money over the lifetime career earnings of Harvard undergraduates. Thus, professors are under rising pressures to give good grades. The days when a professor may be subject to lawsuits for giving less than sterling grades may not be far away. The author goes on criticizing Harvard's "Core" curriculum that has not changed since 1978. He states that the Core was a politically correct effort to get away from the "elitist" framework of the more rigorous earlier curriculum that had a traditional "Great Books" framework. Thus, nowadays a student is increasingly unlikely to have studied Shakespeare, Goethe, or Proust. Instead, he may have been exposed to unknown authors who are perceived by the teachers to be equally deserving of legacy from a politically correct framework. Also, the level of research and insightfulness required on studying such writers by both the students and their professors, is really mediocre. Also, the Core offers no sense of breadth and depth. A course on inequality in Mexico in the 20th Century will receive the same credit as one on Reason and Faith in the West since the onset of the Renaissance. Also, if the latter course is deemed to be excellent by the students, it will be swamped and overbooked. Thus, it will be highly unlikely you will be able to take it during your four years at Harvard. You may have to take the course on inequality in Mexico whether you want to or not, if you want to graduate on time and not spend an extra $40K for an extra year at Harvard. The author also directly criticizes the quality of the teaching. He found most professors to be unengaged and more concerned about their research and journals publications. Many classes were taught by overburdened teaching assistants. Finally, counseling was sorely lacking. Harvard offers thousands o