What are the disadvantages of an elite education?
Well, according to William Deresiewicz, it “makes you incapable of talking to people who aren’t like you,” “inculcates a false sense of self-worth,” fosters a loathsome sense of entitlement, makes you afraid to take risks, and paradoxically breeds a perverse sort of anti-intellectualism. Oh yeah, it also doesn’t encourage solitude, and thus by extension, introspection.
Yep, I think that about covers it.
Do yourself a favor and read the whole essay.
(Hat tip: AMT.)
5 responses so far ↓
Luke // July 12, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Don’t you feel Dieresiewicz’ inability to speak with the plumber is mostly his personal hangup and not the result of his education? Both men have careers that require a skill set, and I would bet they’re both in the same tax bracket, or pretty close. Many academics aren’t born elite; cultural capital is something they choose to seek.
I may have problems explaining what I do to someone without a grad degree (which is largely my fault), but I don’t have much of a problem talking about politics, food, sports, entertainment, and a host of other things.
Point taken about the goals of the academy being out-of-joint, but one’s level of involvement with “the real world” is up to the individual.
*the whole article strikes me as a false generalization–but this may be because I am not an ivy league product.
Matt // July 12, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Thanks for your comment, Luke. I too felt like Deresiewicz’s inability to talk with his plumber said more about him than it did about academe. (I mean, how clueless can you be?) Yet I felt like the larger point he was trying to make with this anecdote — that is, academe may inhibit your ability to socialize with anyone other than other academics — was a good one.
Michael Leddy // July 24, 2008 at 11:19 am
Deresiewicz is mostly on target, but I agree — his claim that he can’t speak “Plumber” makes him look foolish, Frasier Crane-like. Then again, I’m a prof and the son of a tile man (floors and walls, not “art”), so I find it pretty easy to talk to plumbers.
Lots of people outside academia do find professors, esp. English professors, automatically intimidating. That’s why I tend to say that I teach “literature” — it makes a difference.
Matt // July 25, 2008 at 8:45 am
Thanks for your comment, Michael. John Derbyshire — of all people — has an interesting take on this whole “can’t talk to your plumber” problem: http://tinyurl.com/6yugqr.
God and Jerk at Yale « Submitted For Your Perusal // August 13, 2008 at 11:58 am
[...] 13, 2008 · No Comments Rachel Toor responds to that William Deresiewicz article I blogged about last month: At elite universities, students from vastly different backgrounds are thrown [...]
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