"Well, sorta. To me, his point is that the pampered children of our elite go to places like Harvard to learn how to make even more money than they grew up with, and view the faculty as hired help that will assist them in that goal."
It's interesting. A couple of months ago, I had the occasion to go to two dance performances. One was presented by one of the poshest private high schools in Oakland: tuition = $40,000/year; the other was presented by one of Oakland's better public high schools. The differences were clear and startling.
The private HS performance featured all girls who had chosen to participate in an after school dance program and who had clearly had every private lesson known to man. Their dancing was mostly competent, with the exception of about three girls who were clearly in charge, were the best dancers, and did all the choreographies and cast themselves in all the principal roles. Dance styles included hip hop, jazz, modern, and african kind of stuff. The choreographies were pretty hum drum. The energy level reached simmer at best, and though many of the dances involved group movement, each dancer moved as if she was dancing in a room alone. 99 % of these girls were white or asian, slender, and fit.
The public HS performance featured mostly girls (a few boys) who were taking dance instead of PE during school and also were doing some after school practice. No one had had any other dance training (this being obvious from the roughness of technique). Almost all the kids did some of the choreography; out of maybe two dozen numbers, the teacher choreographed either one or two. They danced the same genres as the private HS. There were no stars; each dance had more and less demanding roles; but there seemed to be no dancers that consistently got the juicy roles.These kids were at best normal weight, most were overweight, and a few were obese. And yet, and yet, the quality of the dancing was a level of magnitude better than at the private HS. For one, everybody was dancing; they weren't just competently simulating dance. For another, they were all dancing together and interacting and creating one of the most moving and energized performances I have ever witnessed. Finally, the choreographies were astonishingly good: varied, complex, interesting, imaginative, new, surprising, beautiful. The ethnic mix was something like 2/3 african american + some latina + some asian + some whites.
So, why am I saying all this. Because I think the ruling class of this country is putrefying right in front of our eyes and though they can give their kids all that money can buy, that's all they can give them. This class will not produce a Tolstoy, or a Diaghilev. Maybe, if they're lucky, a Toulouse Lautrec.
It might be argued, that it is much easier for poor kids to master dance than calculus, and that, on the academic level, the results might be very different. But here too, with the possible exception of those studying science, I would argue that what the rich kids are learning is the simulation of knowledge. So long as they put up and shut up and passively wait for all those nice things to which they are entitled, they will wind up with the same inconsequential sterile competence as their dancing friends.
Joanna