William Deresiewicz on the “Excellent Sheep” of the American Elite
The Good Fight
The Importance of Excellence in the Elite Elite
The nature of this elite now is deeply meritocratic and the way that you get your entry ticket to meritocracy is to have attended one of the highly selective colleges and universities in this country. These students tend to be very smart certainly very hard working very ambitious very good at delivering what we define as excellence. A lot of things get lost I think or at least suppressed in that development of excellence independent mindedness first of all creativity, ability to take risks and intellectual curiosity. The adult elite does not seem to have great intellectual capacity and certainly not great moral capacity meaning the ability to challenge conventional wisdom can't stand up for what their believe at the risk potentially of your career of your position.
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