If you take this tweet out of context you might think it
is from the 1930s but it is a ‘humorous’ comment responding to a letter to the
editor at The Daily Princetonian.
After reading the source material of this letter I pondered the message of the
author and arrived at three conclusions:
1) This Princeton graduate is truly concerned and wants
to provide solid ‘life’ advice to the Princeton community;
2) She is focusing on Princeton women because of her own
life experience;
3) Her message is anything but egalitarian.
This letter is first and foremost written by a concerned
mother offering advice to the Princeton community and the men and women that
pass through those hallowed halls. Because of her life experience she wants
others to view finding a mate as she does, an extremely important endeavor that
will greatly affect you the rest of your life. Per the letter, students at
Princeton need to look around their classrooms and find a mate because “simply
put, there is a very limited population of men who are as smart or smarter than
we are. And I say again — you will never again be surrounded by this concentration
of men who are worthy of you.” Having never walked the halls of Princeton I
have no idea what she is talking about and I, like others who have walked the
halls of UTEP are probably not a good match for a Princeton graduate (I will
not comment on the last three words).
Next, the concerned mother focuses on Princeton women
because of her own life experience. I will not take anything away from her or
judge because I have not walked in her shoes, I have not experienced her
experiences, and have not lived her life. With that said, she thinks very
highly of herself and the women at Princeton, “of course, once you graduate,
you will meet men who are your intellectual equal — just not that many of
them...But ultimately, it will frustrate you to be with a man who just isn’t as
smart as you.” I find this interesting because during my adult life I have
learned a lot about the different types of intelligences that we humans possess
and she seems to focus just on the linguistic and logical-mathematical types of
intelligences. This is fine, but there is more to life than talking about Jane
Austin, string theory, and politics with your chosen mater (or whatever smart couples
talk about).
Finally I find her message anything but egalitarian. I do
not fault her for her for opinion; she graduated from Princeton, one son is
there, the other graduated recently, and I assume her husband graduate from
Princeton or an equivalent institution. They have worked hard to carve out a
place in the second estate for themselves and if any of them are or have been
elected to public office they would be part of the first estate. They are the
elite.
Immediately after the letter to the editor was published
people reacted. An interesting response came from Ross Douthat, a blogger for
the New York
Times. Mr. Douthat said a lot of things in his article but two
statements stand out: “thus the importance, in the modern meritocratic culture,
of the unacknowledged mechanisms that preserve privilege, reward the inside
game, and ensure that the advantages enjoyed in one generation can be passed
safely onward to the next” and “the intermarriage of elite collegians is only
one of these mechanisms — but it’s an enormously important one.” Mr. Douthat
responded in an honest and practical manner; he discussed how the elites
maintain the status quo.
A more egalitarian reaction comes from Elizabeth Landau, a
young Princeton graduate who in my mind, encapsulates everything that should be
said publicly:
“Inside the Princeton bubble, this may seem improbable, but you can find
fascinating people who did not go to Princeton or any schools atop the U.S.
News & World Report rankings. I know smart, funny people without four-year
degrees. I have wonderful friends with great careers with degrees from
non-elite schools. In fact, I have been dating one of these amazing people for
five years -- longer than a Princeton education.”
I agree with Ms. Landau as would most people but the reality is that those who occupy the first and second estates side with Mr. Douthat. With that said, even a mediocre PR firm will recommend that elite writers do not publicly acknowledge the way things really are as Mr. Douthat stated at the end of his article, “do we have to talk about it?”
I agree with Ms. Landau as would most people but the reality is that those who occupy the first and second estates side with Mr. Douthat. With that said, even a mediocre PR firm will recommend that elite writers do not publicly acknowledge the way things really are as Mr. Douthat stated at the end of his article, “do we have to talk about it?”
