I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
In response to Christine O’Donnell’s latest campaign ad in which she boasts about not having attended Yale, columnist Anne Applebaum asks, “Why do Americans resent upward mobility?”
Once upon a time, you got into Harvard or Yale solely because of your alumnus grandfather. Nowadays, your alumnus grandfather still helps, but only as long as you did well on the SATs, were the captain of your ice hockey team, and in your senior year raised a million dollars for charity….If you did all that and come from a broken home in Nevada, so much the better.
I suspect the "anti-elite-educationism"...is growing now not despite the rise of meritocracy, but because of it. The old Establishment types were resented, but only because their wealth and power were perceived as "undeserved." Those outside could at least feel they were cleverer and savvier, and they could blame their failures on "the system." Nowadays, successful Americans, however ridiculously lucky they have been, often smugly see themselves as "deserving." Meanwhile, the less successful are more likely to feel it's their own fault—or to feel that others feel it's their fault—even if they have simply been unlucky.
In America, the end of the meritocracy will probably come about slowly: If working hard, climbing the education ladder, and graduating from a good university wins you only opprobrium, then you might not bother. Or if you do bother, then you certainly won't go into politics, where your kind is no longer welcome. We will then have a different sort of elite in charge of the country—and a different set of reasons to dislike them, too.
I understand “anti-elite educationism” to a point: the majority of folks who attend a Yale or a Harvard and end up in government tend to adhere to an ideology that entitles them, as the so-called educated experts, to fashion policy that will dictate how everyone else lives their lives. These educated elite behave as though they believe that they really know what's best for thousands of families they've never met. When conservatives express distaste toward the “elite,” I believe it is precisely this sort of loathsome smugness that we are condemning.
But sometimes the anti-elite educationism extends beyond a point that I can comprehend. For instance, why is going to a school like Yale an inherently bad thing, as O’Donnell seems to indicate in her campaign ad? Are you not welcome to share O’Donnell’s politics if you hold a Yale degree? Are you not an ordinary American citizen who has the same concerns about jobs, education, and your children’s welfare if you spent four years at an Ivy League institution? I could use some insight from our readers into the impetus behind both anti-elitism in general, and anti-elite educationism in particular.
(Special thanks to Trace Urdan for sending me the Applebaum article)
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May '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
It's not just the education, Diane and it's not just the Ivy League. (And I think we explored this before the last time your Dartmouth feelings were hurt.)
It is the fact that America is no longer a nation that values accomplishment but fetishizes over credentials. We get, "Vote for Bob! He has a Harvard MBA!" instead of "Vote for Joe! He started a small business that grew into a world wide company that now employs 10,000 people!"
Americans don't resent upward mobility. That's what we all hope for. But too little of it comes from being credentialed from the right place and not enough of it because of hard work. And you may think Dartmouth was hard work but it's not. My old man in the steel mill - that's hard work.
Besides, don't you feel any sense of irony of Americans being lectured by a woman who grew up in privileged Washington society (Sidwell, Yale and Oxford) and does so from Warsaw where her husband is the Polish Foreign Minister? (Which I feel compelled to say is a weeeee bit more insulated than living in Istanbul with a houseful of cats.)
Jul '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
I hear you, Diane. It's just that the most egregious exemplars of Leftist elitism do seem to have emerged from two schools - Harvard and Yale.
The Kennedy's, the Clintons, Obama, Kerry, Barney Frank, Justice Kagan - the list does go on and on.
Hopefully, for every such example, there are dozens or hundreds of Ivy grads, who, like my spouse, burrowed into the belly of the beast, got a first-class education and emerged to quietly send contributions to the Pat Toomey's and Michelle Bachmann's of the world.
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
EJHill: It is the fact that America is no longer a nation that values accomplishment but fetishizes over credentials. We get, "Vote for Bob! He has a Harvard MBA!" instead of "Vote for Joe! He started a small business that grew into a world wide company that now employs 10,000 people!"
So does the ad work for O'Donnell? "Vote for me -- I didn't go to Yale and I've never accomplished anything!" It seems like the one thing she's flaunting is that she didn't go to Yale. How is that, in and of itself, a quality that makes a candidate more attractive?
Jul '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
Diane Ellis, Ed: " Are you not an ordinary American citizen who has the same concerns about jobs, education, and your children’s welfare if you spent four years at an Ivy League institution?"
Well, probably not. Elites tend not to be so ordinary. Ivy Leaguers have concerns about jobs, education, and their kids to be sure, but are they consistently the same concerns that most people have? "Will my kid get into Phillips Exeter?" isn't quite the same as "Will my kid have access to a decent, safe school?" is it?
As for the "anti-elite educationism," I don't think it's significant. Conservative populists attack cultural elites, and Ivy League is just short hand. Liberal populists attack economic elites, and use Wall Street similarly.
May '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
It's mainly the notion that there's the Ivy League schools and then there's everything else. It's not "higher" education that people resent, but the social stratification of universities... particularly a stratification in which the old Northeast outshines the rest of America.
It's also the idea that a person must be groomed for public service... and by schools with recent histories that are, frankly, embarrassing. Peter Singer, anyone? Those schools have admirable teachers and programs as well, but it's the liberal lunatics we usually hear about.
There are many who take that distaste too far. But, overall, I'd say it's healthy. People are just looking for politicians they can connect with.
May '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
Sure it works. Because Americans know that diversity is more than the superficial bill of fare we've been sold. More than race, more than gender and more than ethnicity.
That and the fact that, on the whole, the Yalies and the Harvardites have got this country pretty screwed up.
Jul '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
I'm not sure the ad works. She should be pounding home the message "I won't raise taxes, and I'll cut spending" which is the only reason people would vote for her. Bringing up anything in her background only highlights that she has zero qualifications for anything let alone a Senate seat.
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
EJHill
Sure it works. Because Americans know that diversity is more than the superficial bill of fare we've been sold. More than race, more than gender and more than ethnicity.
That and the fact that, on the whole, the Yalies and the Harvardites have got this country pretty screwed up. · Oct 12 at 4:49pm
So you're saying that it works because it represents some sort of diversity? I'm not sure I see that...
One could argue that Alvin Greene would bring a dose of diversity to the Senate, and not because of the color of his skin. He's unemployed, and so can relate with the unemployed in this country. He's also a sex offender, and thus brings a different perspective. Perhaps Greene should produce an ad beginning with the words, "I didn't go to Harvard..."
Jul '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
Diane Ellis, Ed.
So does the ad work for O'Donnell? "Vote for me -- I didn't go to Yale and I've never accomplished anything!" It seems like the one thing she's flaunting is that she didn't go to Yale. How is that, in and of itself, a quality that makes a candidate more attractive? · Oct 12 at 4:34pm
If you think running for office against Joe Biden and failing is nothing, it is you that is out of touch.
Those who never fail never try.
Edited on Oct 12, 2010 at 4:57pmJul '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
By the way, the defenestration of that Applebaum article can be found here.
Oct '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
Diane Ellis, Ed.
So does the ad work for O'Donnell? "Vote for me -- I didn't go to Yale and I've never accomplished anything!" It seems like the one thing she's flaunting is that she didn't go to Yale. How is that, in and of itself, a quality that makes a candidate more attractive? · Oct 12 at 4:34pm
The add sort of rubs me the wrong way, too. No, you aren't me. That said, if the college a candidate attended is the only datum on which you have to evaluate him/her, then having not gone to an Ivy League school trumps having done so. There is a positive correlation between Ivy League association and statist leadership, as Kenneth pointed out. What was it Bill Buckley said? I'd rather be governed by the first 500 people listed in the Boston phone directory than the faculty at Harvard.
Edited on Oct 19, 2010 at 10:52amMay '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
The best aspect of the ad is that it's a continuation of the last one. I have trouble explaining why I feel that helps, though.
May '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
MMMMM, just playing the devil's advocate again and being provocative or do you really have the inability to see that? You almost seem emotionally wounded at the idea that someone who went to the University of Akron or Boise State or Florida International just might have gotten as good as an education as you. (And that you probably overpaid for.)
Jul '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
Diane, you're on a tear. I like your feisty side.
I've been thinking about it: It's not just about the Ivy education - it's about the field of study our political elites chose while they were there. Together, the school and the choice of law or poli sci or something similar delivered them into the cocoon of elite leadership. They made their contacts, got their references and mentors and were, thus, hatched full-flown into the elite.
Had those same people taken poli sci at, say, Joe Bloggs College or studied bio-chem at Princeton, the outcome would have been different.
And then we come to folks like you and Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter - who did go to an Ivy League school because you had worked hard enough that you could get in - so why on Earth wouldn't you? You should be commended for getting the best education available to you, not cavalierly tarred for it by the likes of no-account Christine O'Donnell.
Sep '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
In the 90's, Christine O'Donnell successfully performed one of the hardest jobs ever created - she made Bill Maher look good. This was a tough task, night after night, and something I don't think I could do.
The voters of Delaware have repeatedly elected Joe Biden, one of the nation's dumbest Senators (he was one of five to vote against the Alaskan pipeline!). We'll have to wait and see if this ad pays off in local votes.
Jun '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
Now, I going to assume something that none of the above responses have assumed, including, EJHill, who being media savvy should have been the first to mention, but this ad and its predecessor are likely based on internal polls conducted by the campaign. That said, it doesn’t matter what any of us think if O’Donnell is crafting and buying ads in response to sound polling. As for Harvard and Yale and the Ivy League, it should be obvious there is an anti-establishment feeling running through the public in general that may be particularly vehement in Delaware, which had we done some internal polling we might know about. All other scribbles, including Applebaum’s, are irrelevant. The point being O’Donnell’s Campaign is local and not national, any confusion on that fact is likely to produce a disaster, so everyone get the ‘H” over yourselves, please!
Jul '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
Candidate against mottled black background. Medium close-up. Simple hairstyle, light make-up, lighting to emphasize perkiness of cute little button-eyes:
Candidate:
"Hello, I'm Christine O'Donell. I'm you."
"You see, I didn't go to one of those elite Ivy League schools. I went to a 5th tier university, known primarily for the amount of projectile vomiting after sports events.
Believe me, I've done my share of projectile vomiting. (Chuckle).
So I'm you.
And I didn't graduate Magna cum Summa Laude or whatever, I was an indifferent scholar who didn't even get my diploma until I coughed up tuition after 15 years.
I'm you.
Let's face it, we've all had some tough times over the years and it's not always possible to live one's dream of long-term employment in an environment where you enjoy the respect of your peers by dint of hard work.
No, some of us - through no fault of our own - get tossed out on our kiesters.
I'm you.
And hey, do you want to tell me you've never diverted campaign funds for personal expenditures?
I'm you."
Edited on Oct 12, 2010 at 8:12pmMay '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
For what it's worth, I can't recall actually having seen an ad that puts a candidate's education at the forefront. The ostensible focus is on accomplishments, even if the accomplishments take the form of a thin, demagogic veneer.
My bigger concern is that education, elocution, and elan (it's amazing what a pumpkin ale does for one's alliterative abilities -- I wonder if it has hallucinogenic properties?) are taking the place of virtue.
May '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
Here's a key point. In the popular mind, Yale doesn't represent achievement; it represents privilege.
And the elephant in the room is affirmative action.
Some people who get into the ivies get in strictly because of merit. More power to them. But lots of others get in because of money and connections, or because they're members of a "special" class. Normal Americans feel this. And they feel dissed.
They also have an intuitive sense that brains aren't everything. There's also grit and determination and a kind of simplicity of mind and heart that give a person insight and moral seriousness. And sometimes those are just what's wanted.
May '10
Re: I Didn't Go to Yale, I'm You
It's not the college. It's not the credentials. It's the smug insularity what gets under my skin.
But right now I'm reading I Am Charlotte Simmons. That'll curl your hair, to be sure.
Edited on Oct 12, 2010 at 5:50pm