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The Privilege Is Nothing; It’s the Entitlement That Counts
If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to listen to Jay Nordlinger’s Q & A interview with Heather Mac Donald regarding the sad state of affairs at Yale University and on the importance of humanities, when taught properly. Mac Donald also made a potent — and much-overlooked — point that having the opportunity and the means to study for four years at a residential college under the tutelage of dedicated scholars and teachers is the height of privilege. To make academic demands on such professors regarding matters of which you are (almost by definition) ignorant of is arrogance of the worst kind.
The irony of the matter is that it’s hard to imagine a group of people more obsessed with hunting-down privilege and more blind to their sense of entitlement than modern college students. Privilege has no moral content: It’s neither good nor bad, but simply something people have to varying degrees, and in varying ways. If one realizes that one is privileged, the proper response is to be grateful and humble and (ideally) see it as an obligation toward others. In contrast, entitlement — the belief that one is owed something (perhaps, a privilege) — is almost always toxic and the only valid response is to drop it immediately.
That the world is filled with injustice, suffering, and despair is nothing new (a fact that great literature can reinforce). That so many of us are so relatively free of such things should be seen as a privilege that — depending on your teleology — we’re either blessed or fortunate enough to have. None of us are entitled to it and we should act accordingly.
Published in Culture, Education
Hello, Mr. Beck. As always, I take your questions seriously. I’ve more than a few essays written out & some published because of our conversations. I’ve had trouble lately, but I think I can swing it this weekend. If I’ve got any popularity left, my views on the coming changes brought about by way of screens should destroy it. I can already imagine the airport officials looking outraged at the kind of reactionaries they let in these days…
Of course, there is nothing of bravery in my views, I don’t mean–I’m not paying any price–if anything, I’m reaping rewards on Ricochet–I’m pleasantly surprised, & not infrequently, to see that perfectly respectable people who know more than a few things about living in America are interested in my opinions & show me great goodwill.
Titus, I don’t follow.
You said:
That’s everything these kids believe, but they disagree on what ‘to act accordingly’ means. In their case, they think to earn or justify that privilege by doing what they’re told they should be doing–being leaders to do with the future. Partly, it’s a liberal problem: Tell kids they get to be college students because they’re not white & you’re telling them, if they act like normal students, that’s just being white. Well, is diversity serious or, so to speak, just skin deep? What gets them there & how they’re supposed to conduct themselves are at odds with each other.
It seems to me, your real difference with these kids is about the content & purpose of education. Probably the mode, too, come to think of it. Nothing to do with how much injustice there is & how rare the privilege to study.