Thoughts on Excellence, Elitism and Entitlement

Excellence is not the enemy.

Ivy league schools, scientific research, eloquent artists and extraordinary writers are not what needs to be suppressed in this country.

What needs to be suppressed is the idea that excellence demeans others, that the extraordinary is an attack on the ordinary, that mediocrity and excellence cannot respectfully co-exist.

They certainly co-exist within each person. I am decidedly average in many ways… a mediocre cook, a poor athlete, and surprisingly bad at crossword puzzles. I am good at two things: my work and putting language to human experience. That’s about it.

I feel no shame in saying that. Nor should I. I developed the talents that had the most potential in me and let the rest go, accepting, I hope with some grace, that I could build a healthy ego with the ingredients I had been given. They were enough to validate my sense of self, and to find my value in the world.

Elitism is a different construct. It argues that some people are better than others, not because of what they can do, but because of who they are. Being born into wealth, having social status, having a certain skin tone or ethnic origin are not proof of excellence. They are simply the luck of the draw, the accidents of birth that should make none of us feel better or less than anyone else.

The two concepts overlap some in a Venn diagram because those born into privileged environments get more opportunity to develop excellence. They get more stimulation, nurturance, and skill-building than their equally intelligent, talented cohorts from poorer origins. Which is why the Yale admissions officer said to me 20 years ago. “I look more closely at the kid with a 1350 SAT from a farm community in the Midwest. He hasn’t had AP courses, tutors, and the best prep school. But he may be equally bright and have more potential than others with better scores.”

Confusing excellence and elitism has created some myths that we must challenge:

Myth #1 Watching others be excellent damages my self- esteem.

Not true. Watching others display the natural ability, motivation, and drive that produce excellence helps us define those things in ourselves. What might I be especially good at? What do I really care about doing? How hard am I willing to work for something that matters to me? The core of healthy self-esteem combines self -knowledge and self-acceptance, lovingly embraced. But the habits of exceptional achievers are life skills, important to develop no matter what our inherent potential allows. And even elementary school children will see beyond self-negating comparison when adults model healthy responses to the extraordinary among us.

Myth #2 The only thing that separates me from excellence is opportunity.

Rarely true but too often argued. We are all limited by inherent differences in intelligence and talent. Pretending that they do not exist breeds resentment, not self- acceptance. Human variability is a fact of biology, not politics or privilege. Regression to the mean argues that even the most privileged child of geniuses is less likely to be a genius biologically. Extremes are exceptions. Put two together and the natural world pulls back toward the mean. When elitism substitutes for excellence, when the privileged are given what they have not earned, we create entitlement. That should make us all angry.

Myth #3 Fair means Equal

Not always. I taught my kids from an early age that fair means each person getting what they need to thrive. More homework help for one student, perhaps, but more structured rules for another.

Exceptions that level the playing field are not always equal. That farm kid that Yale accepts with a lower SAT score is not “getting a break”. He is evidence that talent exists across socioeconomic levels, and institutions of higher learning should search it out. Even a decade ago, Yale’s freshman class could have been filled entirely with students with perfect SAT scores, because the test has lost discriminatory power at the upper end, where overpreparation, tutoring, and over-testing have turned it into an achievement test, instead of the aptitude test it was designed to be. Fair is not always equal.

There is no question that inequality exists in our country. But demeaning science, art, and academic excellence does nothing to help this. Blaming institutions that train the best minds we have is self-defeating. We all benefit from gifts of the best among us. And we will need every bit of intelligence, expertise and experiences to rebuild our country.

The simplistic notion that if everyone can’t have it, achieve it, or understand it, it must be stamped out is a hallmark of the infantile narcissism that currently prevails in our political leadership. The idea that excellence is evil, intelligence is suspect, and only power and popularity should guide critically important decisions about our health, our economy, or our national defense is very dangerous.

It is also the ultimate elitism. The elevation of tyranny over truth… loyalty to the tyrant over competence, integrity, or consequences… and suppression or elimination of those who disagree.

This is not excellence for anyone. And it certainly is not democracy.