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Great Op-Ed in the Post

Great op-ed in the Post by a Yale Law 1L, also discussed at Mel Woods:

Excerpts:

"During four years at Princeton University and nearly a year at Yale Law School, I have been surrounded by students who dazzle. [. . .] These youths live a life of superlatives, a life in which being No. 1 is not just an aspiration but the status quo. They can be inspirational, and I am lucky to be able to learn from them. But they are not always nice people. [Emphasis added]

"You know what I mean by "nice." I mean the kind of "nice" that involves showing compassion not merely because membership in community service groups demands it. The kind of "nice" that involves sharing notes with a student who is sick or lending a textbook to a friend who doesn't have one. The kind of selfless, genuine "nice" that makes this world a better place -- but won't get you accepted to college.

"Of course, top universities accept hundreds of individuals who have demonstrated the highest levels of citizenship. These teenagers have volunteered in more food banks, sponsored more fundraisers and lobbied more officials than any previous generation. They earn, rightfully, the gratitude of their communities and the plethora of honors that come with it. Colleges at the top of U.S. News and World Report's rankings would balk at the notion that these students are anything but the best and the brightest.

"I'm not saying different. I'm saying that sometimes some of these students will denounce world hunger but be unfriendly to the homeless. They will debate environmental policy but never offer to take out the trash. They will believe vehemently in many causes but roll their eyes when reminded to be humble, to be generous and to "do what is right." [Emphasis added]

"It is these people, though, who often climb America's ladder of success. They rise to the top, partly on their own merits yet also partly on the backs of equally deserving but "nicer" people who let them steal the spotlight. Before they, or we, know it, they are the politicians and corporate executives subverting the very moral positions they espouse. They are the (frighteningly) many figureheads who purport to be leaders even as they embarrass our country and mar our history books. [Emphasis added]"

Mel adds:

"I've seen students who talk theoretically about helping the poor in a seminar treat the cafeteria workers like dirt. "

******

It's an excellent discussion. I'll add my input, which might veer off-course a bit.

Barack Obama said that there needs to be an open discussion of race in America. That may be, but I think the prevalence of the class divide is a far more important issue. For example, I believe that Affirmative Action in its current state violates Equal Protection, one of the very few "conservative" stances that I take. However, I do believe it should be replaced with a color-blind system based on family income and poverty.

It's easy to see the class divide on Ivy League campuses, where everyone lives in close proximity with each other and everybody's biases become clear. As an Ivy grad myself, albeit one who didn't go to the "Big 3 of Snobbery" (oh, you know who they are) as I used to like to call them, I faced lots of discrimination from my classmates because of my lack of connections. "Oh. You lived in [Run-downCity]. Why would anybody want to live there?" said one dormmate who lived in AffluentSuburb, completely oblivious to the fact that there isn't really a choice for some people.

Still, I'd often see the BlackPower kids who went to prep schools and wanted to embrace their African American side at college talking about poverty and "keeping the man down," unaware that the "man" that they were fighting had a fraction of the luxuries that they had when they were growing up. The UppityWhite kids DID treat the cafeteria workers like they were the absolute scum of the Earth, barely looking them in the eyes as they served them food that was plentiful, but not up to their high standards. They later would go to College Democrats meetings and talk about the plight of the "poor."

When will this altruism for the sake of bulking up the resume and advancing politically ("I arranged a concert to benefit Darfur. I helped low-income kids learn how to read. I visited a poor town on the campaign trail and I understand the plight of the impovershed.") be replaced with fundamental human kindness to ALL people?

A kindness not, at the core, rooted in selfishness?

Full post as published by Wicked Words on May 02, 2008 (boomark / email).