Four quotes:
"Institutions are formalized mind-sets. These too can be witnessed. To become aware of those sets but see right through them from outside is the most reliable way not to get stuck or burned out by them. We master the rules, but we don’t let them ultimately define us or narrow our field of perception. We encompass the craziness of the situation, so we can be skillful within it or playful when there’s nothing to do but ride through the contradictions. Then we share a sense of the absurd with whoever else is inclined to see it that way. Whoever feels a little lost can find relief in our presence, in our tent, around our desk.
None of this means that we just suspend judgment forever. We observe...but there is action to be taken too. If we are serious in our criticisms of the practices and habits of helping organizations, however, we’ve got to be light, free, and sufficiently above it all to see where we can untangle the knots and bring about change. Everything is always changing anyway. With the perspective of the Witness, we can see just which pressures, applied with the precision of a judo chop, can move the mass."
Ram Dass and Paul Gorman. How Can I Help?: Stories and Reflection on Service. (1985) New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. p. 199-200.
“I think that any form or any way in which you’re not productive is disruption. Anything that takes you out of the system where you are producing something — I don’t mean creating, I don’t mean the things that nurture you and serve you and are generative for you — but when you drop out of the system and you are not productive, it will have consequences. But those consequences are part of the imagination of this system that says that we have to be producing and we have to be making something happen in order for us to have value, in order to effectively know who we are.”
Rev. angel Kyodo williams, in a dialogue in “Radical Dharma: Love.” Printed in Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation. Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rod Owens, and Jasmine Syedullah. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books, 2016. p. 140.
"Many people, liberal and conservative alike, are deeply offended by critiques of compulsory schooling. Every day we’re told that schools hold the key to equalizing opportunity, that the proper credentials will allow poor and marginalized people to participate fully in society, and that education provides the only legitimate path out of poverty. The question is a difficult one. Are schools social levelers or do they reinforce the class pyramid by tracking and sorting children from a young age? Presumably they do both."
“Unschooling: Trusting our kids to be curious.” Astra Taylor. Originally in n+1. Reprinted in Utne Reader, Nov-Dec 2013, p. 47.
"Your academic degree and job title do a lot to shape your workplace identity. But you don’t let your fancy credentials go to your head and shape your self-identity. Whenever you have a choice in your interactions with coworkers and clients, and with people in your life outside the workplace, you downplay your formal education and your position within the system, recognizing that it would be elitist to imply that such credentials make you even a bit more deserving of respect than other people. When you identify yourself, you don’t adorn your name with titles such as “Dr.,” “PhD,” “Professor” or “Esq.”
* * *
For if your own degree and job title lend validity to your conclusions, then the paper credentials and positions of your establishment-oriented colleagues lend validity to the opposite conclusions. And there are more of them than there are of you."
Jeff Schmidt, Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System that Shapes Their Lives. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000) Kindle Edition.
Who's leading the charge?
Yes, universities have always been elitist. But sometimes the accusation of elitism is made by someone who isn't qualified to make it or who is hypocritical, and is using it to discredit their political enemies while their intent is to gain power for themselves or their friends. Like U.S. Senator Ben Sasse from Nebraska.
The issue, Foust continues, is that "this man has spearheaded a historic crackdown on liberty and speech, while demanding the public supply him with a luxurious lifestyle out of reach to his staff, and condemns other people of decadence. It’s foul that The Atlantic would solicit such a man for comment."
Foust provided these sources:
UF spending $300,000 on new pool for Dasburg home where incoming president Ben Sasse will reside. Emma Behrmann, The Gainesville Sun, January 11, 2023
In Florida’s Hot Political Climate, Some Faculty Have Had Enough. Liberal-leaning professors are leaving coveted jobs with tenure. And there are signs that recruiting scholars has become harder. New York Times. December 3, 2023.
University of Florida prohibits professors from testifying. Mike Schneider, Associated Press, October 30, 2021.
Florida students and professors say a new law censors academic freedom. They’re suing to stop it. Mike Schneider. Associated Press. August 15, 2023
Tom Pepinsky on Bluesky: "You have to read this at the same time that you read about our oligarchs' demands that universities focus exclusively on truth, excellence, and meritocracy." He was referring to this article: "Inventing the Perfect College Applicant: For $120,000 a year, Christopher Rim promises to turn any student into Ivy bait." Caitlin Moscatello, NY Mag Intelligencer, January 29, 2024.
2024: In response to Matthew Yglesias's suggestion that Trump is "really smart and impressive" and is "actually playing" everyone around him who believes they're playing him, in other words, that there's some meritocracy playing out in Trump's orbit, Assigned Media says:
"There's a type of midwit liberal elite for whom meritocracy functions as the psychological justification for their entire existence and if you show those people evidence that some people rise to the top without possessing any merit, they reject it as an ego defense. (Bluesky)
Most of us can accept that, whatever our excellent (or terrible!) personal qualities, a lot of luck went into where we ended up.
But for many at the top that is such an unacceptable conclusion that they will believe literally anything that allows them to avoid confronting the fact. (Bluesky)
I think you can also go too far in the direction of fatalism, and conclude that hard work, passion, and a desire to improve is meaningless.
It's not meaningless, it's actually the primary source of meaning. It just doesn't ensure external success." (Bluesky)
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