OxBlog

Saturday, August 21, 2004

# Posted 8:24 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: The NYT ran a photo essay on European aristocracy on today's op-ed page along with a commentary that tries to explain transatlantic tensions in terms of a clash between European sophistication and American anti-elitism.

The heart of the commentary focuses on a photograph of English schoolboys in formal dress. The author writes that

Of the six photographs shown here, the most alien is that of the eight English schoolboys in their Eton College uniform. It neatly encapsulates the ambiguous nature of America's feelings toward Britain, its staunchest ally. "I HATE England," wrote Nathaniel Hawthorne during one of the petty quarrels that marred Anglo-American relations in the 1850's. "Though I love some Englishmen, and like them generally, in fact."

The unblinking gaze of the Etonians embodies the fear that despite everything, the British still consider themselves superior to the Americans. After all, the English have harbored equally ambivalent feelings ever since the 13 colonies became a nation. In a notorious essay that soured relations for at least a generation, Sydney Smith, the renowned wit, gave the fear its voice when he condemned American culture as worthless and its democracy a sham. "Who reads an American book," he wrote in 1820. "Or goes to an American play? Or looks at an American picture or statue. Under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave?"

Having worn the same formal dress quite often at Oxford, I decided to write a letter to the editor explaining why its cultural significance was the exact opposite of that which is described above:

Amanda Foreman ("An Ocean Apart", Photo Op, Aug. 21, 2004) reads far too much into the distant gaze of Tina Barney's eight English schoolboys. As an American graduate student at Oxford, I often find myself wearing the same "alien" uniform as the schoolboys of Eton. What I have learned while wearing this foreign garb is that most Britons share our uniquely American suspicion and resentment of those who present themselves as our social betters.

Moreover, those who wear such uniforms in Briton tend to feel both embarrassed and besieged -- embarrassed by antiquated notions of social hierarchy and besieged by widespread antipathy toward their customs. As a result, the Oxbridge elite have torn a page out of the American playbook and sought to recast their aristocratic habits as indicators of merit. These days, there is an increasing number of students at Oxford and Cambridge, both male and female, whose darker skin indicates that admission to Britain’s top universities has increasingly become a reflection of an applicant’s hard work and God-given talent.

Sincerely,
David Adesnik
Rhodes Scholar, Class of 2000
New York and Magdalen


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