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Tuesday, October 04, 2005

# Posted 9:45 AM by Patrick Belton  

MAIL BAG 3: BLOODY TURKEYS, OLD CHAP:
Mr. Belton, (regarding Michael Lind in Prospect. ah, go on - all my friends call me 'm'lord' - ed.)

Have you ever read "The Big Test" (ed: review, review) by Nicholas Lemann? What he points out is that the ideals of service, of graduates of places like Yale ending up as intelligentsia, aren't necessarily commensurable with a meritocracy: that if you are poor and suddenly get a good education, you'll want to make money; whereas if you come from old money and get a good education you'll be happy to go into service. This is not a crippling objection, but it certainly calls into question simplistic battle cries for a liberal arts educated elite. We had that kind of elite because of specific social circumstances, which no longer entirely hold. Plus, I'm not entirely sure that technocrats are entirely ignorant of the pulls of populism. But that is a separate argument.

Best,
Isaac
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