Andy Crouch, in an interview with World Magazine:
Pursuing being elite is a terrible idea. I partly say this because I worked at Harvard for 10 years, and most people who pursue being elite end up being shaped solely by that: They become nothing but elite. I’d much rather have everyone, whatever their prospects for being elite or not, pursue excellence. Excellence is often accompanied by humility, whereas being elite often is not. People who have obtained mastery of certain fields, I’ve found, are surprisingly humble, because they’ve become aware of how difficult their work is.
(Via: Justin Taylor)
March 25th, 2011 | 1:31 pm
On a slightly lower level, I see this in my kids’ “elite” public high school. It’s all about the Newsweek ratings now. The administration is actually finding a way to pay for my daughter’s AP English exam (which we decided not to pay for because her chances of passing it are iffy and it’s just not that important either to her or to us as parents) because they want to be able to post those AP pass numbers — AP pass *rates* matter less to them. They’re insisting she take it, even to the point of being willing to foot the bill.
In fairness, they do an excellent job in educating the kids, as well. But the administration’s eye is always on the “eliteness” at least as much as the excellence.
March 25th, 2011 | 6:38 pm
I very much enjoyed this piece, and the ideas behind it. “Excellence” is available to anyone with the will to seek it, and everyone should seek it. “Elite” simple means being part of a group with high entry costs, and indicates that a person values being part of an exclusive group. All fallen humans have that tendency.
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