From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   There is a lot of anti-elite sentiment out there. I seek to make sense of it.   
      
   First of all, what is an elite? An elite is a group of people who got good at   
   something or another and acquired one or another kind of power. Some are good   
   people, and others are not. Some treat others well, and others don’t. Some   
   have good will toward    
   people, and others do not.   
      
   I attended an elite school called St. Stephen’s School on a full   
   scholarship. As an immigrant, I was poorer than most other students, and many   
   other students treated me badly. But I was also treated badly by people who   
   weren’t a part of any elite,    
   including people whom I once lionized: the self-made men.   
      
   When I talked to a co-worker about my experience at St. Stephen’s, he said   
   that the problem was elitism. There is a problem with that analysis. A big   
   problem. I had a girlfriend from the other side of town, whose classmates were   
   terrible to her. These    
   kids were not a part of any elite. Whatever was their problem, it was not   
   elitism.   
      
   At least kids at St. Stephen’s were taught to excel. But in many American   
   schools, a kid who takes school seriously is thought to “think he is better   
   than everyone else.” That these people are not in the elites does not make   
   them good. Poorer    
   people can be just as bad as anyone in any elite. When they destroy ambition   
   and intelligence in their youth, or when they advocate for slaughters of   
   propertied class, or when they dump on immigrants or on people from other   
   ethnic groups, they are vastly    
   in the wrong and need to be checked.   
      
   The principal of St. Stephen’s told me that they are now focusing their   
   efforts on teaching the students to be good people. Their efforts appear to be   
   paying off. I am impressed with a lot of what I have seen come out of St.   
   Stephen’s. Only one of my    
   former classmates has become a jerk. Many others became good people even in   
   cases that they didn’t start out as ones.   
      
   So here is an elite institution that has been directing its efforts to   
   teaching its students to be good people. This puts a lie to the claim that   
   people in the elites are worse than the average person. I would like to see   
   more public schools adopt a    
   similar policy. Teach more people who are not in the elites to be good people.   
   And see the place improve across the board.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)