The Disadvantages Of An Elite Education By William Deresiewicz

William Deresiewicz’s article The Disadvantages of an Elite Education discusses the pitfalls of the elite education in order to highlight the inadequeces of the Ivy League perspective on the world. Through this writing, Deresiewicz acknowledges that the elite education many have been given is not the key to adequately interpreting the various perspectives of the working world and its people. While allowing for success at the top of the business world, the perspective of the elite does not translate directly to the viewpoint of a working class American. By working dilligently for every dollar they wish to earn, the working class American angle on the world differs greatly from the elitist who earns extravagently from the management of a business.

Deresiewicz lays out a very clear perspective of the average entitled elitist graduating from an Ivy League school. As a graduate of an Ivy League school, the author not only understands, but shares the perspective of an elitist. This shared viewpoint allows for the revelation of the author which clarifies his apparent incapability to relate and communicate with a lowly plumber. Although the plumber is less educated, in a lower income bracket, and leads a simple life in comparison to the illustrious elitist, the difference in perspective prevents a conversation from taking root. An encounter such as this may seem to indicate a lack of similarities between the two people, however, more importantly, the two individuals do not think the same way about the world. The Ivy League graduate learns “to think, at least in certain ways,” in order to “launch themself into a life rich in all of society’s most cherished rewards.” In acknowledging this “Ivy retardation,” the author reaffirms that the perspective of the Ivy League graduate is limited by the ideals of the succesful bussiness man and therefore an obstruction to one’s ability to identify with the common working class American. Ideals such as an expectation for

Through the eyes of the Ivy League everyone else beneath them “weren’t worth talking to, regardless of their class.” This perspective, however, allows for the revealing of an alternative viewpoint of those who are not Ivy League graduates oreven college educated. The elite are looked at as the “leaders of world” in regards to their education and status in society, however, they are not inherently smarter nor is their perspective singular. The work ethic rewuired by the working class is the of result the imperative education of the working class to be “conditioned for lives with few second chances, no extensions, little support, narrow opportunity—lives of subordination, supervision, and control, lives of deadlines.” Through this reality the people of the working class have a very different perspective from that of the elite of society because of what is required of them in order for them to make a living. In addition to this, the world itself is flipped upsde down when in comparison to the elite of society. While work is regulated by those above, the ability to do what is desired is restricted because the working class is on the bottom of a pyramid that rises to the top where the elitists lie. This is a result of the Ivy League’s “best and