The unpleasant truth is that today's white non-college educated working class person is not your grandfather's white non-college educated working class person.
Eighty years ago, there were many very intelligent people who did not attend college because of financial circumstances or because of discrimination against their race, religion or gender. Henry George, arguably the most brilliant American economist of the 19th century, left school at age 14. President Harry Truman was not a college graduate.
Today, with many exceptions, someone under the age of forty who was never interested in college probably is not very smart. That makes them vulnerable to the lies that got Trump elected. Even some with college educations are not able to understand that NAFTA and trade agreements in general increase employment and standards of living and that immigrants are not responsible for slow economic growth. Democrats can never hope to lie better than Trump.
Warren Buffett said, "Through the tax code, there has been class warfare waged, and my class has won, It's been a rout."
The forces driving inequality through the class warfare that Warren Buffett points to are cumulative. It is the compounding effect of shift away from taxes on capital income such as dividends, capital gains and inheritances each year as the rich get proverbially richer which is the prime generator of inequality..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4067359
Eighty years ago, there were many very intelligent people who did not attend college because of financial circumstances or because of discrimination against their race, religion or gender. Henry George, arguably the most brilliant American economist of the 19th century, left school at age 14. President Harry Truman was not a college graduate.
Today, with many exceptions, someone under the age of forty who was never interested in college probably is not very smart. That makes them vulnerable to the lies that got Trump elected. Even some with college educations are not able to understand that NAFTA and trade agreements in general increase employment and standards of living and that immigrants are not responsible for slow economic growth. Democrats can never hope to lie better than Trump.
Warren Buffett said, "Through the tax code, there has been class warfare waged, and my class has won, It's been a rout."
The forces driving inequality through the class warfare that Warren Buffett points to are cumulative. It is the compounding effect of shift away from taxes on capital income such as dividends, capital gains and inheritances each year as the rich get proverbially richer which is the prime generator of inequality..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4067359
123
First of all this is nothing new. It started in the early 1980’s when Ronald Reagan became President and Yuppies became a thing. Remember, Ronny pushed for corporate deregulation to help the rich, while pushing for cutting welfare to hurt the poor.
Now Republicans want to cut Medicaid in their healthcare bill to give tax cuts to the rich. Republicans gerrymander congressional districts to make it more difficult for minorities and the poor to vote. Republicans scream about voter fraud when it’s basically non-existent and push for voter ID laws that make it harder for minorities and the poor to vote.
Since Ronny, Republicans have always been for the rich, the elite, the biggest corporations, the 1%. Now they voted in Trump who does everything he can not to help the poor and disadvantaged.
Did I mention what Republicans do to help the poor? What’s that? You can’t think of anything? Neither can I.
Now Republicans want to cut Medicaid in their healthcare bill to give tax cuts to the rich. Republicans gerrymander congressional districts to make it more difficult for minorities and the poor to vote. Republicans scream about voter fraud when it’s basically non-existent and push for voter ID laws that make it harder for minorities and the poor to vote.
Since Ronny, Republicans have always been for the rich, the elite, the biggest corporations, the 1%. Now they voted in Trump who does everything he can not to help the poor and disadvantaged.
Did I mention what Republicans do to help the poor? What’s that? You can’t think of anything? Neither can I.
174
"It’s no wonder that 70 percent of the students in the nation’s 200 most competitive schools come from the top quarter of the income distribution."
There is a correlation between intelligence and income. And smart parents are more likely to produce smart kids.
There is a correlation between substance abuse and poverty. An alcoholic father is more likely to have an alcoholic son than a non-alcoholic father.
Dysfunctional parents are more likely to produce emotionally dysfunctional kids.
So some if not most of that 70/20 ratio has nothing to do with elite dog-whistles but is dependent on high intelligence and emotional function.
There is a correlation between intelligence and income. And smart parents are more likely to produce smart kids.
There is a correlation between substance abuse and poverty. An alcoholic father is more likely to have an alcoholic son than a non-alcoholic father.
Dysfunctional parents are more likely to produce emotionally dysfunctional kids.
So some if not most of that 70/20 ratio has nothing to do with elite dog-whistles but is dependent on high intelligence and emotional function.
73
"Members of the college educated class have been devastatingly good at making sure their children retain their privileged status... As soon as they get money, they turn it into investments in their kids". This is an outrage! They invest in their kids! Then the high tuition bills they pay fund the scholarships of economically under-privileged kids. How dare they! This is what is wrong with America, indeed.
88
Mr. Brooks' child attended the elite Georgetown Day School.
138
Mr. Brooks actually uses an understanding of the European vocabulary around "gourmet sandwiches" as an example college or not.
I use this same comparison to posit "clueless about life and human beings or not". This writer falls into the former category once again.
I use this same comparison to posit "clueless about life and human beings or not". This writer falls into the former category once again.
78
Perhaps we need
1. A tax on private education, which would be used to fund public education.
2. A tax on business services, such as consulting, advertising, accounting, legal and financial services, etc. This would be used to educate more health care professionals so as to drive the cost of health care down.
3.. The elimination of zoning that allows gated communities, adult only communities, restrictions on multifamily residences and other modern means of segregation.
1. A tax on private education, which would be used to fund public education.
2. A tax on business services, such as consulting, advertising, accounting, legal and financial services, etc. This would be used to educate more health care professionals so as to drive the cost of health care down.
3.. The elimination of zoning that allows gated communities, adult only communities, restrictions on multifamily residences and other modern means of segregation.
86
Jack London's novel, "Martin Eden," may be relevant here.
BTW, in response to reader Jen, it is worth noting that some state universities have priced their tuition and fees out of reach for all but the affluent.
BTW, in response to reader Jen, it is worth noting that some state universities have priced their tuition and fees out of reach for all but the affluent.
49
It is actually economics. The top 10% of this country own the bulk of the nation's wealth. The top 1% own an even more amazingly disproportiante share. This leads to ever increasing concentration of political power as well. Inherited wealth is the primary source of social and cultural stratification and is leading to the rapid creation of a de facto aristocracy 240 years after the American Revolution.
118
Once again, Mr. Brooks you are part of the problem, eg. your snobbish sandwich shop. How did YOU find out about all those ingredients ? someone took you to such a place once, you probably felt the same way as your "only a high school degree" friend did, but you eventually learned what those ingredients are etc.
The decline of upward mobility isn't the result of active exclusion from those who made it at the top, but rather a continued oppression from conservative ideologies. College isn't affordable to the poor not because they are poor but because college is too expensive, for profit institutions disguised as non profit. Make colleges affordable (like free community college for example) and you'll have people lifting themselves out of uneducation and poverty, and perhaps more people will know what soppressata and striata baguettes are...
The decline of upward mobility isn't the result of active exclusion from those who made it at the top, but rather a continued oppression from conservative ideologies. College isn't affordable to the poor not because they are poor but because college is too expensive, for profit institutions disguised as non profit. Make colleges affordable (like free community college for example) and you'll have people lifting themselves out of uneducation and poverty, and perhaps more people will know what soppressata and striata baguettes are...
299
I grew up very middle class with a blue-collar dad and stay-at-home mother. Neither of them attended college, but I was very bright and couldn't wait to go. My SAT scores were high enough that my high school counselor told me that I could get into just about any school I wanted, but I went to a state school because that was the only place I could afford. My parents didn't help me in any way, ever. I worked two and sometimes three jobs and went to school full-time. Most of the time I didn't eat because I couldn't afford food, and it took almost six years to get my degree, but I got it! I lived an upper middle to upper class life for several years and learned much of the language and culture that is so particular to that class. Then I became very ill, lost my job and became very middle class again, which in some ways has been the most interesting part of the journey. I had to learn how to tone down my speech and mannerisms a little in order to be fully accepted by my new "tribe." I traveled full circle just to learn that everyone has their own special admissions policy!
255
Mr. Brooks once again mistakes problems of policy, opportunity, and inequality as problems of morality and culture.
69
Because they don't preach what they practice:
Personal responsibility
Education
Marriage
Savings
Discipline
If they preached what they practice, the nation would be much better off...
Personal responsibility
Education
Marriage
Savings
Discipline
If they preached what they practice, the nation would be much better off...
30
.....Very powerful insights and these inequalities need to be quickly addressed.
17
Well, this certainly has me thinking, and it is one reason I read every Brooks column. I will read it again to let some of it sink in further. Encourage anyone who wants to comment to read it first. My first take: This is an extension of the "Persons of Privilege" construct I have noticed with increasing frequency. I am not sure where this leads on a personal level, though. Are those who have the means supposed to hit the pause button while those less fortunate catch up? Should we develop, promote and only engage in 'one for one' programs (TOMS shoes model in all things). Would that even be enough? I think it is worth noting that many from the lower-tiered privileged class have invested considerable time and energy to the fight for social justice and equality in many and varied ways.
26
What is Mr. Brooks trying to say? That a nation does not need an intelligentsia? That being one, or aspiring to be one who is educated, knowledgeable, and aware of the world is somehow bad?
50
What are your solutions?
45
My daughter attended an inner-city arts magnet school in Oakland. Many of her peers are from very very poor families with limited resources at best. When she starting her college admissions process she was offered tutoring by her father in the subject areas that she was weak in because they were not included in her high school curriculum. This enabled her to score much higher on the ACT test than her peers --- who could not afford this extra support - which ran into the thousands! The best colleges were immediately out of reach for them because they could not "pay to play" and therefore were not prepared.
This is just one example of how things turn out for the haves and the have nots. From the moment these kids leave home and start on their career building journey in college they are at a disadvantage, which is a sad theme that can repeat itself for the rest of their lives.
This is just one example of how things turn out for the haves and the have nots. From the moment these kids leave home and start on their career building journey in college they are at a disadvantage, which is a sad theme that can repeat itself for the rest of their lives.
57
My cousins, who lived on a farm, once led me in a skipe (a fictitious bird) hunt. Is that like not knowing about Italian meats?
73
This problem has been going on in various disguises (education is just one of many ways to gain and retain status) since the beginning of recorded history.
Dr. Henri Tajfel puts name to the underlying structure - "in-groups" and "out-groups." Dr. Michael Hogg along with many others have expanded on his work. Groups establish boundary markers such as vocabulary/language, wealth (consider cost of tuition), degrees, and occupation to maintain their boundaries. A simple and recent example is Hilary Clinton's "Deplorables" campaign comment. She firmly established the boundary between her in-group of obviously wonderful people, and Trump's out-group of "Deplorables'-." It probably also cost her the election (it was not James Comey - it was a poorly run election) since anyone on the fence in Trump's camp was likely offended, and as a result accepted the Trump in-group boundary marker that liberals are arrogant and talk funny.
The election of Trump was a non-violent minor revolution by those feeling uncertain of their future. He made promises causing them to feel hopeful, and so here we are. His promised approach though is not realistic or sustainable, and that means the problem - appeased for the moment - is still here with the potential to grow. Education is important for future job growth but the secondary education hierarchy is becoming archaic. Therefore, investigating affordable, useful, and status producing post-high school education alternatives is suggested.
Dr. Henri Tajfel puts name to the underlying structure - "in-groups" and "out-groups." Dr. Michael Hogg along with many others have expanded on his work. Groups establish boundary markers such as vocabulary/language, wealth (consider cost of tuition), degrees, and occupation to maintain their boundaries. A simple and recent example is Hilary Clinton's "Deplorables" campaign comment. She firmly established the boundary between her in-group of obviously wonderful people, and Trump's out-group of "Deplorables'-." It probably also cost her the election (it was not James Comey - it was a poorly run election) since anyone on the fence in Trump's camp was likely offended, and as a result accepted the Trump in-group boundary marker that liberals are arrogant and talk funny.
The election of Trump was a non-violent minor revolution by those feeling uncertain of their future. He made promises causing them to feel hopeful, and so here we are. His promised approach though is not realistic or sustainable, and that means the problem - appeased for the moment - is still here with the potential to grow. Education is important for future job growth but the secondary education hierarchy is becoming archaic. Therefore, investigating affordable, useful, and status producing post-high school education alternatives is suggested.
26
Share the wealth.
Leave culture to take care of itself.
Leave culture to take care of itself.
70
Whatdya mean "we"? The inequality we now have has been fostered, aided and abetted and put into law by legislators on the state and federal governmental levels who shovel the money back into the coffers of the already wealthy who constantly complain about their tax burden and who are the welfare queens of the day. They manage their lifestyles by moving their businesses overseas to minimize what they pay they workers. And to escape paying more in taxes. The consequence has been the erosion of the middle class and the creation of friction between people who are all fighting what's left of the reduced pie. Get your head out of those sociological books and use that college education to draw your own conclusions: what results from cutting income, cutting money spent on education and all other social services to make up for lost revenue? A nastier, angrier social environment filled with poorly educated citizens. We know the whys of how we got here and we know what hasn't worked for thirty years. When will people like you suggest the ways that do work to produce a better society, like higher wages, fairer labor laws with business vs workers, better distribution of health care, investment in infrastructure etc.? You and the whole Republican entity offer nothing but 19th century cures for a 21st century economy. Pathetic.
111
I don't disagree, and certainly am guilty of things described in the opinion. Living in Austin, Texas, surrounded by many well-educated, affluent people, what are we to do? Things are very competitive here. Like all parents, we just want what's best for our kids. We sacrifice to provide our kids with the most opportunity possible.
We sold a perfectly fine house in a poor school district to buy an overpriced equivalent in a good one. We pay a lot more for preschools with smaller class sizes and better teachers. We enroll the kids in extracurricular activities and summer camps so they don't just veg out in front of the TV. Our house is cluttered with books and learning toys as much as possible. I fully realize half the people in this city can't afford to do what we do for our kids.
However, we didn't create this system. We pay $1,800 a month for preschool for two kids, and more than that for camps when the schools are closed. That doesn't leave a lot to help poor strangers lift themselves up out of poverty. And while I am happily willing to have my taxes support after-school programs, meals, camps, and services for poor families, I am not willing to allow social engineering (like busing programs) to potentially endanger my own kids' futures. Lifting people up by knocking others down isn't the solution.
We sold a perfectly fine house in a poor school district to buy an overpriced equivalent in a good one. We pay a lot more for preschools with smaller class sizes and better teachers. We enroll the kids in extracurricular activities and summer camps so they don't just veg out in front of the TV. Our house is cluttered with books and learning toys as much as possible. I fully realize half the people in this city can't afford to do what we do for our kids.
However, we didn't create this system. We pay $1,800 a month for preschool for two kids, and more than that for camps when the schools are closed. That doesn't leave a lot to help poor strangers lift themselves up out of poverty. And while I am happily willing to have my taxes support after-school programs, meals, camps, and services for poor families, I am not willing to allow social engineering (like busing programs) to potentially endanger my own kids' futures. Lifting people up by knocking others down isn't the solution.
97
"You're driving at the "income gap", and that's a result of the right-wing attack on unions, the degradation of "the welfare state as we know it", and the general up-turned noses of the political class you occupy. It's self-perpetuating."
The above quote tells the story of the past 25 years, Republicans are ruining America, do not include everyone. And BTW, you helped.......
The above quote tells the story of the past 25 years, Republicans are ruining America, do not include everyone. And BTW, you helped.......
28
It is somewhat unfortunate but telling, Mr. Brooks, that you underlined and undermined this classism by comparing "Italian" cuisine to Mexican.
82
I grew up in a lower middle class family in the Midwest, and after 12 years of higher education, I've become the jerk who tuts when people clap before the conductor has turned around. I think the problem is less that we have so many layers of social coding and more that 90% of the signals are relatively pointless for anything but creating divisions.
36
Nice mea culpa David. (Oops - I should translate for those lower classes, not that they read the Times, amirite?) Loosely, it means "it's my fault, I'm guilty, etc. etc. (Who would have thought David Brooks would be experiencing classic liberal guilt at this time in his life?) You forget a few items.
You might add that this class war, because that's what it is, has been going on for decades. Defunding of public colleges and universities, tuition hikes, means testing, drug testing for assistance programs and the safety net, cuts to public education and vouchers that don't go far enough for charter/private schools - all of these things send a message about power and privilege.
Let's not forget a few other things: off-shoring, out-sourcing, union-busting. All of these conservative favorites elevate capital over people, and destroy upward mobility. Sure technology means some of those jobs are never coming back - but leaving those workers behind as collateral damage isn't exactly "kinder, gentler" America.
Let's not forget the biggest ladder-pullers of them all. Paul Ryan, who benefited from Social Security as a survivor and has been living on the public dime for years, wants to make sure safety nets "don't become hammocks". Mitch McConnell is helping him destroy the ObamaCare that has given people freedom to change jobs without losing insurance and financial security to keep them from losing everything to medical bills - for tax cuts for the rich.
Nice work Mr. Brooks.
You might add that this class war, because that's what it is, has been going on for decades. Defunding of public colleges and universities, tuition hikes, means testing, drug testing for assistance programs and the safety net, cuts to public education and vouchers that don't go far enough for charter/private schools - all of these things send a message about power and privilege.
Let's not forget a few other things: off-shoring, out-sourcing, union-busting. All of these conservative favorites elevate capital over people, and destroy upward mobility. Sure technology means some of those jobs are never coming back - but leaving those workers behind as collateral damage isn't exactly "kinder, gentler" America.
Let's not forget the biggest ladder-pullers of them all. Paul Ryan, who benefited from Social Security as a survivor and has been living on the public dime for years, wants to make sure safety nets "don't become hammocks". Mitch McConnell is helping him destroy the ObamaCare that has given people freedom to change jobs without losing insurance and financial security to keep them from losing everything to medical bills - for tax cuts for the rich.
Nice work Mr. Brooks.
107
The same concept as institutional racism but aimed at poor/whites. Why not start by working to remove legacy admissions from your university? Keep us posted on your efforts.
39
Don't you people go to Italian delis? Stop over analyzing!!
45
This class of citizens you describe here most likely exists. If you want to be a part of their fancy sandwiches and overpriced coffee...go ahead and have at it. I would argue that there is another class of educated and not so educated citizens who recognize the nonsense involved with the fancy folks and steer clear of them and their opaque bigotry. We buy our coffee at the grocery store where we plot our coup against the lofty.
55
Ye Gods! Brooks blames the failure of his own dearly beloved Reaganomics on education. To Brooks, one should not do everything one can do to educate one's child to compete in the 21st century.
After decades of pushing Reaganomics which shifted money to the top 10% and away from education, infrastructure, housing, transportation, health care and science, Brooks berates parents for trying to make sure their kids are not the victims of the economic and social policies Brooks has championed. His hubris and hypocrisy is astounding.
After decades of pushing Reaganomics which shifted money to the top 10% and away from education, infrastructure, housing, transportation, health care and science, Brooks berates parents for trying to make sure their kids are not the victims of the economic and social policies Brooks has championed. His hubris and hypocrisy is astounding.
69
I hope this column makes David feel better. He has an overwhelming amount of guilt, and his solution to his guilt is to blame smart and successful people for being smart and successful.
42
"How We Are Ruining America"?
Oh right, it's the college-educated middle class at fault...
AND on a day when the "ruin of America" at Trump's hand seems so manifest? How convenient!
Oh right, it's the college-educated middle class at fault...
AND on a day when the "ruin of America" at Trump's hand seems so manifest? How convenient!
35
Try as you may Mr. Brooks to change the subject what is ruining America is endless right wing propaganda, and the impact of Citizen's United dark money on the electoral system. Liberals buying junk on Amazon or spending too much at Whole Foods as a cause for the ruining of America is a pathetic joke compared to the right wing coup that has taken over our government. That is what is ruining our country. The right wing coup did not take place because of the of "elite libs" as Fox News would have you believe.
Trump, McConnell, Ryan are working for the end of health care for millions, the destruction of the environment, the cutting of taxes for the super-rich, and the end of Social Security as we know it. They were put there by the Kochs, Murdochs, Mercers, and apparently the Russians. If this column is considered political and cultural analysis, I'll have a salami on rye with mustard.
Trump, McConnell, Ryan are working for the end of health care for millions, the destruction of the environment, the cutting of taxes for the super-rich, and the end of Social Security as we know it. They were put there by the Kochs, Murdochs, Mercers, and apparently the Russians. If this column is considered political and cultural analysis, I'll have a salami on rye with mustard.
88
I agree it would be insensitive to take a non-college educated friend to an Italian sandwich shop until they have taken the course A Comparative History of American and European Sandwiches 101 (passing with at least a B average) in night school.
94
Why did you not dig into explaining the menu--and bridging the gap--David Brooks? How dare you blame others when you are so unaware of your own role?
71
Thank you for this. I see this form of snobbery or separation behavior frequently. Kind of like the English books we read about manners and morals. And we hoped to leave behind the class divisions. Guess it didn't happen.
9
My mother had a 3rd grade education. My father had training in electronics (associates?) Came to this country with nothing, I was 1 of 7 kids. My parents could not afford to help all, so they said they wouldn't help any...we were on our own! I and all my siblings have advanced degrees.
But back then (pre Reagan) America cared about most of its citizens, blacks not so much. It was easy to get ahead if you showed any gumption. Not now! The republican party is determined to solidify the stratification of society that has taken place since the 80s. Poor? Guess what, you are more likely to remain there than in any other wealthy country. But Trump wants to make america great again so all he has to do is....um, never mind!
But back then (pre Reagan) America cared about most of its citizens, blacks not so much. It was easy to get ahead if you showed any gumption. Not now! The republican party is determined to solidify the stratification of society that has taken place since the 80s. Poor? Guess what, you are more likely to remain there than in any other wealthy country. But Trump wants to make america great again so all he has to do is....um, never mind!
38
You all can deny this from your personal, educated, NYT-reading perspective, but there is truth to this article.
18
The "educated class" is just another name for "condescending snobbery," as Brooks's offensive tale of his friend and the sandwich shop shows.
34
Really, Mr. Brooks. Have you never heard of Pierre Bourdieu? If not, I suggest some summer remedial reading. Nearly 40 years ago, he wrote a thesis on consumption and taste as forms of class distinction, which here you have feebly recapitulated, in a less engaging voice.
And that is my expression of social capital.
And that is my expression of social capital.
24
Better off even than being well educated, privileged, and feeling comfortable in an exclusive deli is the occult wisdom that in this day and age you are far better off making your own sandwich, with the full knowledge of where your hands have been, plastic gloves or no plastic gloves. Bon appetite
21
I'm not sure what about this opinion piece outraged me the most. Mr. Brooks, with so many of his previous opinion pieces and general alignment with the conservative political camp, is most complicit in the "Ruining of America" as he calls it. Which political party wants to defund education? Give continued tax cuts to the rich so that they can continue to shop at Whole Foods? Provide limited maternity leaves so that many working class moms don't have the opportunity to breast-feed their babies past their 6 week maternity leave? This whole piece sickens me.
70
"Upper-middle-class moms have the means and the maternity leaves to breast-feed their babies at much higher rates than high school-educated moms, and for much longer periods."
Is that funny or what?
Is that funny or what?
33
Yikes! After a lifetime of groveling and striving for ultra-high status (UC degree; writing jobs; proximity to GOP power; wife + 2 kids; expensive homes in urban-elite areas; recent young trophy wife; etc) Mr. Brooks just now realizes that this means other people are left behind in his wake and that there are consequences for real people. What took him so long? Does he not know that people of his party & class believe this: It is not enough to win; others must also lose.
42
Brooks writes of the requirements needed to "feel at home in opportunity-rich areas" such as to "sport the right baby carrier" and the ability to display the proper tastes in tea, wine and Pilates. He writes of the ability to fit in in these neighborhoods as if it requires an establishment education and to have been raised in an upper middle family, and that those who do fit in wouldn't want to live among anyone else but those with whom they share "the cultural codes".
A perfect example of such a neighborhood is Park Slope in Brooklyn, which can be credited with inventing sporting the right baby carrier, along with all of the other 'qualities" enumerated by Brooks.
The neighborhood I live in, Ditmas Park in Brooklyn, famous for its historic district of turn of the last century houses, each of which was built to spec by rich Manhattanites in what was then farmland, has recently had an influx of people moving here from Park Slope.
Virtually every one of them, when asked how they like their new neighborhood, say that they are beyond delighted to be free of the pretentiousness of Park Slope, and how every last minute detail of their lives is subject to judgement and gossip. They are beyond happy to be able to go about their lives as they please and not having to live their lives based on the "cultural codes" that is nothing more than a code that insecure people use to show that they belong.
A perfect example of such a neighborhood is Park Slope in Brooklyn, which can be credited with inventing sporting the right baby carrier, along with all of the other 'qualities" enumerated by Brooks.
The neighborhood I live in, Ditmas Park in Brooklyn, famous for its historic district of turn of the last century houses, each of which was built to spec by rich Manhattanites in what was then farmland, has recently had an influx of people moving here from Park Slope.
Virtually every one of them, when asked how they like their new neighborhood, say that they are beyond delighted to be free of the pretentiousness of Park Slope, and how every last minute detail of their lives is subject to judgement and gossip. They are beyond happy to be able to go about their lives as they please and not having to live their lives based on the "cultural codes" that is nothing more than a code that insecure people use to show that they belong.
18
I do not disagree with Mr. Brooks that people create strata and that those strata exclude others, but I do disagree with Mr. Brooks that there is anything new about it. I also disagree with the suggestion that Padrino sandwiches are intentionally exclusionary. Cultures happen. People within a culture feel included. People outside of a culture feel excluded. But the culture-making is not an intentional act. Furthermore, every culture, whether it be made of cooks, lawyers, engineers, or farm-hands have their way of expressing themselves that is opaque to outsiders.
Cliques and status probably drive 75% of all human behavior, world wide, since the dawn of time. It drives a sense of identity for humans, not just for American humans. Do you want to sit in a First Class or Coach seat (cave)?
It is too simple to assert that America is being ruined by a common human frailty. America has succeeded largely because American culture has beat back the urge to prize status by being a meritocracy. I say that what is ruining America is the decline of its being a meritocracy.
BTW, a great book on this topic is "Imperial San Francisco" by Gray Brechin.
Cliques and status probably drive 75% of all human behavior, world wide, since the dawn of time. It drives a sense of identity for humans, not just for American humans. Do you want to sit in a First Class or Coach seat (cave)?
It is too simple to assert that America is being ruined by a common human frailty. America has succeeded largely because American culture has beat back the urge to prize status by being a meritocracy. I say that what is ruining America is the decline of its being a meritocracy.
BTW, a great book on this topic is "Imperial San Francisco" by Gray Brechin.
16
Pierre Bourdieu wrote similarly in his 1979 book, Distinction, though with a French, Postmodern gaze. (Hey, not bad for a working-class kid sending his daughter to a State school.)
17
"Upper-middle-class moms have the means and the maternity leaves to breast-feed their babies at much higher rates than high school-educated moms, and for much longer periods."
Funny stuff, David.
Funny stuff, David.
8
Me Brooks, I am a liberal who reads you avidly and appreciates your insights. As one of the 30% "assuage your guilt" scholarship students at a prestigious university, I question your departure to a Mexican restaurant as a sensitive response to your companion. I was her many years ago and the way I broadened my world was having elders introduce me to and explain things alien to my world. Yes, sometimes it was condescending as when my tennis coach, treating me to a dinner at a nice restaurant to reward my "win", refused to pay for my filet if I had it well-done...the only way I knew to order. I finally learned why people liked filet mignon. I appreciate and remember moments like that. Just for the record, my full scholarship was academic not athletic, as I was before Title IX days.
P
P
23
David,
Your conversion to liberalism is now complete.
Congratulations!
Just wondering: are you spending $70,000 a year (per kid) so your kids can go to private elite colleges?
Your conversion to liberalism is now complete.
Congratulations!
Just wondering: are you spending $70,000 a year (per kid) so your kids can go to private elite colleges?
19
Wrong. EVERY culture is "laced with cultural signifiers that are completely illegible unless you happen to have grown up in this class." Same thing could be said about drug dealers' slang, or by the foods in Hispanic neighborhoods. I didn't know what soppressata was either until I had a chance to try it.
The American Dream--i.e., the Capitalist Dream-- is that people will move where the opportunity is, whether that is moving around the world, across the country or into a new neighborhood. All are difficult, and it requires that people assimilate themselves into the new culture, while adding something of themselves to that culture as well. You will not feel "at home" during the transition. That's the way it goes. If you are ready to "move up" into a better neighborhood, whatever that means to you, then you will not be scared off by a Pilates Studio.
The question you should be asking is why do people have to move? Why is there not economic and education opportunity in the other cultural enclaves.
The American Dream--i.e., the Capitalist Dream-- is that people will move where the opportunity is, whether that is moving around the world, across the country or into a new neighborhood. All are difficult, and it requires that people assimilate themselves into the new culture, while adding something of themselves to that culture as well. You will not feel "at home" during the transition. That's the way it goes. If you are ready to "move up" into a better neighborhood, whatever that means to you, then you will not be scared off by a Pilates Studio.
The question you should be asking is why do people have to move? Why is there not economic and education opportunity in the other cultural enclaves.
14
Wow. Wow. Just....wow.
I had to struggle to read the rest of this piece after hitting the line that said "only had a high school degree". Wow. Might as well have said they were only a little bit slimy....
Is that how you view your friend? As a lesser being because they ONLY have a high school degree??
Again, wow. It's not easy to render me close to speechless, but this is one of the most appalling and offensive things I've read in a long time - and that's saying something in this age of Trump the Offender.
I'm just really glad I'm not your "friend". I shudder to think what the look on your face was as you feigned horror at their discomfort....I truly hope you made up this little event to use as an example, and you don't truly act this way with people you supposedly care about.
Oh my goodness.
I had to struggle to read the rest of this piece after hitting the line that said "only had a high school degree". Wow. Might as well have said they were only a little bit slimy....
Is that how you view your friend? As a lesser being because they ONLY have a high school degree??
Again, wow. It's not easy to render me close to speechless, but this is one of the most appalling and offensive things I've read in a long time - and that's saying something in this age of Trump the Offender.
I'm just really glad I'm not your "friend". I shudder to think what the look on your face was as you feigned horror at their discomfort....I truly hope you made up this little event to use as an example, and you don't truly act this way with people you supposedly care about.
Oh my goodness.
63
Equal opportunity requires extra work from the elite. If you want to give poor children to have a decent chance at success, you need to show affirmative action at a personal level. First, get over your fear of those who are different not based on anything real but the offense of "living while" black, Hispanic, gay, or poor. If you have an internship, don't just give it to your friend's son, but run a stratified search so all your top candidates are not white upper middle class males.
Make sure your candidates and be sure to ask why they want the opportunity. I guarantee that you will hear a drive that super entitled kids don't have.
Populations that are too narrow become weak and inbred. Compare Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to George W. Bush and Donald Trump to see how that plays out.
Super entitled kids tend to lack drive and creativity and are used to walking on the "small people" of the world. Just look at how Bush and Trump have gone over internationally - as ugly Americans. They could only get elected here, while Clinton or Obama with their personal understanding of all people would have done well in any country. Think of the damage Bush and Trump have done to the US in the global economy.
Make sure your candidates and be sure to ask why they want the opportunity. I guarantee that you will hear a drive that super entitled kids don't have.
Populations that are too narrow become weak and inbred. Compare Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to George W. Bush and Donald Trump to see how that plays out.
Super entitled kids tend to lack drive and creativity and are used to walking on the "small people" of the world. Just look at how Bush and Trump have gone over internationally - as ugly Americans. They could only get elected here, while Clinton or Obama with their personal understanding of all people would have done well in any country. Think of the damage Bush and Trump have done to the US in the global economy.
13
Mr. Brooks has written a brilliant article and his argument has merit. It's the small thing that separates us. I grew up not having access to a whole lot of money but culturally I was rich. My grandmother, with her less than high school degree revered Emily Post, classic books, and the arts. As such, my childhood was spent attending classical music concerts, dance recitals (ballet and modern), reading all the classic fictions (including War and Peace and the entire set of Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and The Bobbsey Twins) and being exposed to the things that the average rich would know. When I went off to college and was surrounded by kids from wealthy families, boy, I loved bursting their balloons when they challenged me. I knew what a regatta was. I knew that, at a full fancy dinner, as per Emily Post, you eat your way in. I knew not to drink the small bowl of water, instead to gently dip your fingers in it as it was being passed around. Overtime, without really trying to, I was accepted because I knew their rules. It's the small things that matter. As I advance in life and have the opportunity to meet wealthy people (being in the fashion industry will do that), I find that nothing has really changed. At my age, people are surprised that I know how to use the utensils at a fancy dinner. Imagine that.
13
I have a professional degree, went to graduate school, and for the past 35 years have traveled extensively throughout the world. And I am happy to report I haven't got the foggiest idea what soppressata, or capicollo are. I do know what a baguette is, however, so excuse me while I enjoy one with some melted Havarti and dill.
36
There is something quite sad about a gray-haired man who still places his self worth on his college education. Have you not grown since those days, Mr Brooks? After reading this piece, it certainly seems like you have not.
21
How very condescending of Mr. Brooks. Kudos for being willing to eat Mexican with a high school graduate (who may never have read Burke).
23
So your friend spoke Spanish, not Italian? Irrelevant anecdote. Shows your snobbery rather than education. The two are not mutually exclusive.
27
Mr. Brooks, you display a glaring misunderstanding of breastfeeding and maternity leave: "Upper-middle-class moms have the means and the maternity leaves to breast-feed their babies at much higher rates than high school-educated moms, and for much longer periods."
Neither maternity leave nor "means" are necessary for prolonged breastfeeding. I'm a middle-class woman, but not upper-middle-class. When my daughter was born 8 years ago, I held a $40K government job. I had no paid maternity leave, but rather used up vacation and sick time, then took unpaid FMLA leave to accomplish 4 months home with my baby - forgoing pay, raiding savings, and accruing debt. When I returned to work full-time, I pumped, and provided pumped milk to my daughter's day-care provider. I breastfed my daughter until the age of 20 months while working full-time.
If less-educated mothers choose formula over breastfeeding, that's due to cultural preferences, not "means". Breastfeeding is far cheaper than formula feeding. A mother doesn't have to be "home" to do it. She needs to be determined, lucky enough for pumping to work for her (not true of all women), and fortunate enough to have a fair-minded employer who provides breaks and an appropriate pumping space (unfortunately, not true for many women). And really, just how many American women do you think receive this magical "maternity leave" (I assume you mean paid) of which you speak? I've never met a single one.
Neither maternity leave nor "means" are necessary for prolonged breastfeeding. I'm a middle-class woman, but not upper-middle-class. When my daughter was born 8 years ago, I held a $40K government job. I had no paid maternity leave, but rather used up vacation and sick time, then took unpaid FMLA leave to accomplish 4 months home with my baby - forgoing pay, raiding savings, and accruing debt. When I returned to work full-time, I pumped, and provided pumped milk to my daughter's day-care provider. I breastfed my daughter until the age of 20 months while working full-time.
If less-educated mothers choose formula over breastfeeding, that's due to cultural preferences, not "means". Breastfeeding is far cheaper than formula feeding. A mother doesn't have to be "home" to do it. She needs to be determined, lucky enough for pumping to work for her (not true of all women), and fortunate enough to have a fair-minded employer who provides breaks and an appropriate pumping space (unfortunately, not true for many women). And really, just how many American women do you think receive this magical "maternity leave" (I assume you mean paid) of which you speak? I've never met a single one.
40
I wonder how many Trump 2020 voters this column created.
David, which of your virtue-signalling was the strongest: taking her to an Italian deli or your willingness to degrade yourself by offering her Mexican? I sincerely hope she read your column so she can better understand what invisible barriers she faces, especially the ones sitting across from her reeking of half-chewed enchiladas smothered in disdain.
David, which of your virtue-signalling was the strongest: taking her to an Italian deli or your willingness to degrade yourself by offering her Mexican? I sincerely hope she read your column so she can better understand what invisible barriers she faces, especially the ones sitting across from her reeking of half-chewed enchiladas smothered in disdain.
25
In making the "only a high school degree" comment in the way you have you are further perpetuating an insensitivity to a larger issue, that of helping to further the High school educated vs. collage educated divide, that was used to pit Trump voters " with only a high school degree"/ignorant against Clinton/college=elite. This too simple characterization certainly did not hurt Trump get elected and is furthered by examples such as you use here. Many people "with only a high school degree" are famliar with Padrino, Pomodoro, soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette, and many with college degrees are not, so why use this reasoning here. Using "only a high school degree" seems to oversimplify the argument that you are making. It shows an underestimation of a large segment of the population. It is felt as divisive and a put down by some those who have not followed the "traditional collage " path to education. There are probably some NYT readers with "only a high school degree". Having "only a high school degree does not" equal ignorance, making poor choices, lack of social/political awareness, etc.
Also you are implying that your friend "with only a high school degree" was more comfortable eating "Mexican" than the Italian/French foods. Do you believe that Mexican cuisine is any less complex than French/Italian cuisines?
Overall I enjoyed your article very much.
Also you are implying that your friend "with only a high school degree" was more comfortable eating "Mexican" than the Italian/French foods. Do you believe that Mexican cuisine is any less complex than French/Italian cuisines?
Overall I enjoyed your article very much.
13
If the American Dream has become group exercise classes, mommy blogs, and pretentious deli meats, then we are all in deep deep trouble.
14
No no Mr. Brooks.
We are making America Great again, with the help of Russia and an American con artist.
Not since Rome allowed Caligula to become the emperor, has a great nation made such an ennobling choice!
We are making America Great again, with the help of Russia and an American con artist.
Not since Rome allowed Caligula to become the emperor, has a great nation made such an ennobling choice!
10
so get republicans to support free community college, get republicans to stop cutting back on state schools, and above all help to remind republicans that college is a good thing -- 55% of republicans asked nowadays believe that COLLEGE is NOT a good thing. 72% of dems think it sure still is -- whose FAULT is that??
11
I didn't get a degree from my high school, I got a diploma. I feel cheated and ashamed.
17
Why did you not take the time to explain to your friend about the food. You are usually a very thoughtful man. People do not need to go to an Ivy League school to enjoy food. I think it was a bit condescending of you not make her feel that she belonged there. Plus maybe some exposure to heathy food would have been a good idea.
17
To The Manor Born and all that.
It's always been real, and it's making a 'yuuuge' resurgence. Look no further than current WH to see 'Dream Hoarding' in full, multi-generational view, each and every day.
It's always been real, and it's making a 'yuuuge' resurgence. Look no further than current WH to see 'Dream Hoarding' in full, multi-generational view, each and every day.
9
"sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. "
I have a law degree and I have no idea what any of those words mean! Maybe success is more of having a willingness to learn and adapt rather than standing on a mountain of privilege.
I have a law degree and I have no idea what any of those words mean! Maybe success is more of having a willingness to learn and adapt rather than standing on a mountain of privilege.
19
My best friend (with only a high-school DIPLOMA, David, not a degree) has season tickets to our renowned Repertory Theatre, the St Louis Symphony, and has never set foot in Busch Stadium. She's bi-lingual (French, if you're curious.) Her knowledge of classic books, music, and yes - fine food - is impressive.
While some of the points here are valid, the "uneducated friend in a sandwich shop" was just grotesque. You can do better.
While some of the points here are valid, the "uneducated friend in a sandwich shop" was just grotesque. You can do better.
35
This a very astute article. Growing up in Westport, CT in the sixties, my teachers and the school bus driver lived in town, and everyone shopped at the A & P. Today, affordable housing has been threshed out of the mix in this once more diverse suburb of New York City, and it's had numbing, dulling effect on the place. There might be a lot more arugula and burrata available now than there once was, but in days of yore, we all loved shopping at farm stands like Rippe's and Wakeman's. Something has gone very very wrong in the U.S. since the Reagan years, and it looks to be accelerating. A country of islands of privilege will not stand.
11
There is something to Brooks' argument, but this paragraph is simply laughable:
To feel at home in opportunity-rich areas, you’ve got to understand the right barre techniques, sport the right baby carrier, have the right podcast, food truck, tea, wine and Pilates tastes, not to mention possess the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace, child-rearing, gender norms and intersectionality.
To feel at home in opportunity-rich areas, you’ve got to understand the right barre techniques, sport the right baby carrier, have the right podcast, food truck, tea, wine and Pilates tastes, not to mention possess the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace, child-rearing, gender norms and intersectionality.
7
My father left high school at 17 to join the navy and was in major sea battles at 19. He returned to work brass mill. He met my mother, went to u-conn on the go bill. He supported me thru B.U. I went to Wesleyan on the the G.I. bill ( Dam a 50% line of duty disabled veteran of the Army Special Forces)l and Andover newton theological with all sorts of support including loans.
My daughter is autistic, and will continue to fight for her rights I will be "devastatingly at making sure that she and every citizen of this Great Nation opportunities to live out their dream, to the same extent that I have lived up to my sense of of my responsibilities. DE OPRESO LIBER. REV. G ANDREW HART
My daughter is autistic, and will continue to fight for her rights I will be "devastatingly at making sure that she and every citizen of this Great Nation opportunities to live out their dream, to the same extent that I have lived up to my sense of of my responsibilities. DE OPRESO LIBER. REV. G ANDREW HART
1
The sanctimony you bear your "friend" should keep you warm at night. Being so obtuse as to be unaware how insulting you are to your "inferiors" is more of a problem for you than your lack of a formal education.
28
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican." ---- I stopped reading the article here. This is the most pretentious thing I've ever read. Disgusting. You're making a lot of presumptions about her education over one lunch break. Growing up in the Midwest there are fewer restaurants that fall in the 'gourmet' genre. I'd argue that you'd be hard pressed to find a college educated person outside of NYC who could read a menu with Italian listed ingredients. Also, are you assuming she's not intelligent enough to use google?
30
You lost me at lunch. I can't wait to hear what my grandfather, with his 8th grade education and childhood hunger, would say about anyone who is afraid of a sandwich.
24
It is 290 years since Swift published his Modest Proposal. Not all that much has changed.
I am a democratic socialist but I have one question that I have never been able to get an answer to. How do you stop the denial?
Today's op-ed just lays out the facts. If you don't like the facts simply find solutions don't waste your energy trying to affix blame.
I am a democratic socialist but I have one question that I have never been able to get an answer to. How do you stop the denial?
Today's op-ed just lays out the facts. If you don't like the facts simply find solutions don't waste your energy trying to affix blame.
6
I have a degree from Northwestern, have also studied at UC Berkeley and all I want is a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch and some tomato soup. My next choice would be a BLT or a PBJ or turkey on wheat. Food as status is meaningless to me. Food as nourishment and comfort is meaningful. Brooks seems out of touch with what it means to be human.
27
If your family has improved it’s financial, social or intellectual status over the years, Mr. Brooks has news for you: it’s all over. For those starting out: abandon all hope, the good spots are gone. And what’s more, even if you study, scrimp, save and strive toward improvement, it won’t make any difference. Because the rich have secret symbols and practices, impossible to spot and decipher, which keep you in your place.
I won’t go through the waterfall of logical and historical inconsistencies that permeate this piece. Truisms masquerading as insight, e.g., parents want the best for their children, or the rich have advantages others don’t have. My mom never breastfed and my four brothers and sisters all did fine. My grandfather didn’t go to Dartmouth (they didn’t like Catholics), and he did just fine. And those “top” colleges will choke on their own exclusivity, as newly emerging, more nimble institutions push to the top. It’s called change, and sometimes it takes more than 25 years.
I once took a friend with a GED to a gourmet sandwich shop. Would a guy like me take him to a crummy place? Not likely. He asked what was the best thing on the menu and ordered it. I lost the toss and paid. If I told him now that I had actually been sending him a secret signal of class superiority and exclusivity he would laugh in my face. Sort of like my reaction to this high school- quality rant.
I won’t go through the waterfall of logical and historical inconsistencies that permeate this piece. Truisms masquerading as insight, e.g., parents want the best for their children, or the rich have advantages others don’t have. My mom never breastfed and my four brothers and sisters all did fine. My grandfather didn’t go to Dartmouth (they didn’t like Catholics), and he did just fine. And those “top” colleges will choke on their own exclusivity, as newly emerging, more nimble institutions push to the top. It’s called change, and sometimes it takes more than 25 years.
I once took a friend with a GED to a gourmet sandwich shop. Would a guy like me take him to a crummy place? Not likely. He asked what was the best thing on the menu and ordered it. I lost the toss and paid. If I told him now that I had actually been sending him a secret signal of class superiority and exclusivity he would laugh in my face. Sort of like my reaction to this high school- quality rant.
26
Dear Mr. Brooks,
Where are your manners? My mother always taught me to consider a guest's preferences first. I'm shocked, shocked, that you did not confer with your friend prior to deciding where to go, to find out what she felt like eating and to recommend your favorite sandwich shop (with a description) as a possibility.
Oh, by the way, that mother dropped out of college and always worked hard for a living, especially after the divorce. She was one of those less-educated people--you know, the ones that supposedly don't know the social codes or how to behave.
This whole piece reads like a piece of concern trolling. It's a form of bragging, this moaning about one's class (while staying firmly within it). My mother also taught us not to brag or show off, especially around those less fortunate.
Good on you that you actually have a friend with "only a high school degree." But where did you send your children to school? Did you make them work at a fast food joint or a factory--two places my siblings and I worked summers while in high school and public college--and forgo unpaid internships?
What talk are you walking? What are you doing yourself about the huge and complex problem of inequality?
I know for a fact that class barriers are not invisible, that those of us in "the rest of America" can name them and can understand them, sometimes to envy and sometimes to disparage.
Where are your manners? My mother always taught me to consider a guest's preferences first. I'm shocked, shocked, that you did not confer with your friend prior to deciding where to go, to find out what she felt like eating and to recommend your favorite sandwich shop (with a description) as a possibility.
Oh, by the way, that mother dropped out of college and always worked hard for a living, especially after the divorce. She was one of those less-educated people--you know, the ones that supposedly don't know the social codes or how to behave.
This whole piece reads like a piece of concern trolling. It's a form of bragging, this moaning about one's class (while staying firmly within it). My mother also taught us not to brag or show off, especially around those less fortunate.
Good on you that you actually have a friend with "only a high school degree." But where did you send your children to school? Did you make them work at a fast food joint or a factory--two places my siblings and I worked summers while in high school and public college--and forgo unpaid internships?
What talk are you walking? What are you doing yourself about the huge and complex problem of inequality?
I know for a fact that class barriers are not invisible, that those of us in "the rest of America" can name them and can understand them, sometimes to envy and sometimes to disparage.
14
Mr. Brooks should have made his friend (with "only a high school degree") feel welcome in the gourmet sandwich shop. He could have done so, by engaging her in conversation about the menu and putting her at ease. But no. The tone of what follows--"We ate Mexican"--reveals Mr. Brooks as a snob congratulating himself on accommodating a person to whom he obviously feels superior. I hope huitlaccoche was on the Mexican menu and Mr. Brooks had to ask, but I doubt he treated his friend to fine Mexican cuisine.
24
I don't know a Pomodoro from a Padrino but I'm educable and so is your friend.
13
The political party with which Brooks identifies has among its adherents many ideologues who don't believe in government, women (except those at home having babies), minorities, unions, minimum wage workers, gays, transgender people, older people, the environment, abortion, public schools, climate change, Democrats, the rule of law, allies, trade, universal health care, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, alternate energy sources, and, lest I forget, simple compassion. They hate Hillary, also, but Obama even more.
If David's column today was about these folks, then yea, they are annoying and selfish. The rest of us -- the vast sea of ordinary people -- are, for starters, a lot kinder, and it gets only better from there. They would actually volunteer for things and fight for our country, even if they had bone spurs. And they pay their taxes, raise their kids, try to hold on to their core beliefs as the world around them spins out of control with hate and guns and armed hate.
David could have written about the second, much larger group, but then he wouldn't have generated more than 3,000 comments almost all of which conclude that David has lost it.
If David's column today was about these folks, then yea, they are annoying and selfish. The rest of us -- the vast sea of ordinary people -- are, for starters, a lot kinder, and it gets only better from there. They would actually volunteer for things and fight for our country, even if they had bone spurs. And they pay their taxes, raise their kids, try to hold on to their core beliefs as the world around them spins out of control with hate and guns and armed hate.
David could have written about the second, much larger group, but then he wouldn't have generated more than 3,000 comments almost all of which conclude that David has lost it.
8
We all live in a bubble.
1
How can I want to agree and disagree with you at the same time?
Is this even possible?
Is this even possible?
4
It wasn't a "gourmet" sandwich shop the author describes, but one with an Italian menu. The snobbishness with which he confronts and describes her reaction to a language she doesn't speak, which of course has nothing to do with her educational status (I have a masters, speak French and Spanish and am a fairly serious cook, and I have never heard of most of those ingredients, at least by their Italian names) makes him offer another, less sophisticated cuisine, instead of assuming that perhaps since she doesn't speak Italian, she might welcome the chance of learning what these ingredients are, and perhaps even tasting them. She could have had exactly the same reaction as a PhD, but I suspect his reaction would have been different and less unwittingly condemnatory. Having only a high school education, not to mention being female, does not automatically mean stupidity; even those with lesser educations want to learn. As a high school teacher in the poorest schools in Los Angeles, I can attest to that.
17
As a current student, I am continuously appalled by the enthusiastic readiness of older generations to completely ignore the order of magnitude by which tuition has risen since their time in college.
That's not to say they don't believe tuition has skyrocketed: they do know this. However, without fail they seem to prefer to discuss literally any other possible explanation for both the student debt crisis and the unwillingness or (in this piece) inability of many of my peers to commit to or pursue higher education.
The primary barrier to entry is as easy to identify as it is difficult to solve.
That's not to say they don't believe tuition has skyrocketed: they do know this. However, without fail they seem to prefer to discuss literally any other possible explanation for both the student debt crisis and the unwillingness or (in this piece) inability of many of my peers to commit to or pursue higher education.
The primary barrier to entry is as easy to identify as it is difficult to solve.
12
Wow. David Brooks really is an incredible snob. Instead of giving his friend the minor help she needed on some Italian menu he takes her to a different restaurant more befitting her "station." The one thing Mr. Brooks glosses over is how much it helps to have lots of money. This let's him avoid the urgent policy issues involved in the gross income and wealth inequality fostered by his rich and influential friends. If Wall Street and Big Banksters wrre shrunk back down to a reasonable size, if CEO's, NY Times columnists and other such people were paid $500,000 instead of 20 million and more, if middle and working class Americans received their fair share of economic growth and we had a decent social safety net and insurance, then maybe fewer people would be "intimidated" by menus offering "capicolla" (isn't it actually "capicola?"), which is Eyetalian bologna. Or is that mortadella?
23
Capicola? Elitist? National sandwich chains are advertising "spicy capicola" sandwiches on network television. Is Mr. Brooks suggesting that our national sandwich chains have somehow become elitist? Or more likely they are just trying to sell a good Italian Hero to the masses. I can assure Mr. Brooks that the Italian-American families I grew up in New York City, who appreciated a good sandwich, are as far from elitist as is humanly possible. I did not grow up in any "class," upper, middle, or otherwise, and I don't consider myself a member or any "class" now, despite (in Mr. Brooks' view) my college education. We fought two wars in this country to get free of the English class system, but we continue to perpetuate a class system today, to our detriment as a society. As others have written here, my forebears came to this country with very little, and they got where they did because of old-fashioned hard work, not from privilege. I consider myself fortunate, not privileged, having benefited from the hard work of my forebears. And many of us come from families in which grandparents or parents did not attend college. One thing I learned from my upbringing is not to demean. And referring to anyone as having "only" a high-school education is demeaning, and perpetuates the very divisiveness that Mr. Brooks is writing about. People with "only" a high-school education should not question their worth or value, and editorial writers should not use terms that suggest otherwise.
16
Hasn't it always been like that? For a brief moment in our history, with democrcies and "free enterprise" (not sure how free it is now having been legislatively rigged to favor Capital, especially that of big corporations), we imagine we are equal and egalitarian. But conservatives like Brooks have the most objection to anything that is not strictly "pull oneself up by our own boot strap".
Actually, the most damage is now coming from our present government and the 35-40% of voters who still support them, and Fox News. I dare say the culture of lies and deceptions Fox has introduced and promoted, thus making speech irrelevant, and free speech counter productive, and our democracy undermined, is our worst nemesis of the century.
Actually, the most damage is now coming from our present government and the 35-40% of voters who still support them, and Fox News. I dare say the culture of lies and deceptions Fox has introduced and promoted, thus making speech irrelevant, and free speech counter productive, and our democracy undermined, is our worst nemesis of the century.
4
This essay gave me the willies.
"Member of the college-ducat class have become amazingly good at making sure their children retain their privilege status"
"....excluding other people's children from the same opportunities...."
and this doozy.....
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican."
Dude: GET OUT OF YOUR BUBBLE.
First of all---stop blaming upper middle class Americans for parenting their kids. YOU REPUBLICANS CONSTRUCTED THE CURRENT SYSTEM. You completely abdicate any and all responsibility for the morass YOUR party has created for people of lesser means. From your gerrymandering, to your cuts in education, to your inability to curb health care costs to the runaway costs of college--the pressures of the middle class have been inflicted by the failure of the GOP to protect them. By prioritizing business over individuals.
As for your HS educated friend--WOW, project much?
With the Internet and such, college is not the only means to learn the meaning of fancy sounding sandwiches. My twins are in 8th grade--pretty sure they could navigate those food choices.
You were to insensitive; just clueless.
"Member of the college-ducat class have become amazingly good at making sure their children retain their privilege status"
"....excluding other people's children from the same opportunities...."
and this doozy.....
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican."
Dude: GET OUT OF YOUR BUBBLE.
First of all---stop blaming upper middle class Americans for parenting their kids. YOU REPUBLICANS CONSTRUCTED THE CURRENT SYSTEM. You completely abdicate any and all responsibility for the morass YOUR party has created for people of lesser means. From your gerrymandering, to your cuts in education, to your inability to curb health care costs to the runaway costs of college--the pressures of the middle class have been inflicted by the failure of the GOP to protect them. By prioritizing business over individuals.
As for your HS educated friend--WOW, project much?
With the Internet and such, college is not the only means to learn the meaning of fancy sounding sandwiches. My twins are in 8th grade--pretty sure they could navigate those food choices.
You were to insensitive; just clueless.
32
Whatever happened to curiosity about the world, in either formal or informal education?
Trying new things is good for you. Learning about others is good for you. Being in situations outside your comfort zone is good for you. Eat your vegetables. Eat your fancy unpronounceable Italian cured meats. Visit a place you’ve never been.
Flexibility in unfamiliar territory is a valuable commodity, wherever you are, whatever your tax bracket is.
Secondly, Mr Brooks, would your friend have been comfortable in a place with the fancy whiskeys, expensive cigar brands, or Brooks Brothers suits that are supposedly “conservative” hallmarks?
Elitism isn’t limited to liberal stereotypes.
Not many lower middle class people need (or want) to know how to tie a bow tie.
Trying new things is good for you. Learning about others is good for you. Being in situations outside your comfort zone is good for you. Eat your vegetables. Eat your fancy unpronounceable Italian cured meats. Visit a place you’ve never been.
Flexibility in unfamiliar territory is a valuable commodity, wherever you are, whatever your tax bracket is.
Secondly, Mr Brooks, would your friend have been comfortable in a place with the fancy whiskeys, expensive cigar brands, or Brooks Brothers suits that are supposedly “conservative” hallmarks?
Elitism isn’t limited to liberal stereotypes.
Not many lower middle class people need (or want) to know how to tie a bow tie.
10
Brooks gives way too much credit to those most endowed regarding the invisibility of the class structures in this society and how they work against the most in need. The ideal has always been for the strong individual who will conquer and make good and if you can't make it, then it's on you. Everyman for himself. A fault in this country that's manifest in our current leadership. Coming from a family of self-sustaining farmers for several generations in Va., and black, the various cuts of meats from a smokehouse, or the results of a Oct/Nov hunting trip made with friends on our land: game birds, rabbit burlap sacks filled with black walnuts, I have no fear of a fancy deli. Bring it on. Does that make me an elitist? I hope to god not!
1
Mr. Brooks writes that members of the upper middle class have become "devastatingly good at making sure the children of other classes have limited chances to join their ranks." But the truth is that the "other classes" are not so much being excluded as they are falling behind because of their poor choices. Children born to parents who (1) finished high school while avoiding drugs and crime, (2) got jobs, (3) got married and (4) then had children, in that sequence, are not poor and have a decent shot at rising up the social ladder. Ask any East or South Asian immigrant.
11
Winston Churchill could have written Pres. Trump's historic speech in Poland recently that starkly explained how things are today - much like 1946.
The West will remember Trump's words after the Obama-Clinton crowd has been forgotten.
The West will remember Trump's words after the Obama-Clinton crowd has been forgotten.
6
Even out here in corn country where such machinations are not possible this is recognized as a perfectly normal mechanism of survival of the fittest.
1
Well said David. When I worked college summers in a steel mill in Ohio, the lifelong workers used to say to me "if we find out you dropped out of college, we'll break your legs." They wanted me to have a better life then them. But when I go home back to Ohio from NYC, I feel so refreshed to be around people who don't surround themselves with the cultural niceties that justify their existence. This isn't even the NYC (and certainly not the Brooklyn) I moved to in 2000 - and I miss it. I am so lucky that my upbringing taught me to climb to the highest summit, but instead of basking in the glory of doing so, reach down with your arms and hands and help pull the next person up.
12
David, why didn't you offer to give your high school grad friend some suggestions as to iwhat she could order instead of leaving? What did she learn at that lunch? Jeez, I was a college student and didn't know a lot. I worked in NYC while going to school back in the 1960's. It was terrific when adults (college OR NOT) showed me the ropes. You are too high in your cloud . . .
Not everyone has to go to college to know what is on a restaurant menu.
Not everyone has to go to college to know what is on a restaurant menu.
10
I always enjoy reading Mr. Brooks, even when he gets things all wrong, as he has done today. To airily dismiss real legal and financial barriers to the upper classes in favor of suburban esoterica really misses the point. Whole Foods isn't holding the middle and lower classes down and neither is hot yoga.
9
Well done David. You might have added one additional insight - we Americans are fast becoming as class oriented & tribal as the Brits. In England, all social intercourse is based around figuring out the social status of who you are talking to, and trying to let them know that they aren't in your tribe and could never be. Accents, schools, purchaser or not of furniture, awful ugly clothes - all these hint at the exclusiveness of a society on decline. I sure this isn't a harbinger for (soon to be great again) USA is headed under Trump & Paul Ryan, et al.
5
I am not blind-sided by this article, Mr. Brooks.
The problem is Reaganomics. It always has been, it will always be. You know it also. Anyone with 2-cents of living experience should be able to understand that it is nothing more than smoke. I did and I am nobody special. But trying to convince the panic of others my same age group was hopeless. They were afraid. Afraid that they were losing middle upper class ground. Hoping that merit would save them, they took the bait. Ridding themselves of unions was the first step of their demise.
The problem with your columns is that you still believe that Reaganomics is the solution to all financial problems the poor struggle through because they lack significant merit. But that is not the actuality is it? When the unions were gelded then the middle class lost all of its power and the deceptive lie of 'merit' could be inserted. Why? Because the more a person is afraid the more they will turn to religion to find the answer because, after all, God knows all. Do they believe? Do they have faith? Nope. Religion offers them hope in a hopeless situation. That is the situation where the Republican party works tirelessly to create a serfdom to serve their masters.
The was is lost, Mr. Brooks. Some of us know we lost it when Reagan and the Republicans broke the unions.
You still talk about social status. The real problem is that there is no middle-class....there are only serfs. But you are doing a great job making yet another smoke screen.
The problem is Reaganomics. It always has been, it will always be. You know it also. Anyone with 2-cents of living experience should be able to understand that it is nothing more than smoke. I did and I am nobody special. But trying to convince the panic of others my same age group was hopeless. They were afraid. Afraid that they were losing middle upper class ground. Hoping that merit would save them, they took the bait. Ridding themselves of unions was the first step of their demise.
The problem with your columns is that you still believe that Reaganomics is the solution to all financial problems the poor struggle through because they lack significant merit. But that is not the actuality is it? When the unions were gelded then the middle class lost all of its power and the deceptive lie of 'merit' could be inserted. Why? Because the more a person is afraid the more they will turn to religion to find the answer because, after all, God knows all. Do they believe? Do they have faith? Nope. Religion offers them hope in a hopeless situation. That is the situation where the Republican party works tirelessly to create a serfdom to serve their masters.
The was is lost, Mr. Brooks. Some of us know we lost it when Reagan and the Republicans broke the unions.
You still talk about social status. The real problem is that there is no middle-class....there are only serfs. But you are doing a great job making yet another smoke screen.
3
So you've just discovered that the rich hang out together and the poor do the same?
There will always be poor and rich. But there should not be 2 education systems one for the poor and one for the rich.
There will always be poor and rich. But there should not be 2 education systems one for the poor and one for the rich.
4
I have a Ph.D. from an Ivy League school and a reasonably decent portfolio of professional accomplishments, but I have no idea what many, if not most, of the cultural references David Brooks throws around in this column mean. I can't say I feel any the less for it.
9
Those gourmet sandwiches really got to everyone, didn't they?
8
Good Lord, David, they're hammering you today.
4
"The educated class establishes class barriers not through material consumption and wealth display but by establishing practices that can be accessed only by those who possess rarefied information." Isn't the point of all that silverware to make it obvious who at the table is not of the social class that knows which is the salad fork?
If you are raised to believe that one American subculture is not superior to another--which is how I was raised--you have no shame about being the one student who doesn't have the fancy calculator or the one parent at the playground with the off-brand baby carrier. Taking a nonconformist, nonmaterialistic attitude helps you figure out who is shallow and who has good values: It's the person who couldn't care less if you don't know what prosciutto is and is happy to fill you in, just as you fill them in on what tavern and bars are. (Sloppy Joe mix and one-dish desserts cut into bars, such as brownies.)
If you are raised to believe that one American subculture is not superior to another--which is how I was raised--you have no shame about being the one student who doesn't have the fancy calculator or the one parent at the playground with the off-brand baby carrier. Taking a nonconformist, nonmaterialistic attitude helps you figure out who is shallow and who has good values: It's the person who couldn't care less if you don't know what prosciutto is and is happy to fill you in, just as you fill them in on what tavern and bars are. (Sloppy Joe mix and one-dish desserts cut into bars, such as brownies.)
5
Good grief David, didn't anyone ever inform you that we're all pink on the inside. Regardless of the external trappings, stand us all up naked and, aside from looking ha-ha funny, it's the strength of our character that determines our worth - not the car you drive, the house you occupy, the school you attended, the change in your pocket, and, most certainly, not your knowledge of Italian cold-cuts. Frankly, for someone so seemingly erudite, you frequently come across as completely clueless. Class is intrinsic - you either have it or you don't - pass it on;-)
14
I travel in all circles and welcome company. These barriers you speak of, are constructed on information input and labeling..they are silly. Who cares what striata is..btw, what is it ?
Who cares about the hottest baby stroller ? These are artificial barriers; people create hierarchies and we all participate in making these artificial categories.
We are human to human..soul to soul, bodiless creatures..there are great people and jerky people on every block in every neighborhood.grace and emotional stupidity exist side by side and in every class and on every educational level.
I am human; nothing human is alien to me.
And if one more person calls me elite because I got an education ( worked my way through school) and live on the east coast, I am going to SCREAM !!!!
Who cares about the hottest baby stroller ? These are artificial barriers; people create hierarchies and we all participate in making these artificial categories.
We are human to human..soul to soul, bodiless creatures..there are great people and jerky people on every block in every neighborhood.grace and emotional stupidity exist side by side and in every class and on every educational level.
I am human; nothing human is alien to me.
And if one more person calls me elite because I got an education ( worked my way through school) and live on the east coast, I am going to SCREAM !!!!
2
David Brooks furthers the social divide and 'ruination of America' by segregating his friend away from the elite patrons and wares of a 'gourmet' sandwich shop. Guarding this aristocratic enclave he ushers her elsewhere for 'Pico de Gallo with her peers'. In the same act, he disparages Mexicans and their cuisine through the suggestion that they represent a less educated caste. Bravo, Mr. Brooks, you have successfully exercised your 'cultural codes'...
18
Mr. Brooks - don't you think we are "ruining America" by driving down the tax rates that the wealthy pay - so as not to be able to adequately fund our public schools and universities, allowing corporations and the rich to buy our government, turning away from the sense it makes to have universal healthcare due to corporate pressure? Your emphasis on how individuals adapt to these conditions seems to put the cart before the horse.
12
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican."
1. I will bet large sums of money Brooks hasn't dined with a mere high school graduate in at least 20 years.
2. 90% of people who go into a place like that also have no clue what those things mean either. But they pretend to because, well...you don't want to look like a HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE! The horror is unimaginable.
1. I will bet large sums of money Brooks hasn't dined with a mere high school graduate in at least 20 years.
2. 90% of people who go into a place like that also have no clue what those things mean either. But they pretend to because, well...you don't want to look like a HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE! The horror is unimaginable.
12
Trying to make breastfeeding moms feel guilty for doing so? I'm stunned.
3
No that is not what he said.
Don't be stunned - just read the sentence again
Don't be stunned - just read the sentence again
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican."
The bourgeois tyranny of ham?
The bourgeois tyranny of ham?
6
You're kidding aren't you. In the central Jersey town where I grew up everyone knew "cabogole" . This isn't anything exotic or rare. It's in every Italian grocery, sub shop, or deli from North Boston to South Philly. Fuggettabouit
9
I would never drive a Prius, or an Audi, or a BMW because of what doing so would signal to others. I would never wear a shirt with foreign words on it, wear pants that convert into shorts, nor--God forbid--put my hair up in a man bun. I sometimes wear a genuine camo (flage for u Chardonnay sippers) campaign hat and would rather be shot (well, maybe not shot shot) than utter the word nosh or the phrase Thank you so much! What's wrong with plain old thank you, or Thank you very much? Nothing. That's just the point. That "so much" is an elitist tell that NPR has foisted on its cadres of Gwyneth Paltrow wanna-be's. I would rather eat raw kale than be perceived as a guy who would enjoy watching Orange Is The New Black. This is dead on the subject, by the way. And if you don't understand why you are tone deaf to the zeitgeist.
7
I am mystified about why this piece does not close with a plea for higher tax rates on the elite sandwich eaters to support increased educational opportunities (Headstart through student loans) for all. Inequality does not hinge on culturally protected definitions of Italian sausage but on the tax code.
11
The statement that elite colleges offer teeny step ladders to the non elite is entirely wrong and this kind of value loaded and slanted writing is not what I have always expected from David Brooks. Such colleges offer extremely generous, often full, financial aid to students that have limited ability to pay.
Further, getting into elite colleges and getting one of the amazing jobs that are available to successful students today has nothing to do with knowledge of elite cultural norms. It has everything to do with a strong academic record. Many of the most successful young people in fact are recent immigrants with no cultural knowledge of the type Brookes thinks the elite use to block entry into their domain. And these young job holders blow away anyone who thinks his or her knowledge of Italian sandwiches is going to get them anywhere whatsoever.
Further, getting into elite colleges and getting one of the amazing jobs that are available to successful students today has nothing to do with knowledge of elite cultural norms. It has everything to do with a strong academic record. Many of the most successful young people in fact are recent immigrants with no cultural knowledge of the type Brookes thinks the elite use to block entry into their domain. And these young job holders blow away anyone who thinks his or her knowledge of Italian sandwiches is going to get them anywhere whatsoever.
7
Your friend didn't know the word pomodoro but was comfortable ordering any of the Spanish language items from the Mexican restaurant? what an odd, patronizing story.
15
Sadly, the problem will only be solved by Trump when he gets us into a major war and the draft is enforced with no deferments for heel spurs etc. The draft would cause the forced mixing of all classes and then, with a GI bill for veterans, upward mobility will again be possible. Why, besides their greed and arrogance, can't our political leaders work together to help and not hinder upward mobility?
1
Re: what you say and surmise from Reeves' book.
All true. So let me begin by asking, because you are speaking about me: What would you have me do differently?
My parents fought to survive on a farm and a factory, I fought to get out and make it with college degrees and live the first 30 years of my life in penury. I give my kids everything to the extent they are soft, self-indulgent, self-absorbed, smug, and privileged. And often inconsiderate. But they are acing school.
Of course I couldn't get scholarships into the best schools because I lacked imagination, intelligence, and very likely, the pedigree. But so what?
I could not have raised my kids like my spouse and I were raised; third world tenement with no running water, no or spotty electric, unaffordable text books that we had to borrow, slippers with holes, being among the poorest in our classes, and often jeered at.
I am proud that I am creating a better life for my kids. This means carefully choosing where I live, the schools my children attend, and carefully selecting our social peers who share our values: education, delaying gratification, enduring pain, investment, obsession with the long term, and zero tolerance for what we define as unacceptable.
I think the notion that American poor are therefore being victimized by the likes of me is rubbish.
Why don't you volunteer your own children to participate in socio-economic experiment dreamed by by English lit and Sociology Ph.D.s?
Kalidan
All true. So let me begin by asking, because you are speaking about me: What would you have me do differently?
My parents fought to survive on a farm and a factory, I fought to get out and make it with college degrees and live the first 30 years of my life in penury. I give my kids everything to the extent they are soft, self-indulgent, self-absorbed, smug, and privileged. And often inconsiderate. But they are acing school.
Of course I couldn't get scholarships into the best schools because I lacked imagination, intelligence, and very likely, the pedigree. But so what?
I could not have raised my kids like my spouse and I were raised; third world tenement with no running water, no or spotty electric, unaffordable text books that we had to borrow, slippers with holes, being among the poorest in our classes, and often jeered at.
I am proud that I am creating a better life for my kids. This means carefully choosing where I live, the schools my children attend, and carefully selecting our social peers who share our values: education, delaying gratification, enduring pain, investment, obsession with the long term, and zero tolerance for what we define as unacceptable.
I think the notion that American poor are therefore being victimized by the likes of me is rubbish.
Why don't you volunteer your own children to participate in socio-economic experiment dreamed by by English lit and Sociology Ph.D.s?
Kalidan
8
Other countries focus on high quality education available to all. American education, structured to favor the well-off, makes a mockery of social justice.
5
Did you get permission from your "companion" to share this rude, condescending little anecdote? For that matter, did you even do him or her the common courtesy of asking beforehand where he or she would like to eat? (How gauche, if not.)
The assertion that non-college graduates (and this is personal for me, since I got a GED and never graduated college) can't handle gourmet sandwich shops and should be steered clear of them by their class betters is one of the most offensive things I've ever read in The Times. An hour later, I remain flabbergasted and infuriated. This column isn't fit to wrap a fish.
The assertion that non-college graduates (and this is personal for me, since I got a GED and never graduated college) can't handle gourmet sandwich shops and should be steered clear of them by their class betters is one of the most offensive things I've ever read in The Times. An hour later, I remain flabbergasted and infuriated. This column isn't fit to wrap a fish.
20
I think David Brooks read that deli situation all wrong. His guest was troubled by the apparent lack of gluten free options and non-cured meets (he/she was likely on a low sodium diet). Fortunately Mexicans are known to be gluten free, low sodium options.
9
Mr. Brooks, writing about the real barriers that Hsieh and Moretti and Reeves document could have been a perfect chance for you to write in favor of spreading the American Dream fairly to all parts of US society. It's at those liberal elite colleges the upper middle class is hoarding with their "legacy admissions" (for which read "affirmative action for rich white folk") where upper middle class rituals get passed on, and that's where upwardly mobile young people have a chance to join the elite - if their public schools aren't destroyed by Betsy DeVos. Once again you find a way to take economics out of the social class divide and instead blame latte liberals for the inability of working class kids to rise socially. Implicitly, you leave KFC-eating Trump and barbecuin' W on the side of the working class. I think you know better.
7
So David instead of helping your friend to feel comfortable in a new food environment, you enforced her fear. I would have slowly described what she did not understand about the menu and encouraged her to try something new in her life.
Is it possible that you could learn something new and feel comfortable with a little liberal thinking to incorporate into your conservative thinking. I'm sure many people are available to assist you
Is it possible that you could learn something new and feel comfortable with a little liberal thinking to incorporate into your conservative thinking. I'm sure many people are available to assist you
3
Mr. Brooks seems to think that everybody wants to know everything. I'd suggest that plenty of people that might not prefer to go to his swanky sandwich shop also laugh at the pretension of using another word for tomato. Believe it or not, a lot of people think that sort of thing is nothing if not silly.
Mr. Brooks would probably be equally uncomfortable at a rodeo or dozens of other places that people outside of his rarified circle enjoy themselves.
None of this makes anybody less than anybody else. The important thing is to accept, and respect, our differences.
Mr. Brooks would probably be equally uncomfortable at a rodeo or dozens of other places that people outside of his rarified circle enjoy themselves.
None of this makes anybody less than anybody else. The important thing is to accept, and respect, our differences.
5
consider the lobster
6
I don't think education has anything to do with wanting to beat a hasty retreat when one is confronted with the stench rank snobbery! I myself get a rash and a tic when I enter a hipster infested establishment with sandwiches named along the lines of “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” -- and I have multiple graduate degrees. It's just the normal thing to do, no?
3
The thing I dislike about this piece isn't the argument. I agree with everything in it. The thing that irks me in this and so many related articles is that very few of them present a solution to this type of exclusionary behavior that inevitably leads to increased inequality. Please, don't just shine your light on the problem. By all means, offer a way forward to get us out of here.
2
Frankly Mr Brooks, I believe you're dead wrong.
My daughter (only a high school diploma) and her husband (a dental assistant) who are by no means considered Upper-middle class, are both fully employed, yet she finds the time (because she's motivated to do so) to pump her breast milk and so my 6 week old grandchild is breast fed (albeit drinking breast milk from a bottle).
You know how we are ruining america?
By refusing to acknowledge that the Republican party cares nothing about the plight of people like my daughter and her family, but cares deeply about industry and business.
Tax cuts to those two entities are much more important to Republicans, than making sure my daughter and her family have affordable health insurance, maternity and paternity leave, decent and affordable child care.
The Republican party's perspective is quite clear: it cares about the fetus before birth. Once born ... you're on your own, kid.
My daughter (only a high school diploma) and her husband (a dental assistant) who are by no means considered Upper-middle class, are both fully employed, yet she finds the time (because she's motivated to do so) to pump her breast milk and so my 6 week old grandchild is breast fed (albeit drinking breast milk from a bottle).
You know how we are ruining america?
By refusing to acknowledge that the Republican party cares nothing about the plight of people like my daughter and her family, but cares deeply about industry and business.
Tax cuts to those two entities are much more important to Republicans, than making sure my daughter and her family have affordable health insurance, maternity and paternity leave, decent and affordable child care.
The Republican party's perspective is quite clear: it cares about the fetus before birth. Once born ... you're on your own, kid.
17
So it's insensitive to take an uneducated rube to an upscale deli for fear of upsetting her? How patronizing can you be? Maybe in your rarefied circle, not knowing a foodie term would be a devastating humiliation, but those of us from working class backgrounds are made of tougher stuff than you think. Hard to believe she was frightened by sandwiches. (PS, I may have once been a hillbilly, but I somehow managed to get a college degree. Still, some of those menu items are unfamiliar to me. That's what I get for going to a public university.)
5
Well, walk into a job interview and see how far you get with a just a high school diploma these days. It's not about tasty Italian lunch meats, it's about the loss of social mobility. As a former prep school teacher, I can attest to the fact that the Republican families were the ones looking for all the perks - tutoring, SAT classes, the chance to take the SAT over and over till the scores were high enough for the "first choice" school. They gladly paid 45 grand and up for an elite high school education - with the hope of entry into an ivy league college. These families were not worried about the Ivies instilling horrid liberal ideals into their impressionable youngsters - they knew their kids needed the diploma to maintain status and either take over the family business or start a business of their own or land on Wall Street. The republicans dissing education are incredible hypocrites.
7
Another way to look at it is....slowly heading back to feudalism just won't work and democracy/social investment is asset insurance for the rich or the pitchforks come out ala Trump. So start getting govt to work, you could try an efficient federalism and lose some of the clearly demented foreign policy objectives, and think about rebuilding your economy with climate change/environment in mind. The US is historically a climate buffeted region, its the reason Native Americas didn't establish an agriculturally based civilisation like their southern neighbours, climate is going to hit you hard, get ready.
Statements throughout the Times' comments that health care is a basic right, that we need to tax the rich more, and that we need to redistribute wealth is an indictment of our education system, particularly that we no longer teach civics to our children. Instead we have a pedagogy that focuses on jealous socialism. Shameful.
1
Reading the comments, I am amazed by some many readers (educated , well off, etc..) who needed the urge to defend themselves. excusatio non petita accusatio manifesta.
1
I have a master's degree and my wife has a PhD, and neither of us know what soppressato, capicollo and striata baguette are.
8
Mr. Brooks just described the Trump family, then why did he get so many votes from the under educated.
1
As somebody sitting in a Princeton dorm I don't pay rent for, typing on a computer I didn't buy, it's hard to call the financial aid program a "teeny step ladder". Maybe actually getting into Ivy League schools isn't accessible for many lower class teenagers, but there can be no overstating how influential the financial aid program has been to my life. Being suddenly given more than enough money means I don't have to rely on my parents for anything, can take unpaid internships for experience, can take study abroad classes, can become acculturated to the habits of my wealthy peers.
For what it's worth, if you think your friends from high school can't figure out how to order a sandwich, maybe it wasn't the choice of lunch venue that was insensitive.
For what it's worth, if you think your friends from high school can't figure out how to order a sandwich, maybe it wasn't the choice of lunch venue that was insensitive.
14
Coming from an upper middle class family In the 1960s, I entered an Ivy League school. I was amazed and delighted to make many friends who came from very underprivileged backgrounds. For example, quite a few came from poor neighborhoods in New York. Several competed to attend stellar high schools such as Bronx Science but many others went to more standard NY schools. Most had scholarships, Pell Grants etc. and most had a part time job. Several had already completed a couple of years of college in the City and those CCNY etc. grads were highly competitive.
In graduate school this pattern continued with very talented classmates, of very modest means who had a CCNY degree or one from an outstanding State University.
My impression is that this pattern has changed enormously in the last 50 years. State and outstanding local colleges are far less well supported- and available to all.
Most of my friends from the previous era had highly supportive parents but not ones who could supply a structure of privileged advantages.
Education is one of the key building blocks of prosperity – we need the new generation of these smart, eager, poor kids. My impression is that America has forgotten its foundational principle as the Land of Opportunity.
In graduate school this pattern continued with very talented classmates, of very modest means who had a CCNY degree or one from an outstanding State University.
My impression is that this pattern has changed enormously in the last 50 years. State and outstanding local colleges are far less well supported- and available to all.
Most of my friends from the previous era had highly supportive parents but not ones who could supply a structure of privileged advantages.
Education is one of the key building blocks of prosperity – we need the new generation of these smart, eager, poor kids. My impression is that America has forgotten its foundational principle as the Land of Opportunity.
6
Much of what Brooks writes here is wrong to the point that anyone who has any knowledge of the real world would ask what on earth is he talking about.
For example he claims that zoning rules in cities where well educated people live keep poor and less educated people from having access to the opportunities for the good jobs that those cities have to offer. In other words in Brooks' world the only people who have jobs in a city like NY are the rich and well educated. Now since Brooks himself lives in NYC one can only wonder if he ever saw any of the millions of those working in jobs that don't require a college degree.
For that matter one can only wonder if Brooks is aware that NY has a subway system that allows people from poor neighborhoods to get anywhere in the city.
He also claims that educated parents live in neighborhoods with the best teachers and that they top off their local public school's budgets. This too has no basis in reality. Teachers in a public school system are assigned randomly to the schools they are to teach at. The idea that they pick the best teachers for rich neighborhoods cannot be farther from the truth. And the same is true of his claim that parents donate money to their local public schools.
He then goes on to refer to a neighborhood where having the right baby carrier is crucial as an opportunity-rich area, when the fact is that there are virtually zero opportunities within the actual borders of a brownstone residential neighborhood.
For example he claims that zoning rules in cities where well educated people live keep poor and less educated people from having access to the opportunities for the good jobs that those cities have to offer. In other words in Brooks' world the only people who have jobs in a city like NY are the rich and well educated. Now since Brooks himself lives in NYC one can only wonder if he ever saw any of the millions of those working in jobs that don't require a college degree.
For that matter one can only wonder if Brooks is aware that NY has a subway system that allows people from poor neighborhoods to get anywhere in the city.
He also claims that educated parents live in neighborhoods with the best teachers and that they top off their local public school's budgets. This too has no basis in reality. Teachers in a public school system are assigned randomly to the schools they are to teach at. The idea that they pick the best teachers for rich neighborhoods cannot be farther from the truth. And the same is true of his claim that parents donate money to their local public schools.
He then goes on to refer to a neighborhood where having the right baby carrier is crucial as an opportunity-rich area, when the fact is that there are virtually zero opportunities within the actual borders of a brownstone residential neighborhood.
3
I couldn't disagree with you more. I am of lower middle class means and both of my kids that have graduated from high school and college have gone on to become successful in the medical field. The used the resources available to them, 1 joined the service and thus had most of their education paid for for her service to the country. Their mom stayed home with the kids when they were little. It was not that it was because I earned so much that we could afford to do so, it was because we decided to live with less "luxuries" that we didn't really need. We lived inexpensively, buying a used car without having a payment. We did not go out to eat a lot. We found inexpensive recreation like parks, the zoo, etc. There was no upper middle class group that tried to keep us down. It has nothing to do with means to be able to spend time with your kids, it has a lot to do with what material things you are willing to delay having in order to spend more time with your kids.
19
David Brooks. - what happened? You have become a hand wringing liberal. I have an MS in computer science but I don't remember learning anything about sandwich ordering in college. I often find myself in restaurants where i am reduced to looking for something that has chicken in it but I haven't found that to be a social barrier.
I do think you have a point on public school funding. Public education should be federally funded to ensure students in poorer areas have equal access to quality education. Equality of opportunity for all.
I do think you have a point on public school funding. Public education should be federally funded to ensure students in poorer areas have equal access to quality education. Equality of opportunity for all.
9
Come on, David! Are these cultural references and really all that important to success? I doubt it, but to the extent that it is important in some situations, it is not difficult to learn the cultural ropes if you find yourself in that situation.
The lack of time and money, and access to education without mountains of debt are important issues. Both parties, but especially Republicans create or maintain the financial barriers. Many of those who feel left out have now elected a president and a Congress that are trying their best to make the situation worse for the working and lower middle classes.
Perhaps the Trumpsters will next want a law forcing the urban elites to breathe coal dust and eat corn dogs. Bring on the cultural revolution.
The lack of time and money, and access to education without mountains of debt are important issues. Both parties, but especially Republicans create or maintain the financial barriers. Many of those who feel left out have now elected a president and a Congress that are trying their best to make the situation worse for the working and lower middle classes.
Perhaps the Trumpsters will next want a law forcing the urban elites to breathe coal dust and eat corn dogs. Bring on the cultural revolution.
2
I live in Montgomery County, Maryland. We are on of the the 10 highest average income counties, but we still have a good size portion of poor and middle class people. We zone to force builders to include affordable housing in new projects. We gerrymander school districts to make sure significant #s of lower income folks are in those schools. Example, my son's elementary school had 20% of the children on free and reduced price lunches. My house costs $750k for 2,400 sq ft and is 57 years old. It is an expensive area. Schools in areas were there are large numbers of lower income children have much small class sizes than wealthier areas. America would be better off if everyone behaved this way. I pay 9% state and local tax and get good value for it.
6
If ordinary homes are $750,000 how do you "include affordable housing"? What is your idea of "affordable"?
Also: it is OK to "gerrymander"...so long as you get the results you want?
Also: it is OK to "gerrymander"...so long as you get the results you want?
1
I am from a lower middle class background, the child of high school-educated immigrants, and yet well educated through the public schools of my state.
I have no idea what any of those sorts of sandwich ingredients are but am not ashamed of that or of asking someone what menu items mean. It is the potential price of sandwiches rather than the ingredients that are potentially exclusionary.
I teach in summer for one of those programs, at a university, that offers the sort of enrichment parents seek eagerly to give their children every educational advantage.
In my class of normal size, one student is white and the rest are the children of non-white immigrants. I have a sneaking suspicion no one knows barre techniques or does Pilates or has a strong opinion on David Foster Wallace.
I have no idea what any of those sorts of sandwich ingredients are but am not ashamed of that or of asking someone what menu items mean. It is the potential price of sandwiches rather than the ingredients that are potentially exclusionary.
I teach in summer for one of those programs, at a university, that offers the sort of enrichment parents seek eagerly to give their children every educational advantage.
In my class of normal size, one student is white and the rest are the children of non-white immigrants. I have a sneaking suspicion no one knows barre techniques or does Pilates or has a strong opinion on David Foster Wallace.
6
This is just nonsense. The Ivy Leagues and other expensive private colleges in the US have never been more than finishing schools for the sons and daughters of the elite. Academic excellence and extra-curricular achievement have nothing to do with admission there if you come from the right family or can foot the bill. Even the most cursory review of their histories will reveal that. Yes, once in a while some child of the proles manages to jimmy his way in, if only to maintain the useful fiction of an egalitarian society. The Grand Canyon like divide between the haves and the have nots in the US has always been there; it's just that in the age of social media it's harder to keep these this divide hidden.
8
All true, and yet: If you are an outstanding student of color (whatever your parents' socioeconomic class), you're in. Look up the very few high school seniors lauded every year for getting into every Ivy League school.
Asian families have figured this out. They know their children face something like what used to be called the "Jewish quota" at elite prep schools and at the Ivies.
Yes, elite schools favor the rich donors' kids and, to a lesser extent, children of alumni. People in the Northeast care a lot about these credentials. You still meet people who share their college pedigrees when you first shake their hands. Pretty shallow when you consider how the game is rigged.
Fortunately, there still are places in America where people care more about what you have done than where you went to school. And good for that.
Asian families have figured this out. They know their children face something like what used to be called the "Jewish quota" at elite prep schools and at the Ivies.
Yes, elite schools favor the rich donors' kids and, to a lesser extent, children of alumni. People in the Northeast care a lot about these credentials. You still meet people who share their college pedigrees when you first shake their hands. Pretty shallow when you consider how the game is rigged.
Fortunately, there still are places in America where people care more about what you have done than where you went to school. And good for that.
4
Mr. Brooks,
Maybe you should have explained to your friend all those delicious items at the Gourmet Sandwich Shop? Maybe you would have helped her, and yourself, understand that knowledge of nouvelle cuisine isn't a measure of excellence?
I fall squarely within parts of your description of the so-called upper middle class, since I have spent enormous sums and time on my children's education. But honestly I am enraged by the thought of making people feel inferior for not having "elite" knowledge, perhaps because it was only after beginning life as an impoverished refugee that I was fortunate enough to be challenged at Harvard College and Columbia Law School; I can to assume that in every way I needed to better myself, which leaves me feeling to this day that I cannot possibly learn in a single lifetime everything I need to learn to be barely competent.
I fear contempt is what you implied when you gave your friend the hint that you did not think she was up to making a choice at the Gourmet Sandwich Shop. Were you not able or willing to take the time to explain to her the meaning of the menu? Were you too short on time to help a lesser mortal? Maybe you should not assume that your noblesse oblige makes you morally superior enough to justify the high-minded tone of your article?
I hope you give this thought the sustained reflection that is so characteristic of your other work, which I have long admired.
Sincerely,
Tony Perez
Maybe you should have explained to your friend all those delicious items at the Gourmet Sandwich Shop? Maybe you would have helped her, and yourself, understand that knowledge of nouvelle cuisine isn't a measure of excellence?
I fall squarely within parts of your description of the so-called upper middle class, since I have spent enormous sums and time on my children's education. But honestly I am enraged by the thought of making people feel inferior for not having "elite" knowledge, perhaps because it was only after beginning life as an impoverished refugee that I was fortunate enough to be challenged at Harvard College and Columbia Law School; I can to assume that in every way I needed to better myself, which leaves me feeling to this day that I cannot possibly learn in a single lifetime everything I need to learn to be barely competent.
I fear contempt is what you implied when you gave your friend the hint that you did not think she was up to making a choice at the Gourmet Sandwich Shop. Were you not able or willing to take the time to explain to her the meaning of the menu? Were you too short on time to help a lesser mortal? Maybe you should not assume that your noblesse oblige makes you morally superior enough to justify the high-minded tone of your article?
I hope you give this thought the sustained reflection that is so characteristic of your other work, which I have long admired.
Sincerely,
Tony Perez
17
I have lived outside the US for many years now but I grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood on Long Island where most people worked in the public sector (teachers, civil servants, police, etc.). We were in very poor shape financially. Vacations, tutors, fancy restaurants, clubs - all out of the question. I spent my summers cutting lawns, washing cars, walking dogs. Still, we never felt deprived and made the best of what we had. Although we had little money, my widowed mom was very cultured and introduced me too art and history through books at the public library. The teachers in our local school district were hardly substandard. In fact, I thought it funny that many of the students from wealthier neighborhoods hired tutors to coach them on the SAT exams, while I just got a book from the library on how to study for it and I scored in the 700s (not too shabby by any measure at the time). My point is that where there's a will, there's a way. And no, I don't believe things are so different today. Avoiding much of this has to do with finding the proper mindset.
As for fancy-named sandwiches served up by "Barristas", in my book they are still plain old ham or chicken sandwiches, perhaps with a few different vegetables, served up by counter help (or, if you are from an even older generation, by "Soda Jerks").
As for fancy-named sandwiches served up by "Barristas", in my book they are still plain old ham or chicken sandwiches, perhaps with a few different vegetables, served up by counter help (or, if you are from an even older generation, by "Soda Jerks").
10
Italian cold cuts are just variations on ham, salami, cheese and tomatoes. No big whoop. In fact, though Italian food is marvelous and delicious, it is very accessible and not "fancy" or off-putting whatsoever.
6
Mr Brooks,
This is just a great column, thank you. Community colleges and state colleges/ universities are genuine alternatives to the ivy league type schools you have in mind. If education in these venues were made available for free to all qualified persons, then the problem you discuss would be considerably eased. I went to an ivy league school and taught at a state university. In my opinion, the benefit of the former was mainly getting to meet future movers and groovers. The benefit of the latter was getting an outstanding education. I expect that 10 fewer fighter jets would be enough to fund this proposal.
Thanks again for your often, but not always, outstanding columns,
D. R. Mayer
This is just a great column, thank you. Community colleges and state colleges/ universities are genuine alternatives to the ivy league type schools you have in mind. If education in these venues were made available for free to all qualified persons, then the problem you discuss would be considerably eased. I went to an ivy league school and taught at a state university. In my opinion, the benefit of the former was mainly getting to meet future movers and groovers. The benefit of the latter was getting an outstanding education. I expect that 10 fewer fighter jets would be enough to fund this proposal.
Thanks again for your often, but not always, outstanding columns,
D. R. Mayer
8
Unfortunately significantly more than a few fighter jets would be needed to fund this. $4 billion a year will not be enough money
1
This essay reminds me of Charles Murray's "research" methods--counting the number of German cars in a supermarket parking lot, and the like. It's not the flat-earthers, nor the Bible-believing fake geologists, but it's equally specious.
4
Ten years ago my husband at an elite eastern uiversity. It was the social patter to give dinner parties. One Saturday, I had university guests coming when my mom and dad showed up as there were wont to do. Parents education level: Dad 8th grade, Mom 10th grade. Mom hid upstairs with the kids; Dad joined the conversation.
As the guests were leaving a very noted PHD said he was very impressed with dad's ideas and asked me where he had gotten his education, Dad overheard and told the man "Wilkes Barre elementary school, Wilkes Barre PA."
Self Education beats all!
As the guests were leaving a very noted PHD said he was very impressed with dad's ideas and asked me where he had gotten his education, Dad overheard and told the man "Wilkes Barre elementary school, Wilkes Barre PA."
Self Education beats all!
9
By far, the most intelligent -- thoughtful -- cultured and well-read person I have ever known was my Nana. She was born in what is today the Czech Republic, in 1904. She attended convent school until the age of 14, then dropped out and moved to America with her parents and siblings.
She spoke and read 5 languages, including Esperanto.
There is nothing I despise more than snobbery, and educational snobbery ("my degree means I am superior to you!") is the worst of all.
She spoke and read 5 languages, including Esperanto.
There is nothing I despise more than snobbery, and educational snobbery ("my degree means I am superior to you!") is the worst of all.
5
These assertions that a culture fosters separation are accurate. These differences may not be intentional however. It is very possible that the lack of diversity in different income groups has to do with likes attracting likes as a sign of comfort and familiarity, natural human emotions. To believe that everyone can and will be in egalitarian circumstances with all other citizens is naive.
6
In recent discussions of inequality, there is a certain tendency to confound the division between economic classes with that between those with college degrees and those without. This is useful to certain conservatives, as liberalism, like higher earnings, tends to go along with a BA, which only 1/3 of US adults have. Even so, the two divisions are not the same. Nicholas Carnes points this out in his analysis of Trump voters: often no BA but still earning above median income.
Mr. Reeves talks about the 20% pulling away and monopolizing its privileges. This is true to a point (e.g. zoning) But 64 million people don't exactly constitute a "ruling class". They are not a homogeneous group, but they are people who benefit from general changes in the US economy favoring high returns to education.
As for the SUM OF SMALL THINGS, the author herself says she is talking about a class defined not so much by income as by culture, an "aspirational" elite. Many of the people defined by her status symbols may be educated, but in debt, and have little money or power at all. But still we can point fingers at them, right, because lots of rich people have similar tastes?
The real problem is public policy concerning the bottom 80%, who are chronically insecure in a way that their postwar counterparts were not. The top 20% have differences of opinion about policy, and quite a few supported Obama, who raised their taxes.
We need to achieve economic justice, not update Thorstein Veblen.
Mr. Reeves talks about the 20% pulling away and monopolizing its privileges. This is true to a point (e.g. zoning) But 64 million people don't exactly constitute a "ruling class". They are not a homogeneous group, but they are people who benefit from general changes in the US economy favoring high returns to education.
As for the SUM OF SMALL THINGS, the author herself says she is talking about a class defined not so much by income as by culture, an "aspirational" elite. Many of the people defined by her status symbols may be educated, but in debt, and have little money or power at all. But still we can point fingers at them, right, because lots of rich people have similar tastes?
The real problem is public policy concerning the bottom 80%, who are chronically insecure in a way that their postwar counterparts were not. The top 20% have differences of opinion about policy, and quite a few supported Obama, who raised their taxes.
We need to achieve economic justice, not update Thorstein Veblen.
14
We live in a capitalistic society, and also one where you can basically purchase a better chance at success for your children. Do you not expect people with the means to use their funds on their children's success? You can argue all day long about whether this is really a good model or not, but don't blame the people with the money for using the model to their benefit. Given our society's rules and norms, that's what they are supposed to do.
8
Wrong. Having spawn does not justify gaming the system so your spawn gets ahead.
2
Honest to goodness, it’s exasperating to read yet another of David’s columns in which the focus is a culprit du jour — one overarching determinant (usually human) to explain the decline/demise/deplorable state of our modern society. What a tidy if impoverished world it would be were there merely villains and victims. To name them column after column only adds to the polarization that now separates us. Humans lead messy lives, their issues are complex; to suggest otherwise is facile at best, and fails to illuminate information that’s important to understand.
I suspect a majority of us, including many wealthy, work in small ways and large to promote social and economic equality for all. We’re a long way from being an all-inclusive society, yet strides have been made in our lifetime— in the college classrooms, the work places and neighborhoods that David cites.
There’s much yet to be done; leaders and workable ideas are needed and welcomed. Extolling the merits of a provocative book can be helpful to those efforts; introducing that book by way of a blame game is not. ‘Us vs them’ never solved society’s problems. Maybe ‘we the people’ can. But first we need opinion columnists to stop distinguishing and labeling selected groups of us the ‘bad guys.’
I suspect a majority of us, including many wealthy, work in small ways and large to promote social and economic equality for all. We’re a long way from being an all-inclusive society, yet strides have been made in our lifetime— in the college classrooms, the work places and neighborhoods that David cites.
There’s much yet to be done; leaders and workable ideas are needed and welcomed. Extolling the merits of a provocative book can be helpful to those efforts; introducing that book by way of a blame game is not. ‘Us vs them’ never solved society’s problems. Maybe ‘we the people’ can. But first we need opinion columnists to stop distinguishing and labeling selected groups of us the ‘bad guys.’
11
I get where David Brooks is going with the article, but he conflates it with the misplaced anecdote about the "non college educated friend." That being said, to his overall premise, I would comment that social media plays a significant role in the world of the ultra competitive parents and mommy bloggers who need update the whole world on a daily basis how awesome their kids and family are.
6
I think the example of his friend who'd only went as far as high was a good addition. It put the topic into a real life example. I had to look up the word conflate. I see it just means "to confuse". I'm college educated but I do see where the better educated have a tendency to isolate others from the very conversations that concern them. To many of us words like "conflate" are great. We just look them up when we don't know them. But to "normal" people they are just fancy words.
2
Not long after graduation from a big (nearly 3000 kids) public high school in a small steel town outside of Pittsburgh, after enrolling like my siblings in Ivy League schools, I got some perspective on middle America. I was so proud of my hometown for investing its money in public school. The locals had voted for and built --in the 60's-- a 6 million dollar state of the art high school school for all their children to be prepared (to work toward) for the American Dream. Beautiful theater, gym, swimming pool, language lab, gorgeous wood and metal shops, AP classes, everything for almost all choices...This perspective came from knowing deep in my bones that neither intelligence nor integrity came from privilege. And I was committed for life to public school education. And appreciative of the incredible range of talent in middle class America. As such, although I knew no 'poor' people, I was also committed to making opportunities for any kids less fortunate because it was clear that the upper- and upper middle class kids I met at my university (and my siblings' colleges) were no more or less deserving than me and others in my town. My brother and I spoke about this more than once: he was reluctant to send his children (although he sent them) to boarding schools, despite his wife's family tradition of same, because he did not want to perpetuate a sense of class entitlement. He made peace, expecting to instill good values without public school education. Much harder!!!!
3
People who's parents didn't willingly pay the taxes necessary to support a $6 million dollar school cannot logically expect the same opportunities in high school, in college, during their careers nor in life. Growing up, my parents property taxes were about $550/year. My boss, who raised his kids (my age) in a much nicer town on LI paid slightly over $6,000 back then. It is not unreasonable for him to expect that his kids would receive ten times the quality education, ten times the sports, academic programs and clubs, ten times the assistance in getting a college education, ten times the opportunities and ten times better jobs. His two sons attended Ivies at full tuition while I enlisted in the Army and lived off the taxpayer for four years. It would be outlandish if I expected even a chance to be in their league.
4
There may be some truth to all this but to give some perspective I share that I and my family fall into the upper Middle Class to upper class based on education and financial situation. When I read the the part about the sandwich shop I thought, "I doubt my kids and I would know what those ingredients were either, but I'm pretty sure we would have asked instead of running off to the nearest Taqueria". I think we need to be a little more careful with over-the-top hyperbole as a means of trying to proeg our point-of-view.
10
I must say that I am a bit surprised at the degree of vitriol in comments reacting to this column. It seems to have hit a nerve. Not having read Mr. Reeves' book, I'm not completely convinced that economic and social advantage has reached a conspiratorial level. But it does offer everyone, regardless of class something to think about. I would love to know what Barack Obama's thoughts are on this topic. No silver spoon upbringing to pave his way. I'm interested in his thoughts on how he navigated this path, against substantial odds.
7
Obama did go to an elite private school, and to some elite colleges, so he did learn to get along with the silver spoons.
1
How do you know your friend was't reacting to the prices of the sandwiches rather than their names?
36
I'm totally on board with the notion of exclusive zoning being a bad thing, particularly as they affect educational attainment. What I can't get my head around is lowering aggregate growth by 50% between 1964 and 2009. I will have to read the study to see what is behind those numbers, but that would otherwise be an economic catastrophe. It's hard to see that much correlation between *some* zoning even in 220 cities with economic growth. IF the -50% number is real, there were certainly other factors contributing to it. like the college admissions game, and concentrations of huge endowments, but it would take even more.
PS: I'm highly educated, well-off, and very well-traveled and I don't know what soppressata is or what a Padrino is. And I'm Italian. But I agree with Brooks's overall point about cultural signifiers. We Yuppies, Hipsters, and whoever else are captivated by our ability to synthesize and promulgate faux sophistication for the purpose of making ourselves feel special. Others do notice.
PS: I'm highly educated, well-off, and very well-traveled and I don't know what soppressata is or what a Padrino is. And I'm Italian. But I agree with Brooks's overall point about cultural signifiers. We Yuppies, Hipsters, and whoever else are captivated by our ability to synthesize and promulgate faux sophistication for the purpose of making ourselves feel special. Others do notice.
7
Yes. I feel you Stevens. I'm fortunate to have been well educated. Getting a masters degree etc. but I'm even luckier that I'm a member of a family that doesn't have only college grads in it. My dad went to the 9th grade and mom went to college at the same time as my siblings and I. Some of my cousins had some college many of them didn't. So I can talk with everyone because I have always done so.
1
It takes about 2 seconds to google that kind of stuff.
1
My grandparents were Sicilian immigrants. My father did construction work. My husband is a retired chemist. His grandfather was from Lithuania. He made hats. We have done well and are middle class. The educated class you write about is not "the elite". We are not elite. We are, however, egalitarian.
We think everyone should have a chance to succeed. We think the weak and the frail, the poor and the infirm should be helped. We think that people are more important than profits and that peace is more important than war. We think that race issues shouldn't exist but know they do (we are caucasian). We support the LGBT community and think abortion is a woman's right but that late term abortions are a sad choice. We think we have responsibilities as citizens to pay taxes, to vote, to participate in the government wherever we can. We think we should obey the laws but protest those that seem unjust. We understand the turmoil of both the law enforcement community and the African American community and don't have an answer but we know that cops and Black lives both matter.
We were raised to believe that those who govern should behave in a certain manner (not what we see now). We were raised to try to live good, decent, caring, compassionate responsible lives. We don't care about "the right schools" or the country club. We care that people have enough to eat.
I do not understand how "the base" supports Mr. Trump and his family/cronies and that has nothing to do with us being elite.
We think everyone should have a chance to succeed. We think the weak and the frail, the poor and the infirm should be helped. We think that people are more important than profits and that peace is more important than war. We think that race issues shouldn't exist but know they do (we are caucasian). We support the LGBT community and think abortion is a woman's right but that late term abortions are a sad choice. We think we have responsibilities as citizens to pay taxes, to vote, to participate in the government wherever we can. We think we should obey the laws but protest those that seem unjust. We understand the turmoil of both the law enforcement community and the African American community and don't have an answer but we know that cops and Black lives both matter.
We were raised to believe that those who govern should behave in a certain manner (not what we see now). We were raised to try to live good, decent, caring, compassionate responsible lives. We don't care about "the right schools" or the country club. We care that people have enough to eat.
I do not understand how "the base" supports Mr. Trump and his family/cronies and that has nothing to do with us being elite.
39
Jeannette speaks for me. I don't think I've seen a better statement on what it means to be a liberal. I don't think the Democratic Party has either. (Jeannette, I apologize if you don't identify as a liberal. It's just that I would explain myself as a liberal with just those words.)
1
My dearest friend has "only" a High School diploma, yet she is well read, writes beautifully, and has worked her entire life to help those around her live a fuller, enlightened life. She is the one who taught me to think more broadly about music and poetry and religion, and when we go out to lunch, she is the first one to try the more exotic choices on the menu.
27
Yes. Getting a "degree" is not the only path to "pedigree"!
2
Education is about learning not buildings, money and acceptance. Learning is driven by student initiative. In the 21st century we only need an institute of accreditation coupled with online course material. That should cost $5K not $50K. It would have to be a government program since there is no money in it. However a good employer that needs up to date skills could certainly contribute to the curriculum. A subject doesn't have to be completed in a semester, just completed. If your less intelligent it will take longer, so what? We could, if we wanted, reduce the price and entry restriction to near zero. The only downside is vacant buildings and unemployed professors. Please don't fund university education with tax dollars it will only make it worse. A degree is just an independent accreditation for an employer who doesn't know an applicants true value.
4
That's very interesting John. It seems it is very possible to get some kind of education reform going these days with the low-cost of online education. I even read recently (nytimes article) about a school down south that got a bad reputation because of racism and students stopped enrolling and now buildings are sitting vacant and faculty are being laid off. If this kind of thing were to happen on more college campuses because students found a way to get educated much cheaper, then Schools would be forced to lower their prices and maybe more normal kids would start filling the ranks of Harvard and Yale University, and Oberlin and Columbia etc.
1
My wife only has a high school diploma, and has traveled the world with me, a college graduate, and never once been afraid to order lunch because she might have to ask what the words meant.
Maybe Brooks needs to find friends who aren't scared of their own shadows.
Maybe Brooks needs to find friends who aren't scared of their own shadows.
27
There is no real evidence his "friend" was afraid of anything. Brooks made ASSUMPTIONS that the fancy sandwich shop was too "esoteric" for his friend, and that she'd "prefer" humble Mexican chow instead.
I'd love to actually hear from the friend.
I'd love to actually hear from the friend.
1
Ironically, the language you use to describe your rube friend in the sandwich shop proves your point better than anything that precedes or follows it. Passages like this are the reason people hate this paper.
18
While that passage was beyond obnoxious, it's hardly a reason to "hate this paper." The NYT is usuall superb journalism. Mr. Brooks' description of his sandwich shoip experience was hardly indicative of the entire pubication.
3
It's the actual advantages. "Authentically" calling a "Venti" a "large" doesnt match sending your kids to private school.
3
Let them eat cake, dear boy.
5
Dear Mr Brooks,
Time to recognise the elephant in the admissions room: Your efforts to humanise the Republican party have failed. The party is fundamentally corrupt and probably beyond saving. The moral center has caved and your undoubtedly sincere yet often naive efforts at understanding and explaining have simply provided a fig leaf for those who either don't understand your well-argued, hair-splitting treatises, or those, worse who do. For the latter (Republicans), you are but a somewhat useful pawn.
Perhaps it is time to follow your heart and realise that whatever qualities the Republican party might have once enshrined, it is now a manipulative instrument of the extremely wealthy to lower taxes on themselves. Follow the money.
On the other hand, the Democratic Party desperately needs you.
Because god knows that the DP is also ethically challenged. But since your heart understands so much of the unfairness of our gamed system, why not try to influence the party with at least some true believers actually holding some power, to be bold for better? Leave being the token right-wing voice of NYT balance to those less noble.
Do the right thing. It's a price worth paying. The Republican base won't even know you're gone...
Time to recognise the elephant in the admissions room: Your efforts to humanise the Republican party have failed. The party is fundamentally corrupt and probably beyond saving. The moral center has caved and your undoubtedly sincere yet often naive efforts at understanding and explaining have simply provided a fig leaf for those who either don't understand your well-argued, hair-splitting treatises, or those, worse who do. For the latter (Republicans), you are but a somewhat useful pawn.
Perhaps it is time to follow your heart and realise that whatever qualities the Republican party might have once enshrined, it is now a manipulative instrument of the extremely wealthy to lower taxes on themselves. Follow the money.
On the other hand, the Democratic Party desperately needs you.
Because god knows that the DP is also ethically challenged. But since your heart understands so much of the unfairness of our gamed system, why not try to influence the party with at least some true believers actually holding some power, to be bold for better? Leave being the token right-wing voice of NYT balance to those less noble.
Do the right thing. It's a price worth paying. The Republican base won't even know you're gone...
23
Yet another reason to love David Brooks. I'm a single dad with a small business-I live in the smallest house in my neighborhood-and I'm hoping my son, who is in junior high school, will be able to get a college education. This is not an act of exclusion. This is so that he enjoys an opportunity to set his own learning agenda, to experience things that he wouldn't get to experience if he went right into the working world. I was born in New York City in the 60s. I lived here during the bad 70s , The crazy 80s, etc. Once again-I didn't choose to be born here or raise my family here because it's my desire to exclude anyone from an insider lifestyle-anymore than it's my desire to wage class warfare when I order an Italian sandwich with complicated names of ingredients like proscutto. I just like prosciutto.
10
I am upper middle class and live in an opportunity-rich area. Yet, I do not know any barre techniques, have never taken Pilates, never heard of David Foster Wallace, raised my children to be kind, work hard and say thank you (simple child rearing), do not know what gender norms are and had to look up the word intersectionality.
I do know what soppressata and capicola are because I come from Italian immigrants. Although, I am sure they wouldn’t call it gourmet. Unaware I was being “insensitive”, I took my kids to a local Mexican restaurant this weekend and we had to look up the definition of an entromatada (true story). I thought trying new things was what living was all about.
I have a new word… interclassivity. Interclassivity is defined when someone generalizes an entire class of people as sexist and racist, failing to accurately diagnosis the real causes of social income gaps.
I do know what soppressata and capicola are because I come from Italian immigrants. Although, I am sure they wouldn’t call it gourmet. Unaware I was being “insensitive”, I took my kids to a local Mexican restaurant this weekend and we had to look up the definition of an entromatada (true story). I thought trying new things was what living was all about.
I have a new word… interclassivity. Interclassivity is defined when someone generalizes an entire class of people as sexist and racist, failing to accurately diagnosis the real causes of social income gaps.
39
Well, David, it's always been this way, just the names of the Robber Barons have changed. Some of us were fortunate enough to benefit from the government supported post-WWII bubble of the GI Bill where education was offered (and taken) to many. Great writers emerged and people read them. There were goods to purchase, our people had jobs making them, and public schools were respected and valued. Remember the myth about getting scolded by the teacher and then getting it again at home? It wasn't a myth. When I get blue about the state of affairs at the moment, friends from other countries comfort me and here's what they say:
You can criticize your government and not go to jail.
You still get a shot. If you do well in the worst school, you still get a shot. Most teachers will help your kids if you ask.
Community colleges are amazing.
Your vote counts. If you vote, you can make a difference.
Not everyone in government is corrupt.
It is grievous that the Commonweal is out of fashion.
It is grievous that we no longer have an evening news that is respected enough to provide a shared national experience.
It is grievous that our news is censored and filtered so that we do not see our wars up close and person as we did Viet Nam.
But, I digress.
We just cannot give up and acquiesce to the dark arts.
You can criticize your government and not go to jail.
You still get a shot. If you do well in the worst school, you still get a shot. Most teachers will help your kids if you ask.
Community colleges are amazing.
Your vote counts. If you vote, you can make a difference.
Not everyone in government is corrupt.
It is grievous that the Commonweal is out of fashion.
It is grievous that we no longer have an evening news that is respected enough to provide a shared national experience.
It is grievous that our news is censored and filtered so that we do not see our wars up close and person as we did Viet Nam.
But, I digress.
We just cannot give up and acquiesce to the dark arts.
9
Not quite sure about this. My husband and I have post graduate degrees. We always assumed our children would go to college. Some did but the last two didn't because of the debt load, a fact I continue to feel sad about. Some how, while I was busily squeezing out the lower class kids, I hit some of my own too. Oh, wait. We used to be middle classed. We are on our way down. Guess that explains it.
10
Good article, except the example of sandwich names as a way we are setting blockers to upward mobility. Maybe? But could have used a better example and left mozerella out if it.
6
I don't mind some people being richer and more privileged than I am.
I am just sick and tired of subsidizing these rich people with more and more and more and more and more of my tax dollars.
I am just sick and tired of subsidizing these rich people with more and more and more and more and more of my tax dollars.
25
YOUR man Trump is ruining America, Mr. Brooks.
The leader of YOUR Republican Party.
The leader of YOUR Republican Party.
14
Yes, this all started the day Trump was inaugurated .............
1
As a proud Italian-American—and the grandson of four poor Sicilian grandparents—I find your disparaging remarks about Italian-named sandwiches or their Italian ingredients shockingly ignorant. "Pomodoro" by the way means "tomato" (a quick search on your phone could have told you that); "Padrino" is most likely a tacky reference to The Godfather films; and "soppressata" and "capicollo" are the names of Italian cured meats (or what you might call "cold cuts"). How the names of food that any Italian or Italian-American knows and loves—not to mention a good many millions of other food-loving people all over the world—is evidence of your thesis is beyond me. Perhaps you should look at some of the me-first, let's-stick-it-to-the-poor Republican policies you have championed over the years instead. And one more thing Mr. Brooks: You really should get out more. Living and working in NYC and you think 'soppressata' is high-end and exotic? If anyone is out of touch here...it's you Mr. Brooks.
25
I don't always agree with the politics of Mr. Brooks, but I almost always find thought-provoking value in his column. It is important and rewarding to understand the informed and respectable opinions of others.
This article, however, is just silly. He undermines his own premise with his buffoonishly elitist anecdote, where he is the hero for graciously stooping to Mexican food as a concession for an elite grinder.
Starting off by talking about the structural barriers to class mobility and then taking a sudden turn to say "none of this matters as much as the social subtleties," using his own boorish behavior as the lynch pin is bizarre.
This article, however, is just silly. He undermines his own premise with his buffoonishly elitist anecdote, where he is the hero for graciously stooping to Mexican food as a concession for an elite grinder.
Starting off by talking about the structural barriers to class mobility and then taking a sudden turn to say "none of this matters as much as the social subtleties," using his own boorish behavior as the lynch pin is bizarre.
16
"To feel at home in opportunity-rich areas, you’ve got to understand the right barre techniques, sport the right baby carrier, have the right podcast, food truck, tea, wine and Pilates tastes, not to mention possess the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace, child-rearing, gender norms and intersectionality."
Speaking as a mother of two young children who rents in a posh SF neighborhood, I assure you that even I, an upper-class woman with two elite school degrees, do not buy into any of the elite culture markings that you describe above. I witness all those by many ppl in my neighborhood along with the newly opened "corner stores" that sell $10 loaves of bread and $10 lbs of uncooked pasta! I deplore all these trends as much as anyone.
I may have the right educational pedigree and *barely* be in the right income class, but I do not identify with any of these new cultural attitudes and chafe at the thought of raising my young children among them. It's a coastal rich city bubble, and I really want out more and more, if I don't get pushed out anyways because of housing costs. I hope you're wrong that by not conforming to the attitudes that you describe that I will be putting my kids at a disadvantage. But then again, I'm pretty sure, like Piketty describes, we're heading back to a Jane Austen world.
Speaking as a mother of two young children who rents in a posh SF neighborhood, I assure you that even I, an upper-class woman with two elite school degrees, do not buy into any of the elite culture markings that you describe above. I witness all those by many ppl in my neighborhood along with the newly opened "corner stores" that sell $10 loaves of bread and $10 lbs of uncooked pasta! I deplore all these trends as much as anyone.
I may have the right educational pedigree and *barely* be in the right income class, but I do not identify with any of these new cultural attitudes and chafe at the thought of raising my young children among them. It's a coastal rich city bubble, and I really want out more and more, if I don't get pushed out anyways because of housing costs. I hope you're wrong that by not conforming to the attitudes that you describe that I will be putting my kids at a disadvantage. But then again, I'm pretty sure, like Piketty describes, we're heading back to a Jane Austen world.
4
It's not the upper middle class, it's helicopter parents. I'm upper middle class but also don't freak out if my kids gets a B every now and then.
3
This is utter rubbish. Complete and utter rubbish. Lazy thinking, poor deduction skills. Simplistic hogwash.
And I feel sorry for the friend that was humiliated for this-- I mean, maybe they were taken aback by the price of the food. Maybe Mr, Brooks could have translated the italian words, I mean, I've got three college degrees and I didn't know those words-- but I would ask and say, "What is this> What's good." Shame on him for not saying, "Oh, some of the names are crazy and I didn't know them but here's what some of them are!" Just absurd and elitist garbage here with little evidence of thinking about REAL social issues.
And I feel sorry for the friend that was humiliated for this-- I mean, maybe they were taken aback by the price of the food. Maybe Mr, Brooks could have translated the italian words, I mean, I've got three college degrees and I didn't know those words-- but I would ask and say, "What is this> What's good." Shame on him for not saying, "Oh, some of the names are crazy and I didn't know them but here's what some of them are!" Just absurd and elitist garbage here with little evidence of thinking about REAL social issues.
20
Cultural codes to the privileged = unlabeled metaphors to those who are not.
Ergo, a big advantage and class difference.
Ergo, a big advantage and class difference.
When I meet a friend for lunch I ask them ahead of time what they want to eat.
9
If only those tactics actually worked. I raised my kids in an exclusive neighborhood, with top schools, paid for special tutors, special classes on the SATs, attended special camps, etc etc. End result? A solid "B" student with lack luster SAT scores who attended a state university along with all of the average kids from all backgrounds. A good friend with connections got her son into a prestigious university, and net result? Professional Bartender. A job anybody from any background can secure. Perhaps the writer should read "The Millionaire Next Door". The children of the rich and powerful are often lazy and unmotivated.
11
Don't blame the messenger. I married very young. My husband was a older and had completed college. He was making his way towards a doctorate degree. I was busy with babies. I separated, becoming a very busy working single mom. I met friends through Campus ministry, most had their doctoral degrees. We loved one another but I felt the sting Brook's speaks of. It is an important point. I recall one night I was close to feeling embarrassed because I felt I could not add to the conversation. I had this thought: "Why compare. Just enjoy the pleasure of the conversation." This freed me to enjoy and learn from my friends. These friendships opened the pathway for wonderful things in my life and the development of my own capacity to think, reflect, and educate myself.
Anyone who can identify with this can begin to see that Brooks is addressing "hospitality", creating a welcoming community. These subtleties exist. We should call them out and have these conversations. I recall as a nurse aide the nurses and aides were having a conversation about relationships. They accused those with higher of being "book smart" but "no common sense". We compensate for our felt inadequacies in many ways. I said I did not feel that way. I see no contradiction between education and common sense. We'd better watch out because I think these issues are what produce the support for Trump's success. He knows it and uses it, even though he does not speak for the common citizen. He's a fraud.
Anyone who can identify with this can begin to see that Brooks is addressing "hospitality", creating a welcoming community. These subtleties exist. We should call them out and have these conversations. I recall as a nurse aide the nurses and aides were having a conversation about relationships. They accused those with higher of being "book smart" but "no common sense". We compensate for our felt inadequacies in many ways. I said I did not feel that way. I see no contradiction between education and common sense. We'd better watch out because I think these issues are what produce the support for Trump's success. He knows it and uses it, even though he does not speak for the common citizen. He's a fraud.
4
In Milwaukee, segregation begins with the school system. We have a bewildering array of choices - public, charter and private, and the application processes are as complex as college processes. In addition, neighborhood public schools give priority to students from the surrounding neighborhood.
A lot of human potential is being lost in the system, but this can be reversed by agreeing on one application that could be used as a first cut throughout the city. I'm sure some of the best schools would be interested in making sure scholars from low income families know about them.
A lot of human potential is being lost in the system, but this can be reversed by agreeing on one application that could be used as a first cut throughout the city. I'm sure some of the best schools would be interested in making sure scholars from low income families know about them.
4
This sounds like more of a thinly veiled criticism of the "liberal elites" than any sort of actual deconstruction or thoughtful analysis of why educational and income inequality exists and who is to blame for it. Your bias is showing, Mr. Brooks.
9
David Brooks states: "It's not really the prices that ensure 80% of your co-shoppers at Whole Foods are comfortably, college grads; it's the cultural codes". Ascribing the lack of diversity to education as opposed to price is missing the point. If prices were lowered, people of different so called classes would partake. And really, Mr. Brooks ... you have a high school educated friend you dine with? Aren't you special.
13
I think David Brooks made up that story about taking a young woman to a supposedly high class restaurant. It never happened, but it did get his essay started.
8
I'm curious how your conversations with the author of that "bracing book," which by your description seems to be based on empirical evidence, made you decide that his ideas were less important that the unverifiable anecdotal class stereotyping you've made your career peddling? Why are the so-called upper-middle-class cultural norms you describe more inherently insidious than other cultural norms you might see at a NASCAR event or the Iowa State Fair? I'm sure your lower-caste friend appreciated your patronizing emergency evacuation from the scary sandwich shop.
6
Boy, am I glad I don't live in Mr. Brooks' world. Those people sound like terrible snobs. I see in the world I do inhabit many people of all levels of education who are doing their best for their children. The people who pursue educational opportunities vigorously for their children tend to be teachers, certainly not in the economic elite. I know one child families, a situation that allows families of all means to have more for their children. I go to a YMCA with a variety of members and I see many parents engaged with their children and their children's activities. These are not rich people. But they are caring and involved.
Love and emotional support and supporting children's goals, not money, are the answers. I am surprised that Mr. Only a High School Education hasn't figured this out. But then I am Ms. Only Two Years of Law School, and I recognized none of those foods. But then I am not fond of Italian.
Love and emotional support and supporting children's goals, not money, are the answers. I am surprised that Mr. Only a High School Education hasn't figured this out. But then I am Ms. Only Two Years of Law School, and I recognized none of those foods. But then I am not fond of Italian.
2
Amen. I'm in the educated class as defined by my degrees and their grantors, and the lower class financially.Guiding my child into college has been threading a needle. Very very hard to know with unfiltered clarity that, for example, she will simply not have her choice of colleges because even working two jobs there was no point in putting her into AP classes where she could only succeed with a tutor. nor to move beyond the knowledge that my professional progress was limited because I had to get her from daycare and could not work long hours. It kills me as a mother to slip backward into what I left behind as a poor kid growing up. I want her to breathe freely.
3
You sound like such a loving mom, such a striver, such a hard worker, so responsible, such a dreamer in terms of helping your child soar.
I wish things were different, that you could have had the childcare support you needed to advance, and that you felt more secure about financing college with your income/savings and hopefully sufficient financial aid.
Please do not feel you somehow failed. Your child has a mom who loves her, has hopes and dreams for her, and put her first. You went home to your child rather than piling on later hours to impress, get noticed and be promoted. It might not feel so, but you have given your child the greatest gift of all. She came first.
When hard times come, she has the best foundation ever. Love. You held steady during ridiculous times, with the economy collapsing and then income inequality raging. You didn't fail, fall through the cracks, crash and burn. Be proud.
I wish things were different, that you could have had the childcare support you needed to advance, and that you felt more secure about financing college with your income/savings and hopefully sufficient financial aid.
Please do not feel you somehow failed. Your child has a mom who loves her, has hopes and dreams for her, and put her first. You went home to your child rather than piling on later hours to impress, get noticed and be promoted. It might not feel so, but you have given your child the greatest gift of all. She came first.
When hard times come, she has the best foundation ever. Love. You held steady during ridiculous times, with the economy collapsing and then income inequality raging. You didn't fail, fall through the cracks, crash and burn. Be proud.
3
I hold a HS diploma. I worked on tech projects for the big bank that went wild opening phony customer accounts. Years ago, the CEO (the one who resigned in shame) was quoted in an internal article that he desired to achieve a more "collegiate" environment. After 20 years working there, I might have suddenly felt unwelcome because of a quote by a misguided CEO. Workers from different backgrounds are important to the long term success of any large company. I spent years cleaning up and correcting messes abandoned by collegiates. Alternately, some of my best bosses and co-workers were collegiates. That fallen CEO is a good example of structural rigging.
1
Mr. Brooks can't afford to treat his friend to lunch?
Why does he insist on telling us lately that he (purportedly) has "friends" who don't have a college education (today), or are tax-evading odd-jobbers? How does his recent self-reflection (self-obsession) not lead him to admit his elitism? I suppose he mixes with the commoners up at Yale.
Why does he insist on telling us lately that he (purportedly) has "friends" who don't have a college education (today), or are tax-evading odd-jobbers? How does his recent self-reflection (self-obsession) not lead him to admit his elitism? I suppose he mixes with the commoners up at Yale.
2
The concept of noblesse oblege has been all but completely missing from the upper middle and upper class. This is a very sad commentary on the moral fiber of the USA, and being a values issue, it is unlikely to change any time soon.
1
The concept of noblesse oblige is very much alive -- and in its other guise, as snobbery, it's the heart of the problem. That's one of the main reasons many people couldn't stand Her.
1
No one told me I was supposed to take Fancy Sandwich 101 in college.
12
I did not know anti-Italian bias was still on the menu.
3
I have been in education 55 years- taught Elem., middle, high school college, was a principal, etc.KenH nailed it pretty well with his comments.For all of us who feel we did OK with our schooling, this is a new day. Brooks is correct too, but there is a lot of shame to spread around because public education has been choked to death. The group Brooks describe is a part of that problem but add real estate salespersons, local ,state and federal officials and recently the Supreme Court as well.When these persons sweeten the pot for private, religious,charter and every other so called "school", the public schools gets the lowest of everything. teachers, funding, elite students, facilities, etc. The education field has changed the most and public education has become the whipping post. The barriers to mobility are not only tightening, they have closed and are impenetrable at this point.
2
When I saw the headline "How We Are Ruining America," I thought it was about electing people like Trump.
13
Richard Reeves has a 34 page CV. What is that about?
It is called capitalism! What do you expect? These policies have been among us since the dawn. The constitution made sure to protect the most protected minority in America, the rich!
1
"Upper-middle-class moms have the means and the maternity leaves to breast-feed their babies at much higher rates than high school-educated moms, and for much longer periods."
Here in Canada every mother gets a year off for maternity. Why is that not the case in the US? Maybe you should talk to some of your conservative colleagues about why they aren't pushing for laws that give poor women and their children the same advantages that wealthy ones have?
Here in Canada every mother gets a year off for maternity. Why is that not the case in the US? Maybe you should talk to some of your conservative colleagues about why they aren't pushing for laws that give poor women and their children the same advantages that wealthy ones have?
6
Canadians do not have to underwrite the very high costs of millions of under-educated, unskilled illegal immigrants, many of whom have large families. We pay for their health care, education, social services, translational services, correctional services, and so on. The little they pay in sales and payroll taxes pales in comparison to what we spend on their behalf.
In addition, Canada restricts non-refugee immigration to those who would contribute economically and who could easily adapt to Canadian society. In contrast to this, we award most of our green cards based on the sole criteria of kinship.
If we followed Canada’s policies on immigration, our government would have the money to subsidize family leave for all citizens and legal residents.
In addition, Canada restricts non-refugee immigration to those who would contribute economically and who could easily adapt to Canadian society. In contrast to this, we award most of our green cards based on the sole criteria of kinship.
If we followed Canada’s policies on immigration, our government would have the money to subsidize family leave for all citizens and legal residents.
6
Canada has a far larger foreign-born population than the US, albeit many of them as refugees. "Large families.. translational services"... You wouldn't happen to be complaining about our southern neighbor, perchance, would you, Ann?
No. Canadians just have different values than Americans. We don't blame others for our problems or inability to make our society better. We don't scream to build walls and ban people different from us. Instead we take action to improve people's lives and make our nation a better place for everyone who wants to contribute.
1
a snippet I read recently -
middle-class people can grow up feeling empowered - if they don't like something, ask for change - be assertive and succeed !
working-class people tend to grow up feeling overwhelmed by forces they cannot control - stuff just happens to them - and they learn to roll with the punches just to survive.
Different world views - one aims at the sky - the other hopes to keep their feet on the ground.
middle-class people can grow up feeling empowered - if they don't like something, ask for change - be assertive and succeed !
working-class people tend to grow up feeling overwhelmed by forces they cannot control - stuff just happens to them - and they learn to roll with the punches just to survive.
Different world views - one aims at the sky - the other hopes to keep their feet on the ground.
2
My God! Can it be possible that there are really people who are so tone deaf that to them knowledge of gourmet sandwiches is a measure of intelligence? And the amount of time available from breast feeding is an indication of economic status? Thanks to Mr. Brooks for pointing these things out. They are among the most important issues of our Times....
7
Mr. Brooks, you never fail to disappoint. You now are blaming educated "elites" for problems that have been caused by racist (I hesitate to use the word racist as these policies hurt everyone on the middle to lower economic ladder, regardless of color) government policies on housing and education, and perpetuated by real estate developers (such as Trump) who build exclusive housing, that displace the middle class. The educated "elite" you refer to are not the cause of inequality in our country. As we are becoming a country run by a few very rich and apparently morally bankrupt corporations, we will all ultimately suffer the consequences of power and money concentrated in the hands of so few.
8
I try to imagine if this article written by a liberal columnist, and my would the comments change. It's pretty impressive that our opinions on the piece are formed by the author being conservative, but what if it were anonymous? Stop for a second and realize how biased the top comments are for a liberal paper.
He argues that the upper middle class want to ensure their kids stay. In a simple pie chart, the top quintile doesn't change without people falling out. We cannot keep adding more people just to make it bigger. What the underlying argument is here is that upper middle class parents have to me okay with their kids possibly being lower middle class so there is some mobility. Either that, or make the entire pie more equal -- which would also increase the likelihood of the upper crust falling since there isn't as far to go. But we all advocate the impossibility, the rise of the poor without any of the upper middle falling. There will always be an upper middle and there will always be a least fortunate group. While maybe the lives of the latter will be less unfortunate, are we really bold enough to argue that mobility is great so long as it's NIMBY. But if your precious child might have to be middle class so a poor person's kid will rise to the top, that is a sacrifice I know no upper middle class parent would advocate.
He argues that the upper middle class want to ensure their kids stay. In a simple pie chart, the top quintile doesn't change without people falling out. We cannot keep adding more people just to make it bigger. What the underlying argument is here is that upper middle class parents have to me okay with their kids possibly being lower middle class so there is some mobility. Either that, or make the entire pie more equal -- which would also increase the likelihood of the upper crust falling since there isn't as far to go. But we all advocate the impossibility, the rise of the poor without any of the upper middle falling. There will always be an upper middle and there will always be a least fortunate group. While maybe the lives of the latter will be less unfortunate, are we really bold enough to argue that mobility is great so long as it's NIMBY. But if your precious child might have to be middle class so a poor person's kid will rise to the top, that is a sacrifice I know no upper middle class parent would advocate.
2
I would like to sheepishly agree with Mr. Brooks' observation. It's certainly not the whole story of inequity. The mass dysfunction we experience day to day in our class saturated society is foremost systemic and born from the baked in ruthlessness of deregulated capitalism. And of course the legacy of slavery.
However, as a Brooklyn gentrifier, I self hate down my 4 dollar lattes and artisanal baked goods. I've often been struck by the language of exclusion brazenly paraded at pour over coffee shops where we interface with gurus about bean origin.
In fact, I was in a new "concept" ancient grain bowl outlet in DUMBO last week. I handed over a 20 for my *very* expensive lunch and was brazenly told, "We don't accept cash."
So, it's ok to deride Mr. Brooks a bit but come on, he's got a point.
We all have skin in this game.
However, as a Brooklyn gentrifier, I self hate down my 4 dollar lattes and artisanal baked goods. I've often been struck by the language of exclusion brazenly paraded at pour over coffee shops where we interface with gurus about bean origin.
In fact, I was in a new "concept" ancient grain bowl outlet in DUMBO last week. I handed over a 20 for my *very* expensive lunch and was brazenly told, "We don't accept cash."
So, it's ok to deride Mr. Brooks a bit but come on, he's got a point.
We all have skin in this game.
1
No College or University that takes public monies in any form, including student loans and research funds, should be allowed to discriminate by legacy admittances.
Affirmative Action for the wealthy, well connected and overwhelmingly white.
It is an immoral policy.
Affirmative Action for the wealthy, well connected and overwhelmingly white.
It is an immoral policy.
2
Sadly. Brooks is trying to pass off as insightful commentary truths that have been evident for hundreds of years throughout the world. In every society and thoughout history, those with education and wealth, preserve those positions with their children while excluding, someimtes intentionally and sometimes not,those without either.
Mr. Brooks, please read history texts and incorporate their teachings or you are condemned to discover what has been well known for hundredsof years. Lest I be accused of generalities: the Britsh aristocracy, the French aristocracy, America at the turn of the twentieth century, China (prior to West's intrusions) for two thousand years, Prussia before WWI, Russia before the November Revolution, Italy in the age of the Borgias. The only country that avoids this, at least in cursory view, is Canada--but it's only150 years old.
For god sakes, stop believing that you invented history!
Mr. Brooks, please read history texts and incorporate their teachings or you are condemned to discover what has been well known for hundredsof years. Lest I be accused of generalities: the Britsh aristocracy, the French aristocracy, America at the turn of the twentieth century, China (prior to West's intrusions) for two thousand years, Prussia before WWI, Russia before the November Revolution, Italy in the age of the Borgias. The only country that avoids this, at least in cursory view, is Canada--but it's only150 years old.
For god sakes, stop believing that you invented history!
5
Mr. Brooks, go spend some time with first-generation college students. I know what it was like at my state school. I can't imagine what it would be like at Harvard. At the University of Oklahoma, the Greek system was obnoxious (and still is, as the racism incident a few years back proves). I had a date take me home early (never to contact me again) because his fraternity brothers disdained the non-sorority, poor farm girl; I'm sure he paid dearly for quite some time for breaking the moneyed rules. My wealthy roommate, an exception to the rule, had the morals to drop out of her sorority because her "sisters" refused to consider a "no family name" girl during rush. Oh, the shaming and dividing have been going on a long time. It's just gotten worse. And why? Thank your Republican party for neoliberal policies and "deconstruction of the administrative state" that ensure the wealth gap and this "ruining" grow exponentially.
Also, don't blame the "college educated" for the current problem; most of us vote Democrat--against our best economic interests--and get trampled in state and fed elections. Blame the FINANCIAL elite, who vote Republican most always, perpetuating and exacerbating the "ruining of America" you lament.
Also, don't blame the "college educated" for the current problem; most of us vote Democrat--against our best economic interests--and get trampled in state and fed elections. Blame the FINANCIAL elite, who vote Republican most always, perpetuating and exacerbating the "ruining of America" you lament.
4
This column irritated me so much that I find myself needing to comment again. Why do you ascribe such evil intention to actions of educated and affluent people? Most educated people I know are politically liberal--often passionately so. They believe in social and economic equality. They vote for candidates and programs that would help the "children of other classes" make their way up in the world. They are willing to pay higher taxes to achieve those goals, even though they themselves and their children will not benefit directly from the programs they support.
Yes, they'll spend money to get their children into good schools. That's because they value education, not just for the money it might or might not let their children earn, but for the way it teaches them to think. I imagine your friends are mostly as well-off as yourself, but the fact is that many highly educated people do not make particularly high salaries. What they want for themselves and their children is a cultivated mind--for its own sake, not for the wealthy it can sometimes bring with it.
And yes, they sometimes eat foods with funny names. They don't do it in an attempt to keep other people out of the sandwich shop. And I have to say, I was born to educated parents in one cosmopolitan city and I live in another; I have a B.A. from an elite college and a PhD from another--and I have no idea what soppresssata is, or a striata baguette, either.
Yes, they'll spend money to get their children into good schools. That's because they value education, not just for the money it might or might not let their children earn, but for the way it teaches them to think. I imagine your friends are mostly as well-off as yourself, but the fact is that many highly educated people do not make particularly high salaries. What they want for themselves and their children is a cultivated mind--for its own sake, not for the wealthy it can sometimes bring with it.
And yes, they sometimes eat foods with funny names. They don't do it in an attempt to keep other people out of the sandwich shop. And I have to say, I was born to educated parents in one cosmopolitan city and I live in another; I have a B.A. from an elite college and a PhD from another--and I have no idea what soppresssata is, or a striata baguette, either.
14
Thank you! Yes, I spent money to send my children to college because education is important!
The rich are different than you and I, Brooks!!
Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree out to look at art. Insensitively, I led him into the Met. Suddenly I saw his face freeze up as he was confronted with exhibitions named "Caravaggio's Last Two Paintings" and "Fragonard: Drawing Triumphant" and works created with different techniques like impasto, chiaroscuro, and sgraffito. I quickly asked him if he wanted to go somewhere else and he anxiously nodded yes and we went to look at graffiti in Harlem.
17
I moved to the Upper Left Side of Manhattan in 1971. I found it insufferably elitist and socially conservative (there were liberal and conservative intellectuals galore up there at the time).
I moved to the East Village in 1974 and felt more at home than I ever had anywhere else.
Little did I know - eating vegan Thai food and quinoa and all the rest, while living on approximately $2000 a year (yes, it was possible back then) that the very same habits I had as a non-liberal, non-conservative starving artist would become (alleged) signs of elitist snobbery 40+ years later.
How many ways can David Brooks avoid acknowledging that he has supported a monstrous group of politicians who have caused irrevocable havoc in the Middle East and at home?
www.remember-to-breathe.org
I moved to the East Village in 1974 and felt more at home than I ever had anywhere else.
Little did I know - eating vegan Thai food and quinoa and all the rest, while living on approximately $2000 a year (yes, it was possible back then) that the very same habits I had as a non-liberal, non-conservative starving artist would become (alleged) signs of elitist snobbery 40+ years later.
How many ways can David Brooks avoid acknowledging that he has supported a monstrous group of politicians who have caused irrevocable havoc in the Middle East and at home?
www.remember-to-breathe.org
4
What about the psychopath taking an ax to our country and pouring gasoline
All over our regulations?better take care of the most pressing problems
Or there will be no country to fix.
WAKE UP DAVID.
All over our regulations?better take care of the most pressing problems
Or there will be no country to fix.
WAKE UP DAVID.
4
Mr. Brooks: I read your column today--as I always do--but I must agree with many of the writers who left comments about this, your latest column. Do NOT, for a moment, patronize your luncheon guest who, you thought, was nervous about being in a gourmet sandwich shop. EXPLAIN to her--and make it fun--what the various sandwiches are. TEACH her new experiences. I bet that she would have felt more comfortable had you explained the various options to her. I also would love to have seen you glare at any of the other customers around you who looked dismissively at her, thinking she was stupid. I agree with others who have commented: her lack of a higher education in no way dictates how much she is capable of learning. Yet your words today seemed to suggest that you felt she had gotten as far as she was capable of getting. Who knows why she hasn't yet been able to obtain a higher education degree? And, of course, I hope you would agree that there is a difference between innate intelligence and ignorance of certain facts or experiences. But I do thank you for your observations because it provokes discussion amongst all of us. JBC
5
Did you ever think that your friend was simply not in the mood for a sandwich? Give her a little more credit. And upper class moms have more time to breastfeed and play with their kids?? Did you ever think that many of these moms work long hours, too?
You are totally out of touch with the schools and their students. The true determining factor of academic success is having parents who care.
You are totally out of touch with the schools and their students. The true determining factor of academic success is having parents who care.
4
Is it your argument, Mr. Brooks, that the upper middle class intentionally engages in these cultural practices in order to exclude others? If so, I'd love to see your evidence.
(And, where does this fit in with your "BoBos In Paradise" hypothesis? Weren't those upwardly mobile folks non-exclusionary?)
I rather think its attributable to the silliness and extreme narcissism that comes from upward mobility. Body cleanses, paleo diets, minimalist spaces. These are false gods and - for the life of me - I don't know why anyone would be offended by being excluded from and/or not knowing these inane cultural practices.
(And, where does this fit in with your "BoBos In Paradise" hypothesis? Weren't those upwardly mobile folks non-exclusionary?)
I rather think its attributable to the silliness and extreme narcissism that comes from upward mobility. Body cleanses, paleo diets, minimalist spaces. These are false gods and - for the life of me - I don't know why anyone would be offended by being excluded from and/or not knowing these inane cultural practices.
2
So, wealthy liberals are mainly responsible for the lack of upward mobility? And they do it by eating incomprehensible sandwiches and hogging all the good teachers in their decent public schools? This is shameful article, because of its ridiculous premise designed to provoke clicks and posts. While Brooks is fully capable of great thinking, this piece is a disgrace.
7
David, you forgot to mention the fact that most of the families you refer to are social climbers. Individuals born of this ilk are unaware of these social nuances. Social climbers live by the code you describe. It's like being a Serbian refugee. You had to get in before the gate closed shut. And yes, it is very bad for America.
“Oh, thank God,” sobbed David Brooks. “On another day, my column would have provoked even more ridicule.”
4
If one applies the typical conservative/GOP "bootstrapping" trope to David's column, then the solution is easy. Buck up, Buttercup, and figure out how to read those 'codes' and mores. Learn to adapt if you want to break through. That is what David's party tells us in regard to economics: if you work hard enough and are smart enough, you too will be rich. Well, if you listen well enough, and observe closely enough, you too can adopt the same manners and language of the elites. That kind of entre/access is no different than not being able to set up a 503b for your kids because you can't afford the minimum initial deposit; that is a structural advantage, built by economic elites, to restrict access. There are barriers everywhere. And some proof that it is money that matters more than customs, values, or even manners, look at our Clown in Chief, Trump. The man speaks, acts, and projects values that are scoffed at by David's so-called "elite", but he is President and before that he was rich. It was his money that worked for him, that gave him all the advantages. He is as inter-personally uncouth as a high-school dropout dock-worker, but he had a rich daddy who gave him a leg up to make a bunch of money, and he has been buying his privilege ever since.
1
Seriously, your only personal anecdote on the subject is about hipster lunch meat?
4
After the Donald Trump election, our education system has been falling and failing, not only in public schools, but moving forward into college and universities as well. A big part of building a better world for our generation is healing the environment, developing a better educational system, creating spaces where people feel safe and respected, and offering healthcare for all people. The world of the Trump and his voters is a place where women, immigrants, non-whites, and others are shamed, harassed, and disrespected. This is a big issue because not only are we secluded from our own living space, but we have no opportunities to prosper in our lives, so we are forever stuck in this endless loop of middle-class and poverty. Even those who attempt to work for improvement often fail because there is a narrow chance of success in our ends of the spectrum. Things such as global warming and the deterioration of our environment are no big issue to the upper classes, they treat these things as a big lie, and eventually, push it to the side. This is also becoming a place where schools and healthcare providers are gutted to provide tax cuts for the wealthy. The problem we now face today is that the gap is widening between who gets opportunities and who doesn’t. At this point, those in the middle-class are barely scrambling to stay even slightly within the light of the window of opportunity.
I find this article too generalizing of the college educated; we all want good jobs and, typically, we want to provide opportunity for our children to do well. I can think of many people who do not fit the mold that is expressed here. I can think of many, many exceptions to this article. Perspiration and drive overcome many hurdles; living in a safe environment is obviously important; inclusion not exclusion is a basic need to foster a healthy community no matter where that community is.
4
If David Brooks wishes to see diversity at work, why not walk the streets of San Francisco? Or Portland, two cities he singles out as fostering the 'hoarding' have-mine and have-not culture. San Francisco, where I live, has a public school system not on par with many suburban districts. It draws mainly from the back bone of the city's lower and middle classes. While San Francisco and Portland work at providing opportunity, these cities are much more inclusive, than, say, Scarsdale, or, Atherton, CA, in Silicon Valley, two wealthier areas that better signify the social inequity Mr. Brooks describes.
3
Yes, the high schools that have A+ ratings in the Bay Area are in Palo Alto, Pleasanton, Los Altos, and Cupertino which are suburbs of San Francisco.
" Educated parents live in neighborhoods with the best teachers ..."
Even the best school districts have plenty of mediocre teachers, and the worst districts have many excellent and very good teachers. It's the parents who make the difference.
Knowledgable parents have a general idea of what their child is supposed to be learning each year. If their child's teacher is not able to teach their child the subject matter, they try to teach the child on their own or they use a tutor. Less-educated parents, in contrast, assume that the school will provide all of the education that is necessary.
Even the best school districts have plenty of mediocre teachers, and the worst districts have many excellent and very good teachers. It's the parents who make the difference.
Knowledgable parents have a general idea of what their child is supposed to be learning each year. If their child's teacher is not able to teach their child the subject matter, they try to teach the child on their own or they use a tutor. Less-educated parents, in contrast, assume that the school will provide all of the education that is necessary.
5
Are you kidding me? I'm a 1987 graduate of Brown, well into the upper middle class and I don't know what you're talking about with baby carriages and barre poses. This isn't upper middle class stuff; this is just city slicker New York and San Francisco stuff. Oh, and the restaurant menus here in Marion, MA are in English.
2
David -
Read Dark Money.
Read Dark Money.
5
nothing a few more tax cuts, proposed by the current administration, won't fix.
4
A sidebar: my grandfather, who hails from Naples and worked the most back breaking manual labor imaginable upon arrival in American in the early 1900s, would roll in his grave upon hearing that soppressata and capicola are gourmet treats.
5
Classic Karl Marx, David...
1
Oh gosh!
It's really time to stop telling peoples they are poor and its others peoples fault. In this epoque of mass deportations they really sending away the wrong peoples , those of you (sorry for the language) who are us citizens and can't see how bless this contry is : send them abroad, after a decade when they came back ,then they can appreciate this tough but GREAT !GREAT contry they are lucky enough to be born in
It's really time to stop telling peoples they are poor and its others peoples fault. In this epoque of mass deportations they really sending away the wrong peoples , those of you (sorry for the language) who are us citizens and can't see how bless this contry is : send them abroad, after a decade when they came back ,then they can appreciate this tough but GREAT !GREAT contry they are lucky enough to be born in
3
the only difference between segregation now and 60 years ago is that it isn't institutionalized, just spend some time in Bergen County.
This is mostly nonsense, the kind the Dems and the Clintons have been peddling forever. There is a college for everybody, and people who don't go to "the nations's 200 most competitive schools" cannot get a good education. Your high school educated friend is as capable of knowing what Pomodoro or Padrino are. I don't even know what sopressata, capicollo or striata baguette means, and I have a Ph.D. Your friend could have done what I would have done, which is ask.
It's a hard sell to tell liberals to condemn their children to ignorance and poverty because it will be somehow more egalitarian. And why would a conservative like Brooks want liberal to become ignorant and impoverished? Maybe more for his class?
It's a hard sell to tell liberals to condemn their children to ignorance and poverty because it will be somehow more egalitarian. And why would a conservative like Brooks want liberal to become ignorant and impoverished? Maybe more for his class?
3
God, maybe it really isn't Trump dragging down the country. He simply typifies the people you described. If so, no wonder the country is in crisis. The very people one would expect to turn things around are those most complicit in the crisis. Short of calling out the tumbrils there doesn't appear to be a reasonable solution, other than giving the "lower" classes the resources to effect change.
Naw, that smacks of socialism. it'll never work.
Naw, that smacks of socialism. it'll never work.
3
Funny how many people are looking past some very salient points made by Brooks to feign offense at a personal anecdote that is explained in the very next paragraph (although as someone who both grew up in the 'hood & got educated, I didn't need him to further interpret what was so plainly obvious). Issues of culture, class & socioeconomics are exactly the types of national conversations we need to be having (go ahead and throw race in there too). That people can't handle such a benign paragraph without heading to their safe spaces just makes me shake my head but explains why the richest, most powerful country on the planet continues to fail in creating a more perfect Union.
Because it's economics, mainly.
Looking past that fact as hard as he can, Brooks picks on San Fran and Portland and their regulations. Meanwhile a tour of the suburbs of Houston and Dallas will show you that any city of a certain size has self-segregated (and, in fact, many suburbs much more so than the cities themselves). And then he gives his weird, seemingly patronizing example of the benighted poor person he knows who doesn't know about Italian food.
"safe spaces", huh? That and "snowflakes" are favorite names the righties are using nowadays. It just makes you look bad to name call.
Looking past that fact as hard as he can, Brooks picks on San Fran and Portland and their regulations. Meanwhile a tour of the suburbs of Houston and Dallas will show you that any city of a certain size has self-segregated (and, in fact, many suburbs much more so than the cities themselves). And then he gives his weird, seemingly patronizing example of the benighted poor person he knows who doesn't know about Italian food.
"safe spaces", huh? That and "snowflakes" are favorite names the righties are using nowadays. It just makes you look bad to name call.
We fail when we use the word "conversation" to mean "lecture," and when one side of the would-be conversation is denigrated as "whitesplaining."
First, a minor but telling point: one earns a diploma when completing high school, not a degree. I should know, I have a BA in English and a Masters in Library and Information Science. Further, please don't lump all educated Americans in with the "upper Middle Class." I never earned enough money to be in the upper 20% and never bought into affluenza, opting for the "Live Simply So That Others Might Simply Live" lifestyle. I can't help but wonder if you, Mr. Brooks, as someone who has pushed the conservative agenda all his adult life, is trying to deflect our attention from the real problem. From Ronald Reagan forward, Republicans have been trying to dismantle what little social progress liberals have gained since WWII. In that effort, conservatives from the K St. Gang to the Enterprise Institute have played every dirty trick their minions could conceive to destroy liberals' attempts to expand health care, education opportunity and civil rights (including voting rights). I blame conservatives like you for the fact that we now have a thug and his goons in the White House, whether you supported the thug directly or not.
9
Of course you'll write a column coming down upon college-educated liberals. HELLO, HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS TODAY ABOUT TRUMP, JR.
5
Did you ever stop to think that maybe your friend just doesn't eat pork?
4
Brooks has offered us yet another piece in which he casts around for a self-satisfying reason that explains the fact that most Americans are falling further and further behind the levels of prosperity, security and opportunity prevalent fifty years ago. This time he starts with a pretty solid analysis of the barriers the wealthy use to preserve their wealth generationally and, to the fullest extent possible, to prevent others from gaining their status. But, then, using a quite familiar Brooksian device, he retreats into concocting a nebulous, hard-to-define cause for the problem. Triumphantly, he finds the culprit: inaccessible and haughty names for sandwiches. (He also manages to be strikingly condescending to his long-suffering friend of inferior education in the process.)
To the extent that the issues he cites are parts of the problem, they are mere symptoms. The disease is the philosophy Mr. Brooks has championed so mightily and which has been in ascendance for the last forty years. This philosophy has produced the largest transfer of wealth in recorded history (from the bottom and middle to the very top). This is the cause Mr. Brooks claims to seek, but assiduously fails to find.
Recognize this reality. Accept your not insignificant role in creating it. Apologize. And change.
Until then, you are simply being patronizing and tiresome.
To the extent that the issues he cites are parts of the problem, they are mere symptoms. The disease is the philosophy Mr. Brooks has championed so mightily and which has been in ascendance for the last forty years. This philosophy has produced the largest transfer of wealth in recorded history (from the bottom and middle to the very top). This is the cause Mr. Brooks claims to seek, but assiduously fails to find.
Recognize this reality. Accept your not insignificant role in creating it. Apologize. And change.
Until then, you are simply being patronizing and tiresome.
4
And people still think only India has caste system. At least the caste system there is overt and can be addressed.
No, Mr. Brooks, your "we" is not me, or my family. I went to public school, except for 3 years in Virginia, in the 1960s, when the dead-end, conservative, segregationists defunded public schools. The high school I attended in Washington State lost its accreditation the year after we moved away. I voted against Proposition 13 in California, in the first election I could vote in. It passed with well known results. I vote for every school bond. I vote for school board members who seem to be headed in the right direction.
No-one in my family, by birth or marriage, has ever taken a legacy admission. I'm not surprised that "conservatives" did everything they could to ruin Virginia's public schools, once they were desegregated. Very similar people elected the local worthies who couldn't fund KItsap County's schools. Prop. 13 was a notable step in the ascendancy of "conservatives", leading the "Reagan Revolution", and now an unsurprisingly similar bunch has given us President Trump.
As many people have pointed out here, you should have explained the sandwiches and meats to your friend. People are often intimidated by what's unfamiliar. Maybe a culinary "safe space" was the right call, but its 1:1 interactions, or lack thereof, that creates class divisions. Recognize the privileges you have been given, and understand your responsibility to help others gain them too.
No-one in my family, by birth or marriage, has ever taken a legacy admission. I'm not surprised that "conservatives" did everything they could to ruin Virginia's public schools, once they were desegregated. Very similar people elected the local worthies who couldn't fund KItsap County's schools. Prop. 13 was a notable step in the ascendancy of "conservatives", leading the "Reagan Revolution", and now an unsurprisingly similar bunch has given us President Trump.
As many people have pointed out here, you should have explained the sandwiches and meats to your friend. People are often intimidated by what's unfamiliar. Maybe a culinary "safe space" was the right call, but its 1:1 interactions, or lack thereof, that creates class divisions. Recognize the privileges you have been given, and understand your responsibility to help others gain them too.
4
I get it. The educated moneyed class looks after its own. Question is where was the Democratic Party when companies could avoid paying decent wages and not be penalized when they reimported their goods? Where were they when Walmart was allowed to steamroll America redistributing wealth into the hands of one family? How is a co like Walmart with all its economic power any different from a centralized decision making communist government? Dems have enough to worry about with trump. This only distracts us from the real problems right now. Let us suffer some more so that we can actually do something about it after we've learned our lessons.
2
"Upper-middle-class parents have the means to spend two to three times more time with their preschool children than less affluent parents"
Perhaps the writer should consider upper class east side parents, described in detail in the Nanny Diaries.
Perhaps the writer should consider upper class east side parents, described in detail in the Nanny Diaries.
2
High schools don't grant degrees, they award diplomas.
3
Brooks once again obfuscates by reducing the systemic problem of inequality to a question of consumer preferences.
5
Even true in all cultures.Here in Brasil become too clear this types of social relationship,I believe that universal this behavior.
3
Mr. Brooks’ piece describes a society against which Mr. Bannon in the White House has reacted with the social policies he supports. I think that is why we have the current President.
1
This is preposterous. David, I fear you are overgeneralizing. There is nothing wrong with parents guiding their children correctly. This doesn't equate to these same parents holding the rest of the country down. And, to make this assertion is quite frankly dangerous and inflammatory. College education is more widely and readily available than anytime in history. And, publicized as such. This comes down to choices.
6
How noble of you to appear in public with a friend who only has a high-school degree.
9
I taught for years at Evanston Township High School which prided itself on diversity yet one look at the all-white AP and donors English class told you the truth beneath the smugness. When they detracted donors in an attempt to make things less segregated those previously liberal parent went berserk. I once had to stop a black parent from leaving after being informed he could not transfer his good-at-English son into an honours class. he didn't know the white parents had simply refused to allow their children to be put into anything lower than honours. Our son attended Chicago Public Schools through graduation and was still aware that his magnet school was a far cry from the poorly funded south Chicago schools. I have dedicated my life to cracking the code of privilege whenever possible. It barely registers but I don't care.
4
I'm not sure I understand what Mr. Brooks' point is.
Exclusivity has been a part of America since day one: who could and could not vote, who could live where, who could go to which college or university, who could be hired by which employer. America didn't have the class system of Europe so it made its own. After one raised himself by his bootstraps, his next act was to raise the drawbridge.
Meritocracy sounds nice. Plutocracy is the reality.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose...
Exclusivity has been a part of America since day one: who could and could not vote, who could live where, who could go to which college or university, who could be hired by which employer. America didn't have the class system of Europe so it made its own. After one raised himself by his bootstraps, his next act was to raise the drawbridge.
Meritocracy sounds nice. Plutocracy is the reality.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose...
5
Well, it may feel comforting to know it's not about the money, it's not about keeping minimum wage at non-viable levels or keeping other wages down or destroying unions or cutting benefits for the poor so you can cut taxes on the rich. It may feel comforting to know it's really about snobbish people being snobbish to the lower classes. But, you know, it really is about the money. It's about creating jobs so people can earn money. About improving affordable health care so people can be healthy and work. About ensuring that people can make a decent living that will allow them to send their kids to college. It's about the money.
2
If Mr. Brooks really thinks having the wrong baby carriers and Barre techniques is what holds members of the middle class back, then his ignorance is matched only by his condescension. I'd prefer a street hot dog alone to lunch with a person with such preening self-regard. As Ben Franklin, an American with only a grade school education observed, 'He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals'.
7
Brooks has it backwards. Mobility has always involved learning the signifiers. In 1934, my father arrived from Poland, destitute, in Washington Heights. He befriended sons of immigrants who already had a toehold, and they taught him English.
He had to work to support his mother, and was unable to finish high school. (Night school? He spent his spare time at the jazz clubs on 52nd Street!) Nonetheless, after learning his trade on-the-job and rising to had his union local, he built a small business supplying book publishers -- whom he had to wine and dine, impressing them with his erudition (at which he could outclass most collegiate English majors). He learned (by observation) how to dress, and understood the menus at the fancy French joints where he took his customers (and loved Italian food as well).
Eventually, he bought a comfortable (but not extravagant) house in the suburbs, and paid my way to a BA at a fine university. Though he tried teaching me, I never mastered the Windsor knot. I was more interested in being a hippie. Go figure!
I still remember (and admire) his motto: "Living well is the best revenge." The key? He never forgot his roots, but he also never fetishized an identity as "working class."
You live and learn.
He had to work to support his mother, and was unable to finish high school. (Night school? He spent his spare time at the jazz clubs on 52nd Street!) Nonetheless, after learning his trade on-the-job and rising to had his union local, he built a small business supplying book publishers -- whom he had to wine and dine, impressing them with his erudition (at which he could outclass most collegiate English majors). He learned (by observation) how to dress, and understood the menus at the fancy French joints where he took his customers (and loved Italian food as well).
Eventually, he bought a comfortable (but not extravagant) house in the suburbs, and paid my way to a BA at a fine university. Though he tried teaching me, I never mastered the Windsor knot. I was more interested in being a hippie. Go figure!
I still remember (and admire) his motto: "Living well is the best revenge." The key? He never forgot his roots, but he also never fetishized an identity as "working class."
You live and learn.
2
"Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette."
Guess what? I don't know what those are either, and I have a master's degree in library science. Might have been nice if you had told her what they were--part of being a friend is sharing information and experiences. She probably knows things that you don't, too.
Guess what? I don't know what those are either, and I have a master's degree in library science. Might have been nice if you had told her what they were--part of being a friend is sharing information and experiences. She probably knows things that you don't, too.
9
I have a PhD and I've worked as a scientist for 25 years. As a non-tenured instructor teaching non-science majors I was making half of what many supposedly 'working class' individuals make, and I was treated with abject hostility by students majoring in 'business', 'nursing' , 'kinesiology' and other 'marketable disciplines', because I expected them to crack a book occasionally, and show something other than utter contempt for science and rational thought. I lost my job and ended up as a laborer working for a company owned and operated by uneducated people, and employing principally uneducated people. The owner lived in a McMansion and wrote off all the gas his company burned sending his employees 200 miles to change a light bulb, and laughed at the notion of 'recycling'. His managers typically used the word 'Jew' as a verb. My experience with the notion of 'elitism' as it relates to educated and uneducated people has absolutely no correspondence with the bunk Brooks is peddling.
8
Forty years ago, you'd have taken that same person to a Mexican restaurant and there's a good chance she'd have been intimidated, on some level, by the novelty of the menu. But you know what? Curious people try things. They learn what they like and what they don't. Today more than than ever, the idea of "rarefied information" is absurd. Curious people get the information they need; incurious people do not. This is not a function of class or privilege. Indeed, of the hundreds of millions who live outside of SF, NYC and Portland, a significant chunk are turning away from these things Brooks cites as markers of elitism. Not because they feel excluded. They do it by choice, as their own cultural marker. This segues neatly to the college-portion of this column, which did make some sense. But I would argue that if the elites wish to cordon off top colleges (by virtue of cost), that's fine — so long as public universities aren't starved to death. Alas, the incurious seem less and less inclined to spend money on such things, not for themselves nor their children. Not today.
4
As try as he might David Brooks cannot separate himself from his upbringing and station in life. Not a criticism, merely a fact. The perplexing thing is his determined efforts to show that he can "feel the pain" of the struggling classes in a string of recent columns. If you really want to rethink or change some of your bedrock convictions then get on with it. Your waffling and muddling is becoming tiresome.
6
The points made about the erecting of social structures to isolate differing is interesting. One of the problems here is that your examples are snobby. "Padrino" and Pomodoro" are names created to sound snobby so that they can sell an italian sub for more money. The zoning rules and the attachment to "local" schools districts to class oriented boundaries is a more significant problem.
It's the money stupid. Golem-armed, latte-drinking moms are not destroying society, wealth desparity is. And, please, stop blaming mothers for societal ills. It's a weak argument and overdone. All parents love their kids, rich and poor alike. We are going to do what we can for them--fanatical it may be at times.
Yes, the system is rigged. So, let's fix it. A good start would be
a real, universal family leave policy(not just maternity leave)--as well as,
breast-feeding support for all new mothers, and affordable, quality preschool. The college admissions game is won by the most prepared students. We need to improve public education for students in low-income communities(more than just hand out vouchers.)
A good deal of exclusion is the result of decades of racist housing restrictions and loan practices. Our society reflects our past, but we can change our future. Breaking down informal social barriers is nice, however unrealistic. People want a better life, not a nuanced understanding of sandwich toppings. To accumulate wealth, people need access to decent jobs and healthcare. With wealth comes better housing, schools, health, choices, and quality of life. I don't see how tax cuts to the rich help people out of poverty.
Mr. Brooks, I look to you to help me understand conservative politics. You haven't yet succeeded, but please keep trying.
Yes, the system is rigged. So, let's fix it. A good start would be
a real, universal family leave policy(not just maternity leave)--as well as,
breast-feeding support for all new mothers, and affordable, quality preschool. The college admissions game is won by the most prepared students. We need to improve public education for students in low-income communities(more than just hand out vouchers.)
A good deal of exclusion is the result of decades of racist housing restrictions and loan practices. Our society reflects our past, but we can change our future. Breaking down informal social barriers is nice, however unrealistic. People want a better life, not a nuanced understanding of sandwich toppings. To accumulate wealth, people need access to decent jobs and healthcare. With wealth comes better housing, schools, health, choices, and quality of life. I don't see how tax cuts to the rich help people out of poverty.
Mr. Brooks, I look to you to help me understand conservative politics. You haven't yet succeeded, but please keep trying.
5
I agree with you. But here's the problem: thanks to automation it looks like there aren't going to be enough jobs of any kind to go around in the future, much less good jobs. Now maybe that won't end up being true, but it sure looks like it will be. Living in Silicon Valley it seems like everyone is in the rat race to make sure that one of those precious few good jobs goes to their children. Everyone has a different strategy, and I'm no different. But how do you get people to share when it looks like there isn't enough to go around? A very few people are generous enough to give up their seat on the lifeboat when the Titanic is sinking. No one gives up their child's seat. I don't see how admonishing people to share is going to work as long as there is a scarcity of good jobs and chances to get ahead (or at least a perception that this is so). Once there are enough seats on the lifeboat for everyone, only then can you reasonably hope to admonish people not to take two and three seats.
4
David is looking at class barriers that arise when social mobility is too poor to mix people with different backgrounds. Education isn't a contributing factor so much as educational institutions which act as clubs to mingle the "right" people and get the "right" resume and the "right" contacts for future life.
Even with these stratifications, we'd do just fine if the wealth was shared and meaningful jobs were plentiful at meaningful wages.
Even with these stratifications, we'd do just fine if the wealth was shared and meaningful jobs were plentiful at meaningful wages.
1
It's funny that Mr. Brooks's high school educated friend is puzzled by Italian cold cuts, which were the food of the immigrant as recently as thirty years ago as instead felt more comfortable with Mexican food, the food of the immigrant of 10 years ago. Gabagool has moved upscale while tacos are easy for those who don't eat at fancy sandwich shops (or Italian sub shops).
Worse, is Mr. Brooks. Rather than help his "friend" out with his big education and understanding of the charcuterie of Italy, and maybe help her experience something novel and perhaps educational for her, he coddles her off to a comfort zone and thinks of ways to blame the gap on kids today. One is forced to wonder if Mr. Brooks is a good friend to this high school educated person or if she even exists and Mr. Brooks was puzzled by the sandwich board and didn't have his smartphone handy. Or his social skills to talk to the sandwich maker about what was on offer.
Worse, is Mr. Brooks. Rather than help his "friend" out with his big education and understanding of the charcuterie of Italy, and maybe help her experience something novel and perhaps educational for her, he coddles her off to a comfort zone and thinks of ways to blame the gap on kids today. One is forced to wonder if Mr. Brooks is a good friend to this high school educated person or if she even exists and Mr. Brooks was puzzled by the sandwich board and didn't have his smartphone handy. Or his social skills to talk to the sandwich maker about what was on offer.
26
What a coincidence! Only just today at the Winn Dixie did I see for the very first time capicollo. Fyi, it's a thin sliced Italian meat that doesn't look a whole lot different from the prosciutto sitting right next to it. Imagine! I discover this brand-new-to-me food (never heard of it before) and only a short while later see it mentioned in the NYT! How cool is that?? On the other hand, I have absolutely no idea what "intersectionality" is...should I? I mean, I'm an attorney and a Phi Beta Kappa from Tulane. Should I know what intersectionality is? Will I earn more money if I do? Is that why I didn't get in the Junior League?
What a pile of drivel. I know an awful lot of net worth millionaires who either went to State U or tech school, are not the least bit sophisticated, and who wouldn't know a "social code" if it smacked them in the face. But they have skills and smarts and know how to "find a niche and fill it". In other words, they know how to make money. It doesn't take an ivy league education to do that. One of my friends went to Ball State in Muncie, Indiana and retired at 50 after making millions as an office supplies salesman. He is very much "just folks", and spends his time messing with his classic car collection. He probably will never know that capicollo exists, because I'm not sure they have Winn Dixie in Indiana, and I don't know if Marsh carries it. Sad.
What a pile of drivel. I know an awful lot of net worth millionaires who either went to State U or tech school, are not the least bit sophisticated, and who wouldn't know a "social code" if it smacked them in the face. But they have skills and smarts and know how to "find a niche and fill it". In other words, they know how to make money. It doesn't take an ivy league education to do that. One of my friends went to Ball State in Muncie, Indiana and retired at 50 after making millions as an office supplies salesman. He is very much "just folks", and spends his time messing with his classic car collection. He probably will never know that capicollo exists, because I'm not sure they have Winn Dixie in Indiana, and I don't know if Marsh carries it. Sad.
14
Well I think you have it wrong with the capicolla. It's a real hoot if you think that is upper class! That was a very well known and liked food of my decidedly non- upper class Italian-American family! You folks are ethnically deprived, not upper class privileged.
1
In the real world your knowledge of menu listings, what coffee to order is not what makes us. Years ago while milking a cow a high class visitor from the city ask if the cow was a boy or girl. After I stopped laughing I realized why would she know? After explaining she had all animal species down. We all have knowledge of our surroundings.
1
Capicollo? Yeh that says upper middle class signifier to me. Especially when it's in a sanguich.
11
Dude, it's the prices that keep high school grads and smart college grads out of Whole Paycheck, the one time I was in there (searching for a ham, specifically a Leidy's ham, they're delicious) it seemed like there wasn't a heck of a lot of difference between Whole Foods and my local Giant except the prices.
1
I was with you all the way up to, "To feel at home in opportunity-rich areas, you’ve got to understand the right barre techniques, ....possess the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace, child-rearing, gender norms and intersectionality." Do not equate attitudes about child-rearing with attitudes about gender norms. Agreeing on whether using time-out is good parenting is NOT the same as marginalizing people based on their sexual preferences and working toward stripping them of their civil rights. Next time, think a bit more about what you choose to group together.
2
The comments are great! So much better written and far more insightful than anything you have ever put pen to paper to express. The NYT should fire you and hire some of them. I especially loved the one that referred to the poors and the dumbs. It is really hard to say if you or Team Trump is more vapid and ridiculous.
8
I'm with you Jane
David needs to stop this rant that appears in various ways in the NYT nearly every week under his name.
David needs to stop this rant that appears in various ways in the NYT nearly every week under his name.
I for one am furious that my BA in History, my MSW, and my husband's MAs in Counseling and Public Administration didn't touch on Italian deli sandwiches. Now my cultural touchstones are all out of whack. And I can't even look up what a striata baguette is without hitting a million links back to this article. Oh, and BTW, you should probably stop referring to your culture victim as a "friend."
9
So the working class are being zoned out of good neighborhoods and losing the college admissions game, but by god, look at the damage that pomodoro sandwich is doing to our youth! Geez Louise. Once again, David Brooks uses other people's books to argue that government programs are powerless in the face of social norms and individual behavior. Please. My parents never made it past the 8th grade, but I've got a BA and MBA from a top public university. How? Because taxpayers rightly believed that investing in their citizens paid dividends to the individual, and to society, over the longer term. But that was 25 years ago. Today, the degree I paid $6K for now costs $140K+. People with my background can't even dream of attending a top school at that price. They're not being held back by zoning or the college lottery, or their inability to pronounce capicollo any more than I was. They're held back by the stratospheric COST of college. They're held back by the 1% sucking the wealth out of the economy and the pockets of the working poor. The government CAN fix that, and the working class has a right to expect it to do so.
10
Upper and lower classes are not distinguished by college-educated vs. high school-educated. They are distinguished by investment income vs. ordinary income. If "Dad" paid for your education, you graduated with a degree in finance, and you plan on making a living by re-investing your inheritance, then you are "upper-middle-class" and this article speaks to you. For all the other college graduates, you may not be poor, but you will spend the rest of your life struggling to pay off your student debt, your health insurance premiums, and a paltry subsistence in the "regular-middle" class.
1
I agree about the geographic/zoning barriers, and the others, to getting into elite colleges. However, the social signifiers you talk about, such as baby carriers, book tastes, food tastes etc ARE really almost all about money or materialism. I am much more at home at Stop & Shop than Whole Foods, and a large part of it is the feeling that you are paying more for similar goods, and just getting a fancy label. And to justify the prices, Whole Foods has to make every product sound extremely exotic and special. I would say the same thing about Pilates vs going to Curves, for example.
But I do agree that in my wealthy community, though there are political differences among people, there is a certain language that people follow-- you would rarely hear people talk about spanking their kids, or hunting -- even going to McDonald's is pretty much frowned upon!
But I do agree that in my wealthy community, though there are political differences among people, there is a certain language that people follow-- you would rarely hear people talk about spanking their kids, or hunting -- even going to McDonald's is pretty much frowned upon!
1
Dear David,
Thank you for another interesting column. I agree with much of what you say. However, we should remember that when people have sufficient motivation, they can overcome just about any obstacle. I was raised by a mother and stepfather in circumstances that would shock you if I cared to share them. When I graduated from high school I knew that my only hope of having a better life was to get a college degree, which I did. I went on to graduate from law school as well. My husband and I raised two children who also graduated from college. In fact, our son just obtained his second degree from Yale.
If we, as a society, can figure out how to inspire children to believe in themselves and then encourage them to reach higher rather than making excuses for failing, together we will create a better future for everyone. At least that is my hope.
Thank you for another interesting column. I agree with much of what you say. However, we should remember that when people have sufficient motivation, they can overcome just about any obstacle. I was raised by a mother and stepfather in circumstances that would shock you if I cared to share them. When I graduated from high school I knew that my only hope of having a better life was to get a college degree, which I did. I went on to graduate from law school as well. My husband and I raised two children who also graduated from college. In fact, our son just obtained his second degree from Yale.
If we, as a society, can figure out how to inspire children to believe in themselves and then encourage them to reach higher rather than making excuses for failing, together we will create a better future for everyone. At least that is my hope.
3
"It’s no wonder that 70 percent of the students in the nation’s 200 most competitive schools come from the top quarter of the income distribution."
That leaves 30% of the student body that was drawn from the bottom 3/4 - how do their outcomes at school and life after school compare with their schoolmates? Does the accomplishment of that 30% soar above the other 70% that were not selected on merit?
That leaves 30% of the student body that was drawn from the bottom 3/4 - how do their outcomes at school and life after school compare with their schoolmates? Does the accomplishment of that 30% soar above the other 70% that were not selected on merit?
I sometimes admire Mr. Brooks attempts to wrestle with American society and culture, the shifts and changes indicative of growing divisions and alienation. But good lord. He's focused on sandwich meats while his own party is hell bent on dismantling all the ladders that people use to transcend the lines of class of division in this country. Stop philosophizing and being so myopic and look at the hard facts that are right in front of you, sir.
56
I was born in the Bronx in a three story walk up apartment to parents who, although blue collar, made sure my brother and I had the best education they could afford. In our case "day hop college."
We then sent our 5 children to boarding college, and they sent their children to boarding prep school.
We feel we have lived the American Dream, by never letting our children feel victimized, teaching them the value of education, hard work and individual responsibility, and lo and behold they succeede.
Now you tell me by doing so we have hahe " exclude othr children from the from the same opportunites.'
How? by being successful?
Nobody is preventing them from doing the same as we.
When we strve to get the money to send them to the elite colleges we never received a penny of financial ai, but we did have 23 student loans. 6 loans on our life insurance. and wven sold our wedding silver.
No one is holding them back but themselves.
We then sent our 5 children to boarding college, and they sent their children to boarding prep school.
We feel we have lived the American Dream, by never letting our children feel victimized, teaching them the value of education, hard work and individual responsibility, and lo and behold they succeede.
Now you tell me by doing so we have hahe " exclude othr children from the from the same opportunites.'
How? by being successful?
Nobody is preventing them from doing the same as we.
When we strve to get the money to send them to the elite colleges we never received a penny of financial ai, but we did have 23 student loans. 6 loans on our life insurance. and wven sold our wedding silver.
No one is holding them back but themselves.
6
Best comment of 2017 - by far.
You put your finger on an inconvenient truth there, Bobby. Problem is, if it's true - and it is - some folks will have to start looking in the mirror. And folks don't like looking in the mirror. It's easier, cheaper and more comforting to blame someone else.
You put your finger on an inconvenient truth there, Bobby. Problem is, if it's true - and it is - some folks will have to start looking in the mirror. And folks don't like looking in the mirror. It's easier, cheaper and more comforting to blame someone else.
1
David Brooks writes entertaining,thought provoking, but useless observations.
""These rules have a devastating effect on economic growth nationwide. Research by economists Chang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti suggests that zoning restrictions in the nation’s 220 top metro areas lowered aggregate U.S. growth by more than 50 percent from 1964 to 2009.""
Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if instead of increasing the US population from 200million to 320million, we'd increased to 450million! We could have wonderfully packed cities like Hong Kong.
Ultimately , we make decisions that affect our lives and children's lives. Suggesting that it's the government's fault and the upper middle class's fault is pointless. This country was built by people taking responsibility for their own lives. Trying to turn it into Sweden isn't going to work here.
""These rules have a devastating effect on economic growth nationwide. Research by economists Chang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti suggests that zoning restrictions in the nation’s 220 top metro areas lowered aggregate U.S. growth by more than 50 percent from 1964 to 2009.""
Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if instead of increasing the US population from 200million to 320million, we'd increased to 450million! We could have wonderfully packed cities like Hong Kong.
Ultimately , we make decisions that affect our lives and children's lives. Suggesting that it's the government's fault and the upper middle class's fault is pointless. This country was built by people taking responsibility for their own lives. Trying to turn it into Sweden isn't going to work here.
According to Mr. Brooks, it's the members of the "college-educated class" that are "ruining America." Mind you, not those college-educated Ivy Leaguers living in middle America, just those living in liberal places such as Portland, San Francisco and New York. It's these people who horde wealth and prevent others from living the American dream. My God, they even eat sandwiches with weird sounding meats in them.
The well-off have always clung to wealth and privilege, but that never prevented upward mobility. My grandparents couldn't read any English-worded menu when they arrived, but that didn't stop them. The American Dream only began to wither during the past few decades. Why? Is it because of Whole Foods, or because Republicans helped roll back unions, which gave Americans middle-class incomes with which to help launch the next generation; because of culturally diverse restaurants, or because jobs have moved off-shore as have company headquarters so taxes can be avoided; because of zoning laws, or because Republicans have balked over and over again at adequately funding public education, or helping relieve college students of the crushing debt they now must bear? Is it because of the wealthy liberals in Portland, or the wealthy Republicans have helped promote a two-tired society thanks to the nonsense that is trickle-down economics?
I admire Mr. Brooks' desire for greater egalitarianism. I wonder how he feels about the Republicans' plan to eliminate the estate tax?
The well-off have always clung to wealth and privilege, but that never prevented upward mobility. My grandparents couldn't read any English-worded menu when they arrived, but that didn't stop them. The American Dream only began to wither during the past few decades. Why? Is it because of Whole Foods, or because Republicans helped roll back unions, which gave Americans middle-class incomes with which to help launch the next generation; because of culturally diverse restaurants, or because jobs have moved off-shore as have company headquarters so taxes can be avoided; because of zoning laws, or because Republicans have balked over and over again at adequately funding public education, or helping relieve college students of the crushing debt they now must bear? Is it because of the wealthy liberals in Portland, or the wealthy Republicans have helped promote a two-tired society thanks to the nonsense that is trickle-down economics?
I admire Mr. Brooks' desire for greater egalitarianism. I wonder how he feels about the Republicans' plan to eliminate the estate tax?
11
David, kindly please edit your piece to use a more apt anecdote than Italian deli meat selection as a symbol for class distinctions: the commenters are getting hysterical on this point and apparently missing the point of your very interesting article. As the child of two working class people who sacrificed so I could get an ivy league education and move up half-a-class (or maybe one class?), I definitely meet many of the descriptors you use - but I don't believe you are truly implying I should be doing otherwise ethically, morally, etc. So what should we be doing? Some more clear prescriptions, please.
Disturbing, weird column. There is plenty of opportunity for the bright and hardworking - and - this is true for the wealthy, but less important - the emotionally strong and stable. High intelligence helps greatly - we are not all among the intellectually gifted. This column could have been written by Bernie Sanders.
2
Um, David, where did you get the idea that only the upper middle class belong to the "educated" or "college educated" class? Especially now, with so many college graduates and so many with advanced degrees unable to find decent jobs or pay off their enormous student loans, a lot of highly educated people cannot afford to display the costly status markers you refer to, even if they fully understand them. Furthermore, many of them despise such self-conscious, arrogant displays of status, no matter how educated they are, and even if they could afford them.
1
The cultural coding Mr. Brooks describes surely has an association with socioeconomic mobility, but is it causative? I doubt it, but it certainly isn't new. My feeling is that this is a tale old as history that is actually becoming less impenetrable. I have lived in Portland, Houston, Kansas City. Diners are in, country-style populism-infused hipster food abounds. Entrepreneurs are blending plain-speak with a dash of fancy. The bistro is one of the last vestiges of the culturally coded class test (they make me uncomfortable too, not just your friend, and I am in a dual doctorate program). You can blame class inequity on Whole Foods, but the truth is that it is because of policies and politicians that drive a wedge through disenfranchisement, deregulation, low wages, cuts to health care; the list goes on. You're right, in the sense that the uneducated class sees the current political landscape through a cultural lens. It drives them to vote for economic suicide. What do we urban upper middle class get? We win, as always, and we would even if our cultural codes weren't there to protect us because we don't need those policies. The poor and uneducated do.
4
I grew up in California where school funding is tied to property taxes, which creates horrible disparities in the quality of education children have access to. I grew up relatively poor, but I was lucky my parents owned property in an area that saw a massive influx of rich people during the 80's. As a result, the public schools in the area received more funding than schools in rural areas like Trinity county or DelNorte.
It's these kinds of disparities the article is trying to address. I don't understand all of the upset people in this comment thread. If you call yourself a progressive, put your money where your morals are and stop making everything about yourselves.
It's these kinds of disparities the article is trying to address. I don't understand all of the upset people in this comment thread. If you call yourself a progressive, put your money where your morals are and stop making everything about yourselves.
1
If you actually understood the "educated class", you would know that a significant percentage of them look down on their smug and status-flaunting peers and contribute actively, in one way or another, to efforts to reduce the extreme disparity in opportunities for others.
As for the "damage" that zoning does -- sure, just think how many more people we could fit into New York if we developed Central Park. We could fit even more if we knocked down all the museums, theaters, libraries, and historic buildings. And it would work, too. Everyone would be able to live in New York then -- because most New Yorkers no longer would want to.
It is absolutely an enormous problem for this country that more people do not have better opportunities for education and for living someplace desirable. But blaming this on a "culture of exclusion" — a redundant expression, since every group has its culture and every culture has the effect of excluding others — sheds no light on the situation whatsoever.
As for the "damage" that zoning does -- sure, just think how many more people we could fit into New York if we developed Central Park. We could fit even more if we knocked down all the museums, theaters, libraries, and historic buildings. And it would work, too. Everyone would be able to live in New York then -- because most New Yorkers no longer would want to.
It is absolutely an enormous problem for this country that more people do not have better opportunities for education and for living someplace desirable. But blaming this on a "culture of exclusion" — a redundant expression, since every group has its culture and every culture has the effect of excluding others — sheds no light on the situation whatsoever.
3
Right, David. In America, one's class status is revealed by knowledge of the names for Italian meats.
And one's condescension is revealed by treating someone with a high school education as fit only for Mexican food.
And one's condescension is revealed by treating someone with a high school education as fit only for Mexican food.
7
You're right on the money, Mr. Brooks, as uncomfortable as it might be to those who read The New York Times but are divorced from reality (so many of the comments here are telling). And you nailed it with the reference to the food-obsessed who live in a special world of obscure ethnic menu items. What a bore.
You really think any of the Trumps knows who David Foster Wallace is?
3
David Brooks should have begun his column with "Over the past generation, members of the WEALTHY REPUBLICAN college-educated class have become amazingly good at making sure their children retain their privileged status. Because that is the group that he is referring to.
Please don't attempt to describe me, a middle-class single white Democratic female who has had to fight for everything throughout the course of my life. Neither one of my parents graduated even from high school and both worked in blue collar jobs all their lives.
You are the elitist that you describe. You admit to being "insensitive" in taking (we are to assume, a "poorly" educated) friend to a "gourmet sandwich shop" that served Italian-sounding items. My Italian grandparents who came from Italy in the late 1880's would not comprehend you describing their food as elitist.
Please don't attempt to describe me, a middle-class single white Democratic female who has had to fight for everything throughout the course of my life. Neither one of my parents graduated even from high school and both worked in blue collar jobs all their lives.
You are the elitist that you describe. You admit to being "insensitive" in taking (we are to assume, a "poorly" educated) friend to a "gourmet sandwich shop" that served Italian-sounding items. My Italian grandparents who came from Italy in the late 1880's would not comprehend you describing their food as elitist.
5
Portland! I live in Portland. Our neighborhood school reports a "less than 5%" rate of basic math literary at 8th grade. I don't think the problem is elitism. It's doing the kids a disservice with severely low expectations and passing kids through without a working education. This piece is a bit of the "anti-elitism" of those who chastised Obama for eating kale.
The article is tone deaf and very condescending. Needless to say that none of it is true. What should we do, subsidize sandwich shops in poor neighborhood that use different kind of salami their artisan sandwiches?
3
David, you are absolutely right that the barriers that have been and are being raised to meaningful education for the great majority of the young people in this country are ruining it. The rest of your opinion piece is nonsense. You perpetuate a charicature of an elite parent that is far from accurate for a large percentage of adults in the upper middle class. I cannot deny that I am part of the upper middle class, but I worked at a supermarket an average of 24 hours per week throughout my four years of college. My wife worked as a barmaid and waitress throughout college and law school. Our three children worked part-time jobs throughout their time in college. My wife and I live in a modest rowhouse and share one car, an American-made compact. We invested heavily in our children's educations. It was always our primary expenditure. We are quite pleased with the results. It is one of the problems in our country that some seem to demand an apology from the college-educated. Instead they should stop supporting that taxes be cut for the wealthy and the corporations, but that we as a nation collect and invest more money in education and that we break down the invisible, but identifiable barriers to good education for most of the people.
2
Maybe your friend understood the offerings but thought they were over-priced? Perhaps she just would have preferred something else or was put off by the idea of pretentious, overpriced sandwiches. I bet there are plenty of Italians with high school educations who would have understood the menu. The whole tone of this piece is an example of the attitudes that are ruining this country.
4
Well stated- and true. .
Thank you. .
Thank you. .
Wow, and I thought stepping away from the Paris Accord, taking health care from 25 million citizens, investing too much in military and not enough in education / infrastructure...I thought that might ruin America. Thanks to this article, I know now if we can just publish a dictionary of cured meats terminology, we will all be OK.
4
Brooks is not wrong about "status rules," but it's ridiculous to make them the primary culprits for the reproduction of inequality. Upper-middle class parents would not be so frantic about securing their children's places in their own ranks if the ranks below them were not so terrifyingly insecure these days. They would not need to class off their school districts and "top up" their funding with private fundraising if a generation of fanatical tax-cutters had not gutted and degraded public schools for everyone else.
2
I have a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in the sciences and I work at a large state university. My parents were middle class, and not upper middle class. I consider myself to be middle class and not an elite educated individual. I live in a rural area where some of my neighbors have no indoor plumbing and use a pickle bucket as a toilet. I don't consider myself to be better than them just because I went to college and have an advanced degree. But I am thankful for the opportunities given to me by my parents, only one of which was college educated. And your sandwich story was one of the most condescending things I have read. Some friend you are. I know what capicollo and baguette are, but nothing else. You could have used the opportunity to explain things to your friend in a non-condescending manner; instead you chose to belittle them, although not in so many words.
6
I am a college educated new Yorker who, according to David's definition, falls into the elite, protected class. I have no idea what any of those sandwich shop ingredients are. Lighten up, Francis. David, I hardly know ye anymore....
1
I grew up on a dirt road, behind the town dump, in a house with no water - an outhouse and a well down the road. My parents were good to me, and my teachers took cash from their pockets and told me I should go to college. The wrestling coach took me up the state college where he went, and I went there. At age 40 I finished my PhD at a major university (Syracuse) and I was at the top of me class. I testify as an expert witness in court and have a booming psych practice. All due to a small machine shop where my dad set up machines to make Ford suspension parts. That job was all we needed to make the children as successful as they wanted. I don't know what you are talking about. None of that applied to me, my kids or any of my friends. I do not need to work, although I do, mostly 6 days a week, because I love being a psychologist. Try fair employment and supporting public schools. You are talking about a world I do not see, although most of my friends are a mix of high school and professional school grads.
4
There is nothing new here. I graduated high school in 1952 and i often tell stories about myself and others i have met in life, who suffered from similar cultural isolation. i don't believe that there was a plot to keep me off the upward educational and economic path.
I have entertained acquaintances with memories of saving my pennies to buy silk stockings at Bergdorf Goodman's and then inching my way around the ground floor, afraid to ask where the hosiery department was for fear I would be asked to leave.
My brother-in-law urged me to go the Vassar. Most probably i could have won a scholarship. i never tried. Instead i went to a Midwestern state university. When i relate these personal experiences, i get similar personal histories in response.
You are describing the class system as it exists--and has always existed-- in the United States. Nothing new.
I have entertained acquaintances with memories of saving my pennies to buy silk stockings at Bergdorf Goodman's and then inching my way around the ground floor, afraid to ask where the hosiery department was for fear I would be asked to leave.
My brother-in-law urged me to go the Vassar. Most probably i could have won a scholarship. i never tried. Instead i went to a Midwestern state university. When i relate these personal experiences, i get similar personal histories in response.
You are describing the class system as it exists--and has always existed-- in the United States. Nothing new.
2
How about the majority of professional employers who require bachelors degrees and masters on job postings? People out of high school can do professional work - they should be hired. The fact that they are not is not the fault of high education intuitions.
1
Perhaps Brooks is deploying irony by writing about food today. I did look at the Erica Brown 3 Weeks volume on his encouragement and I have a 2-year-old copy of "Anti-Judaism" ready.
Recently a friend asked my about my comparative success. What did I do differently, he wanted to know. The truth is I couldn't tell you. I grew up in an environment with good role models, went to college and eventually earned a Master's degree. After that, I've gotten up and gone to work every day. There have been promotions and raises.
It's not fair that my modest efforts have yielded a salary that is 3 or 4 times that of my friend. What I can tell you, though, is that I've never once consciously tried to influence the opportunities or success of other people. I'm guessing this is true for many who find themselves is similarly fortunate circumstances to mine.
It's not fair that my modest efforts have yielded a salary that is 3 or 4 times that of my friend. What I can tell you, though, is that I've never once consciously tried to influence the opportunities or success of other people. I'm guessing this is true for many who find themselves is similarly fortunate circumstances to mine.
2
I often agree with Mr Brooks, but not this time. Like others, I find this column mostly self-flagellation, and yes, elitest.
Yes, we should - must - see to education of our population, of everyone that is willing to pursue it; nor should that require incurring massive, burdensome debt. Nor should we fail to regulate and, if necessary, close down institutions that do not do anything other than enrich their founders - yes, I mean like that one, the one our current President's name was on.
I do wonder at the current costs of attending the university I did: costs for me were $36 a semester, and that included student health services. Now the costs are in multiple thousands of dollars. I have questioned this, and the answer that I got was that funding from the state has greatly decreased. While there is some truth to this it is also the case that administrative costs have greatly increased.
With all that: perhaps what is needed in the kind of case that Mr Brooks cites is - dare I say it - self respect? That comes from good parenting, and good parenting can be done and is being done by a lot of good people all over the economic spectrum. It does help, of course, if you do not generate children you cannot support.
Yes, we should - must - see to education of our population, of everyone that is willing to pursue it; nor should that require incurring massive, burdensome debt. Nor should we fail to regulate and, if necessary, close down institutions that do not do anything other than enrich their founders - yes, I mean like that one, the one our current President's name was on.
I do wonder at the current costs of attending the university I did: costs for me were $36 a semester, and that included student health services. Now the costs are in multiple thousands of dollars. I have questioned this, and the answer that I got was that funding from the state has greatly decreased. While there is some truth to this it is also the case that administrative costs have greatly increased.
With all that: perhaps what is needed in the kind of case that Mr Brooks cites is - dare I say it - self respect? That comes from good parenting, and good parenting can be done and is being done by a lot of good people all over the economic spectrum. It does help, of course, if you do not generate children you cannot support.
2
I was only dimly aware of the meats in question but I would have the cultural capital to look for the vegetarian sandwich with the most fiber and no seeds.
David Brooks should really know better for other reasons. The graduates of Esther Miller Bais Yaakov usually go to college, but certainly their parents do not have fashionable liberal cultural attitudes and I would be fascinated by a poll on how many of said parents have heard of David Foster Wallace. Brooks even wrote in another column about educational communities that transmit strong individual values so that you know when someone has gone to one. Education can be a value, and transmitted in families, and not be indistinguishable from snobbery.
David Brooks should really know better for other reasons. The graduates of Esther Miller Bais Yaakov usually go to college, but certainly their parents do not have fashionable liberal cultural attitudes and I would be fascinated by a poll on how many of said parents have heard of David Foster Wallace. Brooks even wrote in another column about educational communities that transmit strong individual values so that you know when someone has gone to one. Education can be a value, and transmitted in families, and not be indistinguishable from snobbery.
Richard Reeves book is interesting but the real key to social mobility is education, not whether you enjoy chai lattes or know what a soppressata sandwich is. And education means instilling in children at a young age a love for reading and learning. You don't have to be wealthy to be able to motivate children. I came from a hard scrabble background with a father who did not graduate from high school. But my parents spent money on books and sent us to public school. I loved books, attended state universities for college and law school and entered the privileged class that Messrs. Reeves and Kristoff hold responsible for the destruction of America. However, I knew the joys of sopressata at an early age. Both Reeves' book as well as this article miss the point that education and individual choice play.
4
You make a major error in conflating education with selfish affluence.
In my experience, those most threatened by others’ success and least likely to support the common good are those who fall prey to zero-sum thinking, i.e., that your success takes something away from me. They cannot see a value in supporting society as a whole. Such thinking is more common among those who are affluent through luck or inheritance rather than hard work. Whether they went to college is irrelevant. Not having sufficient confidence that they have what it takes to create something of value, they tend to be insecure and begrudge any help directed to others or the common good. They are proud to find ways not to pay taxes.
On the other hand, many people have careers in science, medicine, education, and so forth, for which they had become well educated. Their aim is to advance and share knowledge and to make the world a better place, not to enrich themselves excessively. They tend to work with people from many cultures, and tend to prioritize collaborating with others towards long-term goals rather than working for excessive financial gain. Yes, they want their children to do well in life, to be happy, to contribute to society, but not at others’ expense. They are not the ones to vote against taxes, regulations that protect us, and the social safety net. It is the other folks, well educated or not, who begrudge helping others and supporting the commons, who are ruining America.
In my experience, those most threatened by others’ success and least likely to support the common good are those who fall prey to zero-sum thinking, i.e., that your success takes something away from me. They cannot see a value in supporting society as a whole. Such thinking is more common among those who are affluent through luck or inheritance rather than hard work. Whether they went to college is irrelevant. Not having sufficient confidence that they have what it takes to create something of value, they tend to be insecure and begrudge any help directed to others or the common good. They are proud to find ways not to pay taxes.
On the other hand, many people have careers in science, medicine, education, and so forth, for which they had become well educated. Their aim is to advance and share knowledge and to make the world a better place, not to enrich themselves excessively. They tend to work with people from many cultures, and tend to prioritize collaborating with others towards long-term goals rather than working for excessive financial gain. Yes, they want their children to do well in life, to be happy, to contribute to society, but not at others’ expense. They are not the ones to vote against taxes, regulations that protect us, and the social safety net. It is the other folks, well educated or not, who begrudge helping others and supporting the commons, who are ruining America.
8
Your premise is absurd, Mr. Brooks.
I am a member of the college-educated class. I have done nothing to children of other classes to limit their chances. My father was first generation college graduate and my mother was a third generation college graduate. Because my father had obtained an engineering degree, I also pursued an engineering degree. While at school, I met my future husband, also an engineering student.
I was lucky. I did well in school. My husband, on the other hand, almost flunked out. In order to spend time with me, he had to go to the library to study with me. That's what he did to turn it around.
My husband has been able to provide very well for our family but we also made frugal decisions. When it was time to purchase a home, we did not purchase the most expensive home we qualified for. When it was time to vacation, we did it with a pop-up camper and went all over the country, instilling in our children both a love of travel and ability to appreciate that spending lots of money isn't necessary to have meaningful experiences.
Don't blame the successful. Success starts with the attitude toward education and nurturing of children that exists in the home. College educated parents speak to their children differently, starting from birth. Go back and read the study by Betty Hart and Todd Risley: The Thirty Million Word Gap by Age 3: https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/TheEarlyCatastrophe.pdf
I am a member of the college-educated class. I have done nothing to children of other classes to limit their chances. My father was first generation college graduate and my mother was a third generation college graduate. Because my father had obtained an engineering degree, I also pursued an engineering degree. While at school, I met my future husband, also an engineering student.
I was lucky. I did well in school. My husband, on the other hand, almost flunked out. In order to spend time with me, he had to go to the library to study with me. That's what he did to turn it around.
My husband has been able to provide very well for our family but we also made frugal decisions. When it was time to purchase a home, we did not purchase the most expensive home we qualified for. When it was time to vacation, we did it with a pop-up camper and went all over the country, instilling in our children both a love of travel and ability to appreciate that spending lots of money isn't necessary to have meaningful experiences.
Don't blame the successful. Success starts with the attitude toward education and nurturing of children that exists in the home. College educated parents speak to their children differently, starting from birth. Go back and read the study by Betty Hart and Todd Risley: The Thirty Million Word Gap by Age 3: https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/TheEarlyCatastrophe.pdf
6
I understand your general argument, but your examples reek of the latte-drinking limousine liberal stereotype.
I am squarely in the demographic you are talking about - I have a Master's degree, I made a 6 figure income before returning to grad school, I breastfed my children until they were toddlers, and they currently go to 3-4 extracurriculars a week.
But I don't know what any of those sandwiches or ingredients are. I don't listen to podcasts, drink tea or wine or do Pilates. Should I feel excluded from the cultural markers of my class?
I agree completely that there are structural barriers to social mobility, but as an immigrant who did not grow up with the cultural markers that you outline, I am skeptical of the impact of the informal social barriers that you outline.
I am squarely in the demographic you are talking about - I have a Master's degree, I made a 6 figure income before returning to grad school, I breastfed my children until they were toddlers, and they currently go to 3-4 extracurriculars a week.
But I don't know what any of those sandwiches or ingredients are. I don't listen to podcasts, drink tea or wine or do Pilates. Should I feel excluded from the cultural markers of my class?
I agree completely that there are structural barriers to social mobility, but as an immigrant who did not grow up with the cultural markers that you outline, I am skeptical of the impact of the informal social barriers that you outline.
5
David, this sounds like "Bobo's in Paradise."
American inequality is the result of many forces: historical, economic, social, legal, etc.
While I am a progressive, I do not belive government can solve all of the problem or even most of the problem. This has to hapen at the local level.
That said, we as a nation can put policies in place that promote opportunity for all and not just the wealthy, privilged few.
This isn't about class warfare. This is about growing a healthy society.
American inequality is the result of many forces: historical, economic, social, legal, etc.
While I am a progressive, I do not belive government can solve all of the problem or even most of the problem. This has to hapen at the local level.
That said, we as a nation can put policies in place that promote opportunity for all and not just the wealthy, privilged few.
This isn't about class warfare. This is about growing a healthy society.
1
Thank you David. The issue of fairness of opportunity is important in education.
Government involvement is key to creating a level playing field. Two trends are going the opposite way: the high cost of college and school choice advocated by secretary of the education Betsy DeVos. Public colleges are receiving less government support, and must rely more on private donations. School choice is the ridiculous idea that the government should pay you to send your kids to private school.
Government involvement is key to creating a level playing field. Two trends are going the opposite way: the high cost of college and school choice advocated by secretary of the education Betsy DeVos. Public colleges are receiving less government support, and must rely more on private donations. School choice is the ridiculous idea that the government should pay you to send your kids to private school.
I find so much objectionable about this article. First point I will make is that it is natural for humans all through history to compete and look for dominance over not only other animal species, but also over fellow humans. And the educated class creating structural barriers is not by design, it is simply a manifestation of the competitive spirit of human beings. I immigrated from India several decades ago and also felt out of place at a gourmet sandwich place, but I educated myself so I could fit culturally in the western culture. If I could do it, why cannot working class whites? Maybe the reason a significant portion of the population feels left out is because they don't want to invest the time and effort in educating their kids. Yes, educated classes have an advantage over the working class, but the gap does not need to be as much as it is. Also, residential zoning is a consequence of public school system - parents don't want their kids to be exposed to gangs and drugs and take preventive action. Suburbs after all came about because of educated classes fleeing the cities. We need to find better ways of tackling issues of poverty (lack of education and cultural capital, instant gratification, normalization of criminal behavior etc.) in those communities; the idea that by dispersing them amongst safe and affluent neighborhoods would magically solve the problem is ludicrous and naive.
4
David, the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu wrote a book called "Distinction" about 30 years ago, in which he described in detail, admittedly with regard to France, just the kind of taste markers of class you're talking about. I would be very surprised if you hadn't heard of him. A lot if the polarization over Trump has to do with the fact that he got elected despite lacking such markers of elite status, while Obama was loathed by many for possessing them. None of this is new. Meanwhile, the Republicans systematically go about reinforcing the real economic barriers between the classes. When are you going to admit you made a mistake casting your lot with the conservatives? You've got a good mind; I, for one, would be glad to have you back on our side at any time.
4
Mr. Brooks himself is a beneficiary of exactly the kinds of structural inequities he critiques, yet he fails to acknowledge that he benefited from the same system he decries. These inequities, along with explicit barriers, have been in place for far longer than this past generation. Only through government, whose major concern should be equal access to opportunity, not individual actions of parents, whose primary duty is to their own offspring, can we begin to level the playing field. We don't want to dumb down the way highly educated parents raise their children, but rather provide enriching opportunities to children from all circumstances, something we have, for the entire history of our country, failed to do. Parents play the game they are handed, and few have access to integrated public schools of high quality. Government can change the game. They can also reduce the stakes of the game by ensuring that all have access to a basic standard of living and health care should their own efforts not bring the expected rewards. The anxiety of the upper middle class is the anxiety of all Americans who know how easy it is to fall from a comfortable life to deep poverty; they have more tools to try to keep that from happening to themselves and their children. Give all the same tools, and make sure the consequences are not so dire, and things will change. And I do agree, Mr. Brooks, let's end alumni preferences.
5
Long ago, a newspaper columnist in San Francisco used to say, again and again, that the way to succeed in this country is not a secret: Apply yourself to your studies, persist in your work, marry before you have children and encourage your children to do as you have done.
Extra money invested in schools in poor neighborhoods (and there's been a lot of it the last 35 years) has not made a difference. What does make a difference for poor kids with chaotic family lives is exposure to other students whose parents who know the ropes and encourage their own children. It's an indirect lesson, but it's influential and powerful.
If you want to fault the rich for ignoring the plight of the poor, fault them most for making sure their upper-income "public school" districts never, ever allow construction of any small number of affordable housing units that might allow a few poorer children to attend their precious schools. The rich kids, as well as the poor ones, would benefit from getting to know each other.
Extra money invested in schools in poor neighborhoods (and there's been a lot of it the last 35 years) has not made a difference. What does make a difference for poor kids with chaotic family lives is exposure to other students whose parents who know the ropes and encourage their own children. It's an indirect lesson, but it's influential and powerful.
If you want to fault the rich for ignoring the plight of the poor, fault them most for making sure their upper-income "public school" districts never, ever allow construction of any small number of affordable housing units that might allow a few poorer children to attend their precious schools. The rich kids, as well as the poor ones, would benefit from getting to know each other.
5
Please. My Italian immigrant grandparents would have known all the words at the sandwich shop, but the first encounter with the banana was a bit bewildering. I live in a suburb with very good schools, and lots of people here wouldn't know David Foster Wallace from Mike Wallace. Rather, hereabouts, a bookish woman can feel like an egghead from Mars. The schools are vigorously supported though, because we all get that education is vital. We are lucky we have those good public schools to rely on.
I think the "elite" you describe are but a sliver of upper middle class society, and a bit of a straw man; the tastes of many of the advantaged are far more ordinary.
I think the "elite" you describe are but a sliver of upper middle class society, and a bit of a straw man; the tastes of many of the advantaged are far more ordinary.
7
Did you just wake up?
For centuries our families and friends, whether in America or Europe, have carefully nurtured our children so that they may enjoy their inherited birthright at one end of the Bell curve.
While we have a social responsibility to help others, which defines who we are, our first responsibility is to help our own children become our successors.
In that regard the traditions of the European upper classes are alive and well both there and here.
Rey Olsen
For centuries our families and friends, whether in America or Europe, have carefully nurtured our children so that they may enjoy their inherited birthright at one end of the Bell curve.
While we have a social responsibility to help others, which defines who we are, our first responsibility is to help our own children become our successors.
In that regard the traditions of the European upper classes are alive and well both there and here.
Rey Olsen
1
I read the reviews of Reeve's book when it came out, and I am unhappy with this article that basically signs on for the ride.
There are real problems for lower income families and this stuff isn't it. Education is a really big problem, but the biggest part of that is the abandonment of public financing for it. This is at the root of the college loan crisis, and has been accompanied by reduced financing of k-12 education. Furthermore economic insecurity for the poor has gotten much worse, reducing the kind of stability the promotes success. Vance talked about that at some length in Hillbilly Elegy.
Whether you like restrictive zoning or not, the country should be providing a decent educational opportunity to everyone. College admission preferences may be unequal, but they don't compare with not being able to afford College at all, even at state universities.
Blame does not belong with people providing extras for their kids--that's just a convenient target. Blame belongs with the people who won't pay taxes so that poor kids can get a chance. This piece doesn't even start to deal with the real issue.
There are real problems for lower income families and this stuff isn't it. Education is a really big problem, but the biggest part of that is the abandonment of public financing for it. This is at the root of the college loan crisis, and has been accompanied by reduced financing of k-12 education. Furthermore economic insecurity for the poor has gotten much worse, reducing the kind of stability the promotes success. Vance talked about that at some length in Hillbilly Elegy.
Whether you like restrictive zoning or not, the country should be providing a decent educational opportunity to everyone. College admission preferences may be unequal, but they don't compare with not being able to afford College at all, even at state universities.
Blame does not belong with people providing extras for their kids--that's just a convenient target. Blame belongs with the people who won't pay taxes so that poor kids can get a chance. This piece doesn't even start to deal with the real issue.
10
I am I am a high school instructor who teaches at a focus program, where I have the opportunity to have students from seven high schools from all across our midwestern community come together. I see this exclusion happening and taken for granted.
Twenty five years ago I entered the profession at a traditional high school. I had been given a pick of schools. When I evaluated my choices I was pleased that all the institutions were roughly equitable. I chose a blue collar high school and had twenty three years where I learned as much from my students about the human condition as I tried to teach. I noted real changes to the middle class in that time and the two tier middle class experience in 2017 that David Brooks writes of.
I am most concerned that the crack is becoming a chasm.
Twenty five years ago I entered the profession at a traditional high school. I had been given a pick of schools. When I evaluated my choices I was pleased that all the institutions were roughly equitable. I chose a blue collar high school and had twenty three years where I learned as much from my students about the human condition as I tried to teach. I noted real changes to the middle class in that time and the two tier middle class experience in 2017 that David Brooks writes of.
I am most concerned that the crack is becoming a chasm.
7
So may comments seem to miss the point. One's childhood — and its experiences — are increasingly shaped by the opportunity found there. The rich will continue to entrench their preserves while the rest will continue to make do with what's left.
2
The invisible cultural codes that David mentions do exist. As a high school English teacher from an upper middle class background myself, my experience tells me that exposure is key, and the community can help.
An important value in upper-middle class backgrounds is exposure to a variety of art and culture, exposure to world views. I strove to bring this exposure to kids in my classes. At a school with socioeconomically disadvantaged teens, extra credit assignments for my class would include art observation studies in museums (free entry guaranteed), analysis of live theater, exposure to songs of different genres that connected to the text. San Francisco's elementary public schools are known to have partnerships with the SF Opera, for example. Nationwide, towns should encourage yearlong partnerships of cultural institutions with local schools. Increase exposure.
Another value in upper-middle class backgrounds is valuing learning itself and trying to achieve competence - parenting included. To bridge the gap early, parental education should begin in the hospital, at birth. Introduce mandatory post-birth workshops, covered by insurance, for new parents to complete in the first year. Hospitals, send parents home with 3 free books: on child development from 0-5 years; on how technology should/not be used in the home; a cookbook with seasonal recipes.
Once kids and parents have knowledge capital, they take risks, gain further exposure. (Unlike the lady in the sandwich shop.)
An important value in upper-middle class backgrounds is exposure to a variety of art and culture, exposure to world views. I strove to bring this exposure to kids in my classes. At a school with socioeconomically disadvantaged teens, extra credit assignments for my class would include art observation studies in museums (free entry guaranteed), analysis of live theater, exposure to songs of different genres that connected to the text. San Francisco's elementary public schools are known to have partnerships with the SF Opera, for example. Nationwide, towns should encourage yearlong partnerships of cultural institutions with local schools. Increase exposure.
Another value in upper-middle class backgrounds is valuing learning itself and trying to achieve competence - parenting included. To bridge the gap early, parental education should begin in the hospital, at birth. Introduce mandatory post-birth workshops, covered by insurance, for new parents to complete in the first year. Hospitals, send parents home with 3 free books: on child development from 0-5 years; on how technology should/not be used in the home; a cookbook with seasonal recipes.
Once kids and parents have knowledge capital, they take risks, gain further exposure. (Unlike the lady in the sandwich shop.)
2
What a total load of garbage. "The most important is residential zoning restrictions.....housing and construction rules that keep the poor and less well educated away". Go ahead and name one zoning restriction that keeps less well educated away. Here is the bottom line whether Brooks likes it or not - parents who value education raise children who value education. That is where it all begins and ends; and if someone doesn't value education and they find themselves less well able to cope with the modern world, I am sorry, I can't help them value education.
9
Sorry-not buying it. The upper class moms have become "devastatingly good" at making sure that the lower classes don't breast feed? Sandwich shop owners name their products and use ingredients specifically to alienate, humiliate and exclude all but the "upper crust"? Whole Foods only wants the business of college grads? Residents and zoning administrators in Portland, Oregon are working to drive out the poor and less educated? Are we expected to take this seriously?
I was especially troubled by the statement that the "lower classes" are somehow not capable of accessing this "rarified information" about italian sandwiches, baby carriers, podcasts and Pilates.
There's a difference between Google stock and Google.
I was especially troubled by the statement that the "lower classes" are somehow not capable of accessing this "rarified information" about italian sandwiches, baby carriers, podcasts and Pilates.
There's a difference between Google stock and Google.
20
I am the first (and only) child in my family to have graduated from college, and I went on to get a Master's degree. My husband and I had one child--and we made financial and personal sacrifices to make sure she had the best we could provide for her. We are not wealthy by any means--we have a modest home in a neighborhood that is not the best, but is ok. I work full time and my husband works a day job and teaches a night class. I breastfed my only child for 18 months--because I was willing to do things like pump milk at work in an empty office--because it was the right thing for us. We put her in the best pre-school we could afford, and paid for her education because we wanted her to get the best education possible. We sacrificed fancy vacations, a larger, fancier house in a better neighborhood and lots of other things a lot of people take for granted. My husband and I have carried bag lunches for years. We do not buy fancy coffee at 5.00 or more a pop. We do not have a tv in every room. Our child is now 27 and a PhD candidate doing medical research.
Don't tell me that I am a selfish person in a bubble because I wanted the best possible future for my child. We help others as we can, donating time and money and talents to help those less fortunate. My husband is a literacy teacher at a women's reintegration center--helping women who are being released from prison. We are not bad people because we provided for our child.
Don't tell me that I am a selfish person in a bubble because I wanted the best possible future for my child. We help others as we can, donating time and money and talents to help those less fortunate. My husband is a literacy teacher at a women's reintegration center--helping women who are being released from prison. We are not bad people because we provided for our child.
28
Don't take it so personally. You are to be commended for your efforts with your child. However, you are not everyone. Ask an employer how they look at many of their young employees who come from upper middle class backgrounds and have been coddled by their parents. They are educated but have never been allowed to fail, to clean up their messes and to evidence much common sense.
Congratulations on a job well done! We, too, have sacrificed the fancy house and the fancy cars in favor of paying for (if necessary) the educational needs of our three children. Church preschool, public elementary school, Catholic middle and high school. YMCA swimming lessons and Girl Scout summer camp. Yes, I paid for private piano lessons, mostly cause I wanted to learn piano growing up but we were too poor to buy a piano much less pay for lessons. Our youngest went on to get a music education degree from the State U. All three have graduate degrees (two PhD's and a masters). We never belonged to a country club or even the neighborhood swim club.
Living this way is nothing to be ashamed of and Mr. Brooks is wrong to lay on the guilt. My children's grandparents were college educated, but 3 out of 4 were the first in the family to go to college. They were the children of factory workers and farmers, all of whom insisted that the next generation go to college, even if it meant working your way through as the dormitory garbage man.
You've done right by your child and should be proud of it. Snooty elites like Brooks need a different sort of education, ie, how the middle class really lives.
Living this way is nothing to be ashamed of and Mr. Brooks is wrong to lay on the guilt. My children's grandparents were college educated, but 3 out of 4 were the first in the family to go to college. They were the children of factory workers and farmers, all of whom insisted that the next generation go to college, even if it meant working your way through as the dormitory garbage man.
You've done right by your child and should be proud of it. Snooty elites like Brooks need a different sort of education, ie, how the middle class really lives.
4
Well it does not take higher education to understand that in this administration there is a tendency to flow a great deal of money from health care, education, planned parenting, day care, food stamps,public schools, libraries, parks, science and the environment and similar upward toward the massive tax cut that the wealthy will get that they often don't care about and don't need. That the things the lower and middle classes need are being milked away to give handouts to the the wealthy. The wealthy are often not the same as the upper class, by the way. The real upper class is more about education and values than about wealth or where one eats.. The barriers that are being created and have been created may easily be created as much by TV and the media that play to the lowest common denominator and sap the intelligence and the ability to read and think from whoever gets hooked on them. They are created by parents on drugs and neglected children. They are being created by the mass media that limits what is available depending on whether you are in the heartland or on the coasts, because of sales. They are created by religions that forget where they came from and pursue politics and money. They are created by politicians that forget they are there to serve and not to accumulate money and power.
Of course you know all this, you are just baiting us to respond .
Of course you know all this, you are just baiting us to respond .
5
The most limiting factor is education for the young, elementary and middle school. We allow early education to create the big separation. Unfortunately, there is a big divide on how to solve this. One way is to pay teachers more, especially star teachers in area where the underclass have traditional earned their way out of poverty--areas like math. Now math teachers are paid the same as gym teachers. So we have too many gym teachers and not enough math teachers, who have the ability to find work other than to teach math. Math was for my father the way up. For many math was the great equalizer. Now a math teacher with a degree in math is rare. The poor suffer while the rich get tutors.
4
These expensive toys are all shibboleths--secret passwords--and nothing more. The privileged children who benefit from them often remain as bigoted and blind as ever. The most powerful depressant of working-class opportunity is trained lack of foresight, trained worship of gut feelings and tradition, that is, trained bigotry.
3
I grew up in a lower middle-class Midwestern home: My father had gone to school on the GI Bill while my mother was never educated beyond high school. Though the youngest, I was the first of their five children to graduate from college. I have an MFA from UCLA Film School along with $50,000 in student loan debt. I’ve been in the WGA for 15 years, written 19 screenplays, won international writing contests, and been on an HBO reality show. To pay the bills, I’ve taught and tutored since 2000 where I’ve worked with students from the most elite private high schools in Los Angeles. Half of my students have parents who work in entertainment, and I’ve been read by some of them. Three different parents told me I was one of the best writers they've ever read, yet they never hired me or offered to help. They were, however, delighted that I helped their children move from C-students to A-students. I keep working on a daily basis because obviously they’re not responsible for my success or lack of it. Chop wood, carry water. Yet it’s sad to see that the UMC, regardless of what you do for them, doesn't seem to want to offer a hand up. I stay hopeful and optimistic though: It only takes one. Meanwhile, I do a lot of volunteer work, and I'm a Big Sister to the children of a young woman whom I was a Big Sister to in the 90's. I don't have the house on the hill or the success that usually comes with that, but I'm happy to help where I can because I think that's why we’re here. Isn’t it?
7
Compared to all the other material facts that you neatly gloss over in this strange little commentary, Mr. Brooks, this one is minor, but nonetheless revealing. According to you, one barrier between people of different class statuses is the difference between an enchilada and a pomodoro--performatively reinforcing the kind of exclusions you rail against. Instead of taking notes for your column, and taking refuge in your wealthy white man privilege, why not respond to your friend by saying 'I think pomodoro means tomato something; and let's just ask our waitress on the padrino thing.' If everyday social practices and interactions do, as you argue, serve to reinforce exclusions, why participate in enforcing them in this way? And then let's talk about taxes, dead unions, starved public university systems, and the other big transformations that have produced the state of affairs to which you refer...
15
Completely agree! Why not help the friend have an experience that will expand her comfort zone so she can gain confidence in a bigger range of options in the world? No one asks for a membership card when you go to a lunch place. But this author did. Tsk tsk.
6
And the prices listed-- or NOT listed? -- on the Padrino and Pomodoro sandwiches had nothing to do with her face freezing?
And what about the quick judgment that it was too much of a step up, "socially", for her to tolerate? Was that hers - or yours?
And what about the quick judgment that it was too much of a step up, "socially", for her to tolerate? Was that hers - or yours?
12
People who only went to high school don't know what sopprasetta is? Ridiculous. Unless a person has completely avoided gentrification they will easily decipher the menu of a gourmet sandwich shop.
6
I'm a college grad and I don't even know what a sopprasetta is. Never set foot in a sandwich shop though.
Guess what, Maureen? Even though you don't realize it, millions of your fellow citizens all across the country can't afford "gentrification" or "gourmet sandwich shops".
1
I nominate "privilege" as the most hackneyed word of the decade. Heck, make it the millennium!
2
Nothing new. Pierre Bourdieu's 'cultural capital' at work here.
2
It's not as if the "working class" are locked away from information that's spoon-fed only to the wealthy few. Every single one of them has a smartphone. Perhaps it's their blank disinterest in Googling "capicolla" or "baguette" or "Beethoven" while eagerly searching and scanning Youtube videos about the Kardashians and Beyonce that's more at fault here.
5
Every single member of the working class has a smartphone??? Wrong, snob. I am a member of the working class who can only afford a flip phone. And I'm not interested in the celebrities you mentioned.
Wow! If only all rich people were as paternalistic and condescending as Brooks, poverty would be eliminated overnight.
19
Lol at sopressata being "upscale".
Also let's fund education like we fund defense. It's that important.
Also let's fund education like we fund defense. It's that important.
14
What Brooks writes here is true, but I think the bigger impact comes from the common pattern now with college educated men marrying college educated women. That pairing hoards the benefits and excludes the non-college folks completely That's why college is the code-word used by many politicians now to define "other" and not the "real Americans" to those who are feeling left out. See Gov. Huckabee's book, where "Harvard faculty" is used as the ultimate term of derision.
1
"To feel at home in opportunity-rich areas, you’ve got to understand the right barre techniques, sport the right baby carrier, have the right podcast, food truck, tea, wine and Pilates tastes, not to mention possess the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace, child-rearing, gender norms and intersectionality."
Ha ha. To feel at home ANYWHERE, you have to know the customs of the people living there. I doubt an upper-middle class mom would feel all that comfortable hanging out in "the hood".
This piece, masquerading as a cri de coeur against the hypocrisy of the upper classes, is the usual dismissal by same of the cultural richness of "the other half".
Ha ha. To feel at home ANYWHERE, you have to know the customs of the people living there. I doubt an upper-middle class mom would feel all that comfortable hanging out in "the hood".
This piece, masquerading as a cri de coeur against the hypocrisy of the upper classes, is the usual dismissal by same of the cultural richness of "the other half".
4
Wow, summer doldrums are here. David, I'm sorry friend, but you will never figure out what makes the rest of us tick. You are sooo hung up on your progressive neighborhood's hip culture that you just assume we all want what you have. How very dear of you. Out in the rest of the country-where pick-up trucks out number hybrids, life is going on to a different tune. You and your self-absorbed kin are tone deaf and clueless.
8
Frankly, you kind of lost me with the gourmet restaurant menu thing. I have a post-graduate degree and have done a lot better in life economically than anyone could ever have reasonably expected, through a combination of government help, good luck, reasonable intelligence and always showing up. Frankly, if I have to eat in one of those places, I just insist that the wait staff explain everything on the menu to me that may be of interest. Why should I memorize things that I can look up or get other people to explain to me? I think Einstein said something kind of like that. Also, food snobs are just like all other snobs. Seriously, who really cares whether you know what soppressata is, unless you are the chef?
32
Cultural fragmentation, or stratification is clearly a problem. Simple solution: Required military, or other service such as AmeriCorps. It does not surprise me that the great compression occurred in the 1960's, a generation after WWII, when elites and the masses fully collaborated in an existential fight against fascism. Having fought side by side it was easy to see the children of other veterans as deserving the same opportunities and investments as ones own children. Shared experiences and institutional touchstones, (chipped beef on toast anyone?), provided the necessary social and cultural bonds.
How far have we come? Now even the military is unavailable to those without access to at least some degree of social advantage. specifically a high school diploma. It is no wonder Trumpists want to take us back to the past.
How far have we come? Now even the military is unavailable to those without access to at least some degree of social advantage. specifically a high school diploma. It is no wonder Trumpists want to take us back to the past.
4
What Brooks describes here is a variant of the invisible fence that some dog owners use to keep Fido from wandering or from getting into trouble by threatening passers-by. An innocent looking collar on the animal is activated by signals from buried sensors that deliver either a shock or (audible only to the dog) irritating sound. The big difference here is that the class David describes has essentially collared everyone on the outside.
1
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican."
So, rather than expand her horizons, you encouraged her to accept the imagined barrier of simple lack of familiarity with menu names. One person denying another's chance to grow. Ironic. Isn't that the point of your editorial?
So, rather than expand her horizons, you encouraged her to accept the imagined barrier of simple lack of familiarity with menu names. One person denying another's chance to grow. Ironic. Isn't that the point of your editorial?
7
You are insinuating she was intimidated by freaking baloney. Believe me, people without a college degree are not necessarily unfamiliar with multicultural food.
8
I thought this part was hilarious:
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican."
Translation: "If only I had been more sensitive, I would have taken her to Taco Bell, because, you know, she didn't go to college."
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican."
Translation: "If only I had been more sensitive, I would have taken her to Taco Bell, because, you know, she didn't go to college."
13
So your friend was uncomfortable when faced with "soppressata" and "capicolla"? Perhaps nest time you can introduce her to the delights of an Italian sub sandwich, rather than hustling her over to a restaurant which you thought more suitable for a "high school graduate." Part of what upper middle class parents do for their children is introduce them to unfamiliar food, music, art and landscapes. Teachers, friends and associates help us break free of the cultural cages into which we are born. Doing so promotes confidence and understanding of people from different circumstances.
Next time, why don't you bring your friend to the same sandwich shop and explain to her what the various ingredients are.
Next time, why don't you bring your friend to the same sandwich shop and explain to her what the various ingredients are.
5
so your friend was put off by a "pomodoro" sandwich on a "striata baguette," but happy to eat a "carne asada burrito" and "carnitas tostada"? surprised you didn't go get a hot dog.
9
Well people seem to have learned how to navigate Starbucks's vente and other non-obvious names for things. Me? I've resisted it and order a small coffee.
4
Thank you, sir, for having the political courage to put capicola before party. Millions losing healthcare and the greatest espionage scandal in American history are sideshows to the real story: deli meat.
8
You clearly got the thrust of his column there.
1
Brooks writes: "Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican." To put this in an even starker context, as a Special Education behavioral health provider, I once took a small group of special needs boys to a McDonald's in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I saw that same frozen expression on the face of a 14 year old boy who had never been in a McDonald's restaurant because it was too expensive. He withdrew from the group to a corner of the store, and confessed to me, in tears, that he didn't know how to order, or what to order! Just imagine the contrast of "privilege" between Brooks' friend and my student. It has left in me a lasting impression and a lingering resentment of the privileged who have NO IDEA about the devastating impact on financial and racial inequality.
5
If you think this situation is new, you need to read a few F. Scott Fitzgerald books about the 1920s. Then add some Henry James novels, plus some 19th century English fiction.
23
Some of the examples are silly. I brought today's NYT with me this morning as I had an appointment with my Italian barber of some 47 years. He, and his son who is also a barber, are high school educated. I asked him if he knew was soppressata, capicolo, pomodoro, etc. were. He looked at me like I was nuts. Irrespective of education, class level or world experience; if you are Italian or spent any time around Italians you know what that stuff is. Just for giggles I asked my master's degree holding daughter-in-law what those things were. She had no clue.
Brooks' overall point might be valid, but at least that example doesn't wash.
By the way, I grew up in an industrial city in NJ, managed to earn a PhD. But my BA, MA and PhD degrees are all from pubic universities. As we used to say in my neighborhood--Princeton is for them, not us.
Brooks' overall point might be valid, but at least that example doesn't wash.
By the way, I grew up in an industrial city in NJ, managed to earn a PhD. But my BA, MA and PhD degrees are all from pubic universities. As we used to say in my neighborhood--Princeton is for them, not us.
3
Mr. Brooks and Mr Reeves are making the mistake of seeing the reduced opportunity and class mobility as cause, rather than a symptom, of America's decline. After 30 years of globalism, offshoring of jobs, and inshoring of cheap labour, it's not surprising the remanents of what was the greatest richest nation on earth now scramble for every advantage. It's every man for himself....Reverting to the norm of the developing World...
2
Exactly!
Professional person here. Not sure what "Padrino and Pomodoro and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette" are, and I am not the least bit embarrassed by it.
6
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican."
I find this passage hysterical but, I fear, perhaps not in the way the author intended. I must admit I haven't read a passage displaying such lack of self-awareness in a while. The only reaction I could muster was a forlorn chuckle and a face-palm.
I find this passage hysterical but, I fear, perhaps not in the way the author intended. I must admit I haven't read a passage displaying such lack of self-awareness in a while. The only reaction I could muster was a forlorn chuckle and a face-palm.
6
4 years of college. 4 years of professional school. Residency. And I don't have the slightest idea what padrino, pomodor, soppressata and capicollo are either.
5
In the future academics should find it easy to understand the collapse of the Prestige Media. They need to look no further than this paragraph:
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican."
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican."
2
I grew up poor and now am not. Some thoughts: (1) I made it out; my four siblings did not. For them, it's still paycheck to paycheck with little hope for their future and even less for their children's future. They are younger than me, and I think that's part of the problem--sometime I feel I caught the last train leaving the upward mobility station. (2) Some of what got me through was hard work and diligence, but an awful lot of it was just plain luck. A lot of folks worked harder than me and never made it. (3) When I attended Binghamton University, the tuition was $750 a semester. $750. For 16 credits. And if it had been $850, I probably would have dropped out--that's how close I was each semester. Where are our state institutions today?
4
The word degree originated when a panet or one of the luminaries was situated on the same degree as a powerful fixed star on the day they were born. Turned me into such an insufferable snob since I learned of this, I hardly talk to anyone anymore. Yet I am happy to share my discovery with anyone willing to look up at what the heavens had in mind for them.
What you mean "we" white man?
Sorry, but those of us who follow some iteration of a faith tradition - that includes conscientious atheism, hopeful agnosticism, etc. - and have struggled all along to act as if no person is an island, that "we' is tilting as hard as it can toward community and the care of the vulnerable.
Sorry, but those of us who follow some iteration of a faith tradition - that includes conscientious atheism, hopeful agnosticism, etc. - and have struggled all along to act as if no person is an island, that "we' is tilting as hard as it can toward community and the care of the vulnerable.
1
An educated gun lover lawyer in Texas might have no idea what a "Padrino, Pomodoro, etc.... But he knows about guns, because that what matters in the community he lives in.
I went to 4 different universities in 3 countries, speak 4 languages, English being my third language. Yet I have no idea what "Padrino, Pomodoro ... mean. but thanks to my education(no top universities), I know those words sound Italian.
Instead of going somewhere else like your friend did, I would have asked the server to get me what he thinks is their best sandwich, something I do each time I discover a new cuisine whether it's Argentinian, Israeli, Ethiopian, Norwegian. My education allows me to understand that there are as many cuisines out there as there are human groups and I should not be ashamed not knowing what Padrino means.
My point is Education is what matters. Ask, your GOP friends to stop cutting budgets to give tax cuts to the rich.
I went to 4 different universities in 3 countries, speak 4 languages, English being my third language. Yet I have no idea what "Padrino, Pomodoro ... mean. but thanks to my education(no top universities), I know those words sound Italian.
Instead of going somewhere else like your friend did, I would have asked the server to get me what he thinks is their best sandwich, something I do each time I discover a new cuisine whether it's Argentinian, Israeli, Ethiopian, Norwegian. My education allows me to understand that there are as many cuisines out there as there are human groups and I should not be ashamed not knowing what Padrino means.
My point is Education is what matters. Ask, your GOP friends to stop cutting budgets to give tax cuts to the rich.
8
Mr. Brooks makes some valid points. At the same time, here are some thoughts and questions that went through my mind as I read this piece: How good a "friend" was the friend Mr. Brooks took out to lunch, and if Mr. Brooks were a sensitive friend, wouldn't he have had some sense of what would be an appropriate restaurant to go to? I'm not too far from Mr. Brooks' age, and I graduated from an Ivy League school and have a Ph.D. from Stanford. However I rarely go to restaurants that serve sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and contain ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. Does Mr. Brooks acknowledge how elitist he is and how elitist the circles are that he "hangs out" in? (By the way, I don't go to Applebees either. I recognize the elitism of some restaurants, and the unhealthiness of others.) There is a morally hectoring quality to Mr. Brooks' work that, deep down, I doubt he has earned in the conduct of his own life. President Obama had an important insight about inequality: To begin chipping away at it, we have to start providing the "have nots" with basic things like health care, education, etc. Mr. Brooks is somewhat mawkish and moralizing in pieces like the current one, but when is he comes to issues like health care, he often becomes theoretical, steely-eyed, and overly "free marketish."
5
Education is hard work, not a dream. You want to learn how integration by parts works? Then read a book and do a 1000 examples. If you do not want to do it and claim foul when others do it, the you are a looser.
There are so many things wrong with this mess of an op-ed it is hard to know where to begin. Part book report, part really lame story about his low-class "friend" afraid of Italian foodnames. How about the title for one. Who is this "We?" Is David suffering from survivors' guilt at his own lifestyle choices? Suddenly David Brooks has discovered class divisions? Didn't he watch Downton Abbey? Quick! Someone send David a set of consommé spoons!
9
As someone who can understand another language other than English , got a good education and travelled overseas, I find the elitist class barriers as pretentious as they are visible, its about the money and the access, not about being "educated". The upper classes are often so shallowly educated, and it seems to be getting worse. That striata whatever bagel at the upscale deli costs, what.. 8 bucks?, problably more than the server is making per hour. Is that difference culturally significant? How do we think we can create a special world for the top 20% only? Interestingly, once I left had my middle class enclave as a young lad and got labouring jobs, and travelled the backroads of Europe and Latin America, I got a better education, plus an appreciation of the goodness of ordinary people that I never got in the neurotic, navel-gazing world of the upper middle class. ..Plus ça change..
18
What gets me about articles like this is they vilify people simply for being able to afford a certain product, regardless of their personal situation. In my view, the ability to send your kids to college or to enjoy an occasional "gourmet" sub should be signs of being middle class. Once, a middle-class lifestyle was regarded as a laudable goal; now, if you reach it, you are condemned as "elite," or, even worse, as someone who deliberately works to crush the opportunities of others. What Brooks overlooks is that many of us come from poor families and paid our own way through college, without parental help or even guidance, often at great disadvantage compared to our classmates. Some of us worked in fast food joints to save every penny, took out student loans, and made real sacrifices to get our butts through the local state university. But instead of being upheld as models of what is still possible in America, we are told that we only achieved what we did because we are "privileged." And now I'm told that when I eat a sandwich with Italian salami, or shop at Whole Foods, that I'm reinforcing social codes of elitism. Most of us are just trying to live our lives as best we can.
4
Cultural acumen has something to do with professional success but you're talking about a baguette. People can learn this stuff if they really feel like it. Show of hands: How many people have taken on a hobby simply because their boss or potential employer expressed interest? I don't care one whit about college sports at the local universities. Guess what though? Everyone else does so I had to figure it out.
A theoretical lack of cultural sophistication is not what holds people back. Street smart are more valuable in some instances. You can also have a brilliant college performance at a well respected school and still find yourself limited. Knowing how to duck hook a golf ball or select a good vintage doesn't really make a difference. The disadvantage most intelligent high school and college graduates face is unequal access to opportunity.
A 21-year old college graduate from a median income household is unlikely to ever find themselves at a family luncheon with a hiring manager or corporate executive. If you don't know people who know people, you're starting from the outside. Human Resources is the most socially imbalanced equalizer I've encountered.
The kid who's dad has a golf buddy goes to the front of the line. The boss tells HR who they're hiring and HR approves the decision. Everyone else goes through a key word search and a background check. These outcomes have little to do with early development. It's patrimonialism, not pediacracy stupid.
A theoretical lack of cultural sophistication is not what holds people back. Street smart are more valuable in some instances. You can also have a brilliant college performance at a well respected school and still find yourself limited. Knowing how to duck hook a golf ball or select a good vintage doesn't really make a difference. The disadvantage most intelligent high school and college graduates face is unequal access to opportunity.
A 21-year old college graduate from a median income household is unlikely to ever find themselves at a family luncheon with a hiring manager or corporate executive. If you don't know people who know people, you're starting from the outside. Human Resources is the most socially imbalanced equalizer I've encountered.
The kid who's dad has a golf buddy goes to the front of the line. The boss tells HR who they're hiring and HR approves the decision. Everyone else goes through a key word search and a background check. These outcomes have little to do with early development. It's patrimonialism, not pediacracy stupid.
2
You 'ate Mexican'? I assume a Trump-style taco bowl, like real Amurcans?
David ... come back to this planet.
David ... come back to this planet.
3
The most self-loathing and self-absorbed mea culpa I've seen in a long while...
Take a cue from professional wrestling - beat yourself silly with a folding chair, and post the video...
Take a cue from professional wrestling - beat yourself silly with a folding chair, and post the video...
7
Oh noes, it's the sandwich exam! I'm a college professor and apparently I failed baguettes class, since I have no idea what a striata baguette is. Sad!
4
"just a high school degree"? Could David Brooks be anymore insulting? Bad on you NY Times...Shame
4
How come condescending Brooks didn't say to his friend "with only a high-school diploma" that soprasseta is salami and capicollo is spicy pork?
4
I think the hypothesis in this article is demonstrably false. In Canada we have much the same culture. In fact, if the sandwich place is a chain, we likely have the exact same one here. Yet our intergenerational mobility has been shown to be much higher today in than in the US. So how can the decrease in intergenerational mobility in the US be attributed to these sorts of vague cultural factors? I find this sort of mysticism distracts from the obvious - poorly funded public schools with poorly paid teachers in areas of greatest need, lack of public transit to jobs, super expensive private universities, and so on.
7
And private insurance for medical care is a huge drain on the middle class
Hahaha - Canada, "much the same culture"? Canuck , please....
Once again you speak for the people in the bubble in which you live. I live in an upper middle class suburb of Chicago and work as an attorney downtown. Few if any of my colleagues care a whit about barre techniques, baby carriers, podcasts, food trucks, teas, wines or Pilates. And while I have actually read Infinite Jest, The Pale King, and many of DFW's wonderful essays, I'd bet my retirement that 90% of the people I know with DFW on their bookshelf have actually cracked the binding.
7
I'm glad Brooks framed American social groups into "opportunity rich" segments versus simplifying it into opportunities based on income alone. Here's an example of nepotism: my older son's summer internship in government came about through a chance encounter I had with a friend at a gallery opening. (Sounds snooty/elite, but I'm not wealthy and it was a free event.) Nepotism isn't some nefarious plot, it's actually more casual in practice, but that said, one can only imagine the networks that the truly rich and connected are able to exploit on behalf of their kids: opportunities not available to the middle class, let alone the poor. But here's another anecdote: when my longtime housekeeper's son was admitted to UC Berkeley (yay public education!) she bemoaned the fact that it is "so far away". (We live in San Francisco, so it's actually extremely close.) I was flabbergasted that she seemed unhappy. Apparently, she also didn't realize that Berkeley is one of the top schools in the US. I was really proud of her son on her behalf, because the fact that a housekeeper's child can go to Berkeley, on a full ride, is really the American dream in action. It's so important not to become a country where opportunities like that cease to exist.
2
David uses the terms "college educated," "upper middle class," "affluent," and graduates of "elite universities" more or less interchangeably to assign blame for anti-democratic education policies to a much wider swath of the population than is actually involved in setting those policies. These categories may overlap, but they are not the same and pretending they are obscures the role of David's friends in the 1% in crafting policies designed to pit the middle classes against the poor and working classes. This strategy is an old one but it has been used especially effectively over the past several decades.
6
Well said David. Residential zoning restrictions are used all over the country, and it is discouraging. It is economic segregation, and you rightly state it is one of the most pernicious forces at work in our society today.
I'm less convinced by your argument that legacy admission rules have a large effect. Certainly very good local schools for a few are a cause of tilted college admissions, but I would point to reason 1, zoning, as the biggest cause there. Enriching experiences (and not needing to have a job at 16) are also other reasons, as you rightly point out. I would also add paying for higher education. Even if loans are available and statistics say it will pay off in the long run, taking on that much debt can be extremely daunting.
Also, I think colleges and universities are now set up to help the upper middle class students succeed. It is their culture that is found on campuses, and others that are outside that culture can struggle as a result.
I'm less convinced by your argument that legacy admission rules have a large effect. Certainly very good local schools for a few are a cause of tilted college admissions, but I would point to reason 1, zoning, as the biggest cause there. Enriching experiences (and not needing to have a job at 16) are also other reasons, as you rightly point out. I would also add paying for higher education. Even if loans are available and statistics say it will pay off in the long run, taking on that much debt can be extremely daunting.
Also, I think colleges and universities are now set up to help the upper middle class students succeed. It is their culture that is found on campuses, and others that are outside that culture can struggle as a result.
Unfortunately, halfway through the piece it turns out that David thinks cultural sandwich-based issues are more of a problem that structural problems like zoning.
1
A survey of parents in our blue, blue upper middle class community indicated they would rather spend money on AP classes than on remedial education. Spoke volumes.
1
Why not both? Students with both higher- and lower-than-average IQs are more likely to drop out (i.e. anyone not in the middle). We do a disservice to our society by refusing to acknowledge that students have different learning needs. We simply need to put more resources into education.
How dare your neighbors want to spend their tax dollars in (some of) their children!
I suggest all those who have not read Dream Hoarders to do so. It is only about 160 pages long and easy to knock out. The problem profiled is real and it runs counter to the published and over flogged myth that this is a meritocracy. The successful, in general, arrive at the starting line way more prepared than those of lesser means. In other words, they stand on third base saying they hit a triple when in fact it was a 60 foot grounder the third baseman airmailed into right field, the right fielder tripped going to pick it up and by golly you are on third base now. The official scorer is a buddy of your dads so scores it a single with a two base error. Later he changes it to a triple, but leaves the error on the books of the third baseman. Wouldn't want those losers to get a break now would you.
1
"took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively I led her to a gourmet sandwich shop"
OMG! what a snot! I guess he thinks if you only went to HS you'd have no idea what salami was. Perhaps Dave would take us poor slobs with on a community college degree to a Burger King.
OMG! what a snot! I guess he thinks if you only went to HS you'd have no idea what salami was. Perhaps Dave would take us poor slobs with on a community college degree to a Burger King.
4
"I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican." ... now why would you do that? You just reinforced for her your stated theory that she didn't belong there. I have a double graduate degree and like one of the other commentators here, had to look up every one of those terms. You should have encouraged her to stand her ground and find out what the terms mean. I do that all the time when confronted with strange names on the menu. The decision whether she would want to be overcharged for tomato sauce is then her decision.
My personal belief is that they use these unfamiliar terms just to charge more. One good friend if mine who is a Phd once told me that when he was coordinating his daughter's wedding the hotel organizing the outdoor ceremonies kept talking about a marquee. It took him a couple of minutes to realize that the tent now just cost him a couple of thousand dollars more!
My personal belief is that they use these unfamiliar terms just to charge more. One good friend if mine who is a Phd once told me that when he was coordinating his daughter's wedding the hotel organizing the outdoor ceremonies kept talking about a marquee. It took him a couple of minutes to realize that the tent now just cost him a couple of thousand dollars more!
28
Congratulations, you just discovered microaggressions. Now sit back and watch as the middle-class people you are defending call you a liberal traitor for having done so.
2
I do not always see eye to eye with David Brooks, but there is a lot that is right in this column.
I grew up in coal country in southwestern PA and attended public school; either despite this or maybe because of it, I was accepted to Columbia University. I did well, took various classes, and made friends, but I was exposed to things that my family wasn't. When I went home, my brother said I talked funny and called me a snob; my mother intimated that my tastes and I had changed and maybe not for the better. Even at Columbia, my senior year, I was in a class with somebody I had had classes with my first year, and we sat together. One day, we got our midterm back and she saw my grade and I saw hers. I had gotten an A-, whereas she had gotten a B; her reaction: How did you get that and I got a B? I said excuse me, and she apologized, but the sad reality is that she had thought it all. It didn't matter that I was a student at the same school; I was different. This too is a kind of tribalism, and I clearly wasn't, according to my classmate, from the right tribe.
I grew up in coal country in southwestern PA and attended public school; either despite this or maybe because of it, I was accepted to Columbia University. I did well, took various classes, and made friends, but I was exposed to things that my family wasn't. When I went home, my brother said I talked funny and called me a snob; my mother intimated that my tastes and I had changed and maybe not for the better. Even at Columbia, my senior year, I was in a class with somebody I had had classes with my first year, and we sat together. One day, we got our midterm back and she saw my grade and I saw hers. I had gotten an A-, whereas she had gotten a B; her reaction: How did you get that and I got a B? I said excuse me, and she apologized, but the sad reality is that she had thought it all. It didn't matter that I was a student at the same school; I was different. This too is a kind of tribalism, and I clearly wasn't, according to my classmate, from the right tribe.
1
Love ya' David, but must point out that barely a generation ago "Padrino", "pomodoro" "soppresatta" "capicolla" and"striata" were as ethnic as "Padrino", "Jitomate", "chorizo", "queso blanco", and "teleras". As a nice Calabro-American married to a delightful Mexican I get your point but hesitate to consider this a matter of class. Fascinating how one generations poor folks staples become the next generations "upscale". The arugula I now carefully raise in my garden was once harvested wild in the "old country" by my grandmother. (Living in Wisconsin among the Norwegians I keep waiting for Lutefisk to get its rightful due right next to baccala.)
8
As a former resident of Minnesota, let me say that lutefisk should be classified as a chemical weapon and only be handled by professionals wearing hazmat gear.
First they came for the 1%. I said nothing, because I am not in the top 1%. Then they came to "tax the rich". I said nothing, because I don't consider myself "rich". Now, the far-left ideologues have come to make villains of the "upper middle class". Where will this end?
This commentary would be comical if it weren't so dangerously misleading. So upper middle class mothers are "Ruining America" by breast feeding longer and spending more time at home? Upper middle class parents are "ruining America" by doing what they can to give their kids the best they can? Welcome to the new normal in the progressive echo chamber.
I'm sorry...but I grew up in a trailer park. My dad worked for the sewer department and my mom stayed home. We ate a lot of bologna sandwiches, but we managed. I went to a state school and worked 3 jobs while maintaining a full course load. I missed a bunch of parties, but I managed. I got a job and worked my tail off to excel. I made smart decisions through my 20s and 30s. I didn't have the nicest car or biggest house, but my family managed.
I'm now in my 40s and am comfortable as part of the upper middle class. I'm supposed to feel bad because I want my kids to have the best that I can provide? Sorry...not sorry.
This commentary would be comical if it weren't so dangerously misleading. So upper middle class mothers are "Ruining America" by breast feeding longer and spending more time at home? Upper middle class parents are "ruining America" by doing what they can to give their kids the best they can? Welcome to the new normal in the progressive echo chamber.
I'm sorry...but I grew up in a trailer park. My dad worked for the sewer department and my mom stayed home. We ate a lot of bologna sandwiches, but we managed. I went to a state school and worked 3 jobs while maintaining a full course load. I missed a bunch of parties, but I managed. I got a job and worked my tail off to excel. I made smart decisions through my 20s and 30s. I didn't have the nicest car or biggest house, but my family managed.
I'm now in my 40s and am comfortable as part of the upper middle class. I'm supposed to feel bad because I want my kids to have the best that I can provide? Sorry...not sorry.
9
I'm tired of all the self-flagellation coming from NYT columnists like Frank Bruni and David Brooks. Yes, by all means we need to focus on the many structural impediments that are preventing people from advancing to a better economic position. As an educator, I see young men and women trying to do this everyday, and I see that, for a variety of systemic *and personal* reasons, some succeed and some don't. But to belabor the injustice of college educated adults who want to improve their children's chances to get ahead is misguided at best. I have a hard time believing that a couple's staying married is "ruining America" in the same way that I don't believe that providing my kids with ample library visits and books is a crime against the public good. And funny, while I now fit into all the categories Brooks and Bruni like to bemoan these days (very different from my childhood, by the way), I don't know most of the ingredients he mentioned from the gourmet sandwich shop he frequented. Wait, I do know what soppresseta is. Guess how I know? Six months ago I was at a restaurant serving it and . . . I asked! Pretty good for someone who grew up with government cheese in the fridge.
There is an unparalleled pretentiousness that comes with these "signifiers" Books mentions in this piece. From podcasts to wine discussions to pretending to read David Foster Wallace (and all those other hip authors), Brooks is spot-on.
This has been uttered to the point of becoming a trope, but these people are the ones who got Trump elected. And I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. Personally, I have enjoyed watching these self-righteous, vapid creatures break their Prozac-induced smile for once and ponder the fact that they are not nearly as cute or witty or knowing as they thought they were. I have enjoyed witnessing the outrage as these creatures realize that regardless of how much their own circle agrees with them and no matter how emphatically they employ profanity to punctuate their hackneyed ideas, they get to turn on the news every day and see President Trump looking back at them.
You can condescend to the coal miners who didn’t see the midnight showing of the classic French film at the independent theater. You can smile sadly at the steel workers who didn’t catch the edgy new Off-Broadway revival. You can pity the farmers who didn’t binge the latest Netflix documentary. But they don’t need your condescension, sad smiles, or pity. They’re too busy keeping our nation going.
John Prine once said, “Your flag decal won’t get you into Heaven anymore.” He was right. Your shared Facebook post won’t get you there either.
This has been uttered to the point of becoming a trope, but these people are the ones who got Trump elected. And I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. Personally, I have enjoyed watching these self-righteous, vapid creatures break their Prozac-induced smile for once and ponder the fact that they are not nearly as cute or witty or knowing as they thought they were. I have enjoyed witnessing the outrage as these creatures realize that regardless of how much their own circle agrees with them and no matter how emphatically they employ profanity to punctuate their hackneyed ideas, they get to turn on the news every day and see President Trump looking back at them.
You can condescend to the coal miners who didn’t see the midnight showing of the classic French film at the independent theater. You can smile sadly at the steel workers who didn’t catch the edgy new Off-Broadway revival. You can pity the farmers who didn’t binge the latest Netflix documentary. But they don’t need your condescension, sad smiles, or pity. They’re too busy keeping our nation going.
John Prine once said, “Your flag decal won’t get you into Heaven anymore.” He was right. Your shared Facebook post won’t get you there either.
Heck, David, I graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Middlebury, then went through a PhD program in literature and I don't know what "soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette" are.
5
It's the baby boomers stupid, they are wreckin the place. OMG I am one!
All the sub-set generations between the boomers and millennials are wrecking it too.
We need to grow up and get along for the betterment of society.
All the sub-set generations between the boomers and millennials are wrecking it too.
We need to grow up and get along for the betterment of society.
2
Have you read a Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America, by Bruce Gibney? You should - that's the precise thesis of the book.
1
My uncle Vinnie DeGuilio, barber from Brooklyn, only had a high-school education, and he sure as heck knew what sopressata and capiccola was!
2
In case you haven't noticed, we are now in an all-against-all, zero-sum, winner-takes-all world. Any advantage you give to someone else is a cost to you. This is what Americans have voted for, this is what Americans want. This is what tough, up-by-your-bootstraps, American individualism looks like. Even those that will never get on the first rung of the ladder to success intuitively know this is the American way. If people didn't want it this way, then it would change. MAGA
2
Can't tell you the number of people with Masters' degrees I know with low-paying jobs and student debt up the wazoo and who don't have the luxury or time to breast-feed their babies at home.
3
How very insulting. I am a high school graduate. I am NOT upper middle class, I am working class and yet, I actually have been to Italian deli's before and not only know what most of those meats are, I also know that you can ask a question. You treated this person as a moron instead of maybe helping her with the menu.
8
Here in DC elite college educated type's are paying me (and struggling) to live in my basement apartments. I'm talking Georgetown Law Grads, in one case a Rhode Scholar, who has the financial sense of an ant. She's still caught up in the housing crash, house upside down property in Atlanta, had to drop rent enough on her 3000 sft. house in ATL so that us "low educated" types could afford it. While for sake of false appearance and status she continues to live here with the other herds of lawyers (every other person here seems to hold a law degree) pretending all is well. But hey, she scrambles the $2100.00 per month for one of my 450 sft basement apartments. I'm retired military, and learned early on that property ownership, trumps elite degrees any day:-)
I'll keep collecting rents on my apartments & row houses in DC, while living in good ole Virginia, and eating my " Ray's Hell Burgers" Lol. Even President Obama was a fan of these burgers!
I'll keep collecting rents on my apartments & row houses in DC, while living in good ole Virginia, and eating my " Ray's Hell Burgers" Lol. Even President Obama was a fan of these burgers!
1
Kim, I'm one of those lawyers with elite degrees you seem to detest. I agree that rental property ownership would trump my degree and (pretty good) salary, but alas, while you were able to prospect cheap property thirty/forty years ago as a blue (green?) collar guy, that game is now out of the hands of all but the truly wealthy (especially those with inherited wealth or wealthy parents). Many of those elitist dopes you rent to are likely one generation removed from blue collar workers, and were told to work hard in school to do well. And they did, and yet still aren't able to move up a rung. Now why do you suppose that might be?
Without an advanced degree, I can certainly relate. When a restaurant in my old neighborhood opened called "Pomodoro East," I immediately crashed through the front door yelling, "GET YOUR ELITIST CAPICOLLO OUT OF HERE!" ran out and took refuge in Las Maracas, where I was plied with margaritas until I calmed down enough to drive the General Lee home.
5
I could be wrong, but this appears to be the same old Democrats complaining about Republicans, the Republicans being the upper middle-class keeping the downtrodden poor Democrats in the dirt.
I have no stake in that game because I am as a libertarian as you can get, and I am no more of a fan of Republicans or the rich than I am of Democrats or liberals.
But if I am correct about this game, I must remind the author that it was the liberals and the Democrats that created this very issue by shoving all of the poor together in huge projects across the nation to begin with. It was the liberals and Democrats that created the special zones that are so wonderful for crime and education and most other social issues.
And now they want to whine that the Republicans and the rich are to blame? Politics as usual I guess.
To give a one-liner about families taking care of their own being OK, while slamming that same thought throughout the rest of the article, is like saying a mom in a car accident with her son and her sons friend, taking care of her own son first makes her responsible for the sons friend's death.
I have no stake in that game because I am as a libertarian as you can get, and I am no more of a fan of Republicans or the rich than I am of Democrats or liberals.
But if I am correct about this game, I must remind the author that it was the liberals and the Democrats that created this very issue by shoving all of the poor together in huge projects across the nation to begin with. It was the liberals and Democrats that created the special zones that are so wonderful for crime and education and most other social issues.
And now they want to whine that the Republicans and the rich are to blame? Politics as usual I guess.
To give a one-liner about families taking care of their own being OK, while slamming that same thought throughout the rest of the article, is like saying a mom in a car accident with her son and her sons friend, taking care of her own son first makes her responsible for the sons friend's death.
It's sad to read comments lumping the entire Midwest into monoliths of Trump voters – it’s huge and not uniform within counties let alone across states. I came from rural America in the days when you could save money for college, get scholarships, go to grad school and not be crushed by debt. My 8th grade grad mother gave me a book on etiquette. You don’t need money to have courtesy and manners she said. Economic and social mobility was real then and I feel we are a lesser country for its loss. WW2 created a generation more integrated across economic classes – though not across race and other divides sadly -- that progress has taken too long and has so far to go, but healing economic divides would help there too.
Despite my education, travel and time in New York, I’m only one for four on the sandwich descriptors Brooks lists -- my less educated young self might have felt awkward, lacking confidence because everyone knows this stuff – I’d have thought. With higher education comes a confidence that can be hard to acquire otherwise, particularly in a lower income family.
Brooks did not mention another major divide for young people – who can make calls for you? People where I live have connections to get their kid summer jobs, internships, job interviews. I was 35 years old before anyone made a call for me for a job – at least social media may give people better networking opportunities than the dark ages when someone important “dialed” up a friend to help me out.
Despite my education, travel and time in New York, I’m only one for four on the sandwich descriptors Brooks lists -- my less educated young self might have felt awkward, lacking confidence because everyone knows this stuff – I’d have thought. With higher education comes a confidence that can be hard to acquire otherwise, particularly in a lower income family.
Brooks did not mention another major divide for young people – who can make calls for you? People where I live have connections to get their kid summer jobs, internships, job interviews. I was 35 years old before anyone made a call for me for a job – at least social media may give people better networking opportunities than the dark ages when someone important “dialed” up a friend to help me out.
1
You rail against the upper middle class for placing barriers (cultural, financial, educational) against the poorer but can't see how you did the exact same thing to your friend who was unfamiliar with Italian food? You could have explained to her what those words meant and given her an opportunity to explore something new while in safe, enjoyable, and experienced company, rather than take her away back to what she already knew and perpetuate that particular cultural barrier for her.
3
Well said, Mr. Brooks. Our self-imposed segregation in this country has gotten pretty extreme, and we all have to make efforts to cultivate diversity in our circles and interactions with others.
2
It seems to me that most of the practices which Mr. Brooks cites as exclusionary are more of the same things he calls ensuring the advantaged future of our children (i.e. ensuring the continuing economic inequality). It seems to me the the sort of practices that would allow more social mobility are the affirmative action programs that the Supreme Court has gutted and the use of financial tools like need-based scholarships combined with need-blind admissions, admission to charter schools by lottery and a reduction in the racism still evident in housing availability that would open up routes of upward mobility to those not enjoying current financial advantages.
It's economics.
Equalize the money and the schools will equalize too. Like magic. Any city with suburbs in Middle America offers wildly different public schools. People have segregated themselves by wealth.
Brooks points to real issues but definitely NOT the main one somehow.
Equalize the money and the schools will equalize too. Like magic. Any city with suburbs in Middle America offers wildly different public schools. People have segregated themselves by wealth.
Brooks points to real issues but definitely NOT the main one somehow.
2
Why are the selections at an Italian sandwich shop elitist? Those items have been enjoyed by the middle and poor classes in Italy for decades (if not centuries). Just because the names are foreign, does not make them elitist. Many Americans seem not to know what Weiner schnitzel is, when really its just a chicken fried steak! If the writer wanted to invite his interviewee to such a sandwich shop, and she was not familiar with the menu, he could have politely helped her choose something she might enjoy. I find this demonstration to be an act of theatre.
3
Well, what the heck is a Barre Technique? I'm educated, and haven't a clue. Sigh. Is it just a local NYC thing? David, come out of New York and experience the rest of the country. I think that, perhaps, once you get out of the 1% world, you will find a lot more to think about than those weird conformist Pilates, fashions, strollers, Barre Techniques, icky sandwiches, etc. (I do love NYC, btw.)
1
It's ballet barre technique...if you had a child who liked ballet you'd know.
1
My parents, who doesn't even have a high school diploma, instilled the importance of education in me and tried their best to provide me good education. Good education doesn't mean going to top rated school; just making sure you learn from whatever school you attend. This article seem to imply such parenting is taking opportunity away from somebody else. Isn't it called working hard and competing to be successful? By all definition, I can be called upper middle and I am just trying to do the same thing that my parents did to me to my kids. That is, instill in them the importance of education and and even make sacrifices for their education's sake. What is wrong in a parent trying to provide the best for their kids? If a student is sincere, he/she can good education even from community college. Nowadays the kind of knowledge you can get thru many online forums (Khan academy, Coursera, and many online courses from IVY league) can prepare you to find a well paying job. One may not become Nobel laureate or start the next Google/Facebook getting knowledge thru this route, but find a decent job in these companies. The knowledge is free, it is up to individual to consume it. Blaming the people trying to be successful will not advance the humanity and society.
When working for a multinational based in NJ one of my responsibilities was recruiting entry level and slightly higher accounting and finance positions. Invariably we filled these positions with the children of immigrants that graduated from NJ state schools. These kids tended to live with their parents and had no interest in being Upper East Side sisters and bros. No interest in film school or any other indulgent behavior. They earned a good living and were placed on a good career path.
2
I have a college degree and income in the top 5 percent of wage earners. But even I would prefer the Mexican restaurant over the gourmet sandwich shop.
Let's talk more about raising the minimum wage and single payer health care. Income inequality is what makes cultural signifiers so prevelent. Those did not exist when there was less class distinctions and the public schools were supported by a strong middle class.
Let's talk more about raising the minimum wage and single payer health care. Income inequality is what makes cultural signifiers so prevelent. Those did not exist when there was less class distinctions and the public schools were supported by a strong middle class.
4
David, nobody is born knowing what capicollo and soppressata are. Hell, I have a master's degree and I used to work in the gourmet department of Neiman-Marcus in Beverly Hills, and I don't know what they are, either! I don't know why you didn't take the opportunity to educate your friend about the intricacies of Italian gourmet delicacies. Then, next time, she'll know, and maybe even pass on the information to one of her friends. The best thing we can do to bridge the class divide is education. To do this, though, we'll need to overcome the cultural antipathy that seems to exist among the working classes towards education. Those of us who are better educated need to approach this divide with understanding and compassion. I'm sure there are also a lot of things that your friend knows that you don't. What a missed opportunity for shared cultural learning! Then again, Mexican food is great, too, although my well-educated mother from Beverly Hills wouldn't know a chimichanga from a chilaquile.
35
Even those of us with advanced degrees who do not participate in the "in" culture are often left out. I recently went to a restaurant and had no idea what a "flight" of guacamole options were. (I was told that it's like a flight of beer, which I was not familiar with since I'm now retired and don't go to the "in" places.) I will also be looking up intersectionality, David Foster Wallace, and barre technique.
But at least, in my case, I'm older and confident enough in my education to say that I don't know these things. (I'll be looking them up following my post.) But it is so true that so many of our youth are truly not playing on a level playing field. And it seems - from my watching my nephew, his wife, and how they're raising their children - that everything now is so focused on "what you need to know, do, eat, etc." Even their birthday parties for a one year old, their announcement of gender parties, and the many "classes" such as art, music, sports for two year olds are way beyond anything in my experience.
But at least, in my case, I'm older and confident enough in my education to say that I don't know these things. (I'll be looking them up following my post.) But it is so true that so many of our youth are truly not playing on a level playing field. And it seems - from my watching my nephew, his wife, and how they're raising their children - that everything now is so focused on "what you need to know, do, eat, etc." Even their birthday parties for a one year old, their announcement of gender parties, and the many "classes" such as art, music, sports for two year olds are way beyond anything in my experience.
2
so what is the take away here? We should not provide enrichment and the best possible education for our children such that they regress to the mean? How will this make America better? Why not teach children to be engaged with the broader community and find ways meaningful to them to help those less fortunate??
3
Thanks to the Regan revolution and people like you Mr. Brooks, America has been turned into a third world country, where the richest 0.01% own most of the resources and their greed and incompetence has turned this country into a know nothing waste land! Donald Trump is only a symptom of more than 40 years of planning.
5
The poor are not kept away from better neighborhoods by "housing and construction rules." They are kept away by the profit motive, which still dictates what will be renovated or built where, and what it will cost to live in which parts of the City. You either institute socialism to change this, or you don't - period.
Furthermore, moving low-rent payers into the physical borders of Brooklyn Heights wouldn’t get their children out of poverty. Employment opportunities are being choked off over time to save costs for US corporate interests, and the right-wing government takeover will ensure this is never reversed. Against these realities, Brooks’ reference to cultural class-signifiers is utterly trivial. When people were making themselves rich in the US, they crushed the old cultural signifiers and invented their own.
Furthermore, moving low-rent payers into the physical borders of Brooklyn Heights wouldn’t get their children out of poverty. Employment opportunities are being choked off over time to save costs for US corporate interests, and the right-wing government takeover will ensure this is never reversed. Against these realities, Brooks’ reference to cultural class-signifiers is utterly trivial. When people were making themselves rich in the US, they crushed the old cultural signifiers and invented their own.
3
You are absurd and live in your own bubble of false causes and conditions. I am a highly educated professional, retired educator and grandmother who came from a poor lower working class family to get scholarships etc. neither of my parents graduated high school. All 9 of their children got undergraddegees as starting points, then went much further. And I have no idea what the fancy sandwich names are either. Your instant judgement of your companion shows your own prejudices. You are the problem, spotting such nonsense out of your own biases. Structural discrimination goes indeed exist, but you don't understand it at all.
4
You're RETIRED. Try getting ahead today!
Mr. Brooks --
Our country has populated itself with many many poor and disadvantaged people, who are slowly being forgotten. This is what you Republicans wanted, so you shouldn't complain now, eh?
David
Our country has populated itself with many many poor and disadvantaged people, who are slowly being forgotten. This is what you Republicans wanted, so you shouldn't complain now, eh?
David
3
This article is on the money in many ways. Mr. Brooks focuses on zoning laws and the educational system, and is right on both. Other factors like the mortgage interest deduction, 529 plans, and the like also overwhelmingly benefit those of us in the upper middle class. The only thing that I take issue with is the notion that the social barriers are somehow worse than the structural ones. Yes, there is an upper middle class "code" but, unlike the structural barriers, it can be overcome by individuals learning the code - just like one learns a foreign language or how to change a tire. I started off in the "other 80%" but went to good schools, paid attention to those who grew up in the "club", and learned the code. I also find the anecdote about Mr. Brook's friend amusing and ironic. She is made "anxious" by a few Italian words but apparently has no problem with the Spanish words on the menu at a Mexican restaurant? If all it takes to overcome the social barriers is to learn some Italian food words, the structural barriers seem to me to be much more intractable!
Beautifully written Mr. Brooks!
1
If you ask me, “the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace,” would be to read his writings.
3
Well, elite universities have "food banks", like here at Columbia, because some kids from out of the class struggle to pay for their meals in Upper West Side.
After a long, thoughtful piece about inequality, privilege and opportunity, I think maybe your last two lines smacks of condescension:
"The rest of America can’t name them, can’t understand them. They just know they’re there."
Why can't these people understand this? Can't they read?
"The rest of America can’t name them, can’t understand them. They just know they’re there."
Why can't these people understand this? Can't they read?
3
What? Why assumed this poor uneducated friend didn't know what the sandwiches were? Maybe she was just frustrated with the fact that she had to spend $20 on a fancy sandwich with her not-college-educated income (which probably doesn't permit a whole lot of fancy sandwich purchases per month), and Chipotle sounded more appealing.
32
Wait, the point is, we need more taco trucks to counter the rise in Italian delis? I'm so confused.
7
We can't all be in the 'upper classes', but we can, with a humane electorate and political system, provide the basic necessities of life that are otherwise unfordable.
The egregiously greedy Republicans care for no one. Would it be too much for them to see that we have quality affordable education, healthcare for all, public transit in metro areas, and affordable housing?
This country is falling apart because people and corporations like the Koch brothers are obsessed with the few having all and the many having the scraps that fall from the table. If they are not careful there will rioting and possibly revolution. This is not my threat, it is fact based on historical evidence.
The egregiously greedy Republicans care for no one. Would it be too much for them to see that we have quality affordable education, healthcare for all, public transit in metro areas, and affordable housing?
This country is falling apart because people and corporations like the Koch brothers are obsessed with the few having all and the many having the scraps that fall from the table. If they are not careful there will rioting and possibly revolution. This is not my threat, it is fact based on historical evidence.
4
I've been voting Democrat for decades, but my rich
elite liberal town is deliberately pricing me and all
the working and middle class out. It's not just a
Republican problem.
elite liberal town is deliberately pricing me and all
the working and middle class out. It's not just a
Republican problem.
"Well-educated people tend to live in places like Portland, New York and San Francisco that have housing and construction rules that keep the poor and less educated away from places with good schools and good job opportunities."
Cities ruled by the "Progressive" Left.
Cities ruled by the "Progressive" Left.
1
Frankly, the "surprise" election results are no surprise when a candidate calls a large block of voters "deplorables". That pretty much is an elitist statement that is likely to rub people the wrong way. People with modest formal education are not merely a servant class for the elite and resent being treated that way. Despite a professed allegiance to inclusion and equality, liberal elites have for generations been segregating and insulating themselves from everyone else. Private schools, gentrification, cultural discrimination and the strong belief that lesser people simply don't know what's good for them. These elites are simply so far removed from the difficulties of life for most Americans that the lesser educated are reduced to political demographics and their real concerns are unknown or just dismissed. They see gun control but dismiss those who are realistically concerned about self-defense. They support gas taxes as a way to reduce consumption without concern for the working poor who must wait in six below weather for a bus that is late. They fight school choice then happily help themselves to all the great educational choices that will assure that their children get the "right" education. Yet they are surprised when people get angry and vote accordingly.
5
The problem is that rural/blue collar folks think they are the REAL America as opposed to those folks that live in urban areas. BOTH are REAL America created in America by Americans. What you describe is a critique of capitalism itself. Complaining about the very system the deplorables claim to uphold with every fiber of their patriotic being is a bit hypocritical.
The problem is that rural folks think they are the REAL America as opposed to those folks that live in urban areas. BOTH are REAL America created in America by Americans. What you describe is a critique of capitalism itself. Complaining about the very system the deplorables claim to uphold with every fiber of their patriotic being is a bit hypocritical.
The problem is that rural folks think they are the REAL America as opposed to those folks that live in urban areas. BOTH are REAL America created in America by Americans. What you describe is a critique of capitalism itself. Complaining about the very system the deplorables claim to uphold with every fiber of their patriotic being is a bit hypocritical.
If two people are down and I reach down and help one up have I conspired in some way to keep the other person down? Of course not. On balance there is one more person standing then before I helped out. Parents will almost always help their children make their way in the world. They are not "ruining America" in the process. Just the opposite in fact.
3
Trust me. They are ruining my town.
They have ruined it.
They have ruined it.
There's so much work to be done. But the folks at the top conflate the efforts that would fix problems with fears and "isms" held by the poor, working and middle classes. So it's blocked. What is needed?
Universal healthcare; a stipend paid quarterly to pregnant women and moms of young children to help provide nutritious meals and warm clothes to young children; education funded equitably (per capita with extra for special needs services) either by the state or federal government; a $15 an hour minimum wage and a government that promotes all kinds of jobs; family leave legislation so parents can take a year off to care for a new baby; $7/day daycare provided by government regulated (high-quality) daycare centers; seamless before- and after-school child care at all elementary schools also for $7 per day with drop offs starting at 6:30am and pick ups until 6:30pm; virtually free education through graduate level so that a summer job really can pay for higher education if a young person has a little drive.
Sound like a dream? It's reality right now in Canada. If the Canadians can do it, why can't Americans?
Universal healthcare; a stipend paid quarterly to pregnant women and moms of young children to help provide nutritious meals and warm clothes to young children; education funded equitably (per capita with extra for special needs services) either by the state or federal government; a $15 an hour minimum wage and a government that promotes all kinds of jobs; family leave legislation so parents can take a year off to care for a new baby; $7/day daycare provided by government regulated (high-quality) daycare centers; seamless before- and after-school child care at all elementary schools also for $7 per day with drop offs starting at 6:30am and pick ups until 6:30pm; virtually free education through graduate level so that a summer job really can pay for higher education if a young person has a little drive.
Sound like a dream? It's reality right now in Canada. If the Canadians can do it, why can't Americans?
7
Great article. The ones who believe that nothing stands in the way of anyone who wants to succeed needs to check their college education, skin color, bank balance and overall privilege at the door and try getting ahead with that. Kids don't pick the circumstances they are born into. For those of us lucky enough to have lucked out, it is our duty (and should be OUR privilege) to ensure that others are afforded something approaching a fair shot at the American Dream. Anything less is, well, unAmerican.
4
I have seen some history. The best investment the government made in the 1940's was the GI Bill of Rights giving vets a college education. My dad owned a small factory, a family business. We were not rich but we did well. My older brother having returned from the war told me at 16, that he had to fight a war but I was going to go to college. If he needed me he would call be back into the business.
I went to Queens College (class of ‘56), then tuition free for the academically elite. I have 4 degrees including a doctorate and I made some observations. People with money live in better neighborhoods, in better homes or apartments, drive more expensive cars and dine in restaurants more often, send their kids to summer camp and save for their educations because life is a race and one wants to give one’s kids a good position on the starting line.
That being obvious, here is something else: Our present society and our economy is a zero sum game and for every winner there are likely more losers, when it comes to the allocation of scarce commodities such as housing and education. So this is not class warfare as Mr. Brooks suggests; it is how our present system works.
If we had a meritocracy where the brightest and most talented get there education, as of right, where college education is guaranteed in s state supported college with room and board, we then develop a national asset, which is worth the investment in our own youth and will pay off for the next generation.
I went to Queens College (class of ‘56), then tuition free for the academically elite. I have 4 degrees including a doctorate and I made some observations. People with money live in better neighborhoods, in better homes or apartments, drive more expensive cars and dine in restaurants more often, send their kids to summer camp and save for their educations because life is a race and one wants to give one’s kids a good position on the starting line.
That being obvious, here is something else: Our present society and our economy is a zero sum game and for every winner there are likely more losers, when it comes to the allocation of scarce commodities such as housing and education. So this is not class warfare as Mr. Brooks suggests; it is how our present system works.
If we had a meritocracy where the brightest and most talented get there education, as of right, where college education is guaranteed in s state supported college with room and board, we then develop a national asset, which is worth the investment in our own youth and will pay off for the next generation.
3
One of the reasons why some families, regardless of their "Social Class" have more time to spend with their children and more resources to lavish on them is that they have fewer of them. Fecundity is a simple matter of personal choice.
When I was a volunteer teacher in a GED program it was depressing to see the teenage girls with one or more children who because of their own lack of education had nothing of any value, other than their love, to impart to there children.
When I was a volunteer teacher in a GED program it was depressing to see the teenage girls with one or more children who because of their own lack of education had nothing of any value, other than their love, to impart to there children.
2
Well, material things are great, but one can manage on love, after the basics are met. However, unless educated, today's jobs do not meet that measure. So we should ask - with - a couple thousand of comments ---- "Who allowed profits on cheap labor and thought no one would notice?"
2
Not true. In my town, it's the rich white liberals who are breeding
out of control. The rest of us are paying for it, going broke, then leaving.
out of control. The rest of us are paying for it, going broke, then leaving.
i wasn't talking about material things. They had no education, experience or wisdom to impart as they had hardly lived themselves. They couldn't, or wouldn't read with their children because they could hardly read.
Let's give this class problem some historical context. The weakening of labor unions in the 1980s curtailed opportunity for many Americans to live a comfortable, middle class life without going to college.
It's not the lattes that separate classes. It's the wages.
It's not the lattes that separate classes. It's the wages.
10
This article has some positive points and Brooks is right about how things seem rigged against those with less opportunity and education.
But I remember a time in this country when even the less educated locked themselves into all white suburbs with decent schools and opportunities for their kids, while blocking out minorities.
As long as we have people in government who put less emphasis on educating everyone equally and more emphasis on lowering taxes, nothing will change.
But I remember a time in this country when even the less educated locked themselves into all white suburbs with decent schools and opportunities for their kids, while blocking out minorities.
As long as we have people in government who put less emphasis on educating everyone equally and more emphasis on lowering taxes, nothing will change.
2
I am a tenured professor at a large land grant university. My girlfriend has an MBA and is quite successful. We dedicate significant amounts of time and treasure to our 5 kids, hoping to provide opportunities to them we never had growing up. But like our like-minded friends, we don't set about erecting "barriers" for those who might compete with our kids; we are simply too exhausted form parenting to do so. Instead, we advocate, argue and willingly offer to pay higher taxes to help those who we know don't have the same fortune as our own. Mr. Brooks--some of the BOS-WASH elite may do what you say they do, but most people in the upper middle class really do have a sense of humility, and even maybe decency. But their voices are still drowned out by the moneyed interests in Washington, who are truly engaged in a fight to the death to starve government.
6
Please stop trying to lay a guilt trip on educated Liberals. It gets really tedious. So many things wrong with this article I don't know where to start.
According to 538, voters with college degrees favor the DEMs over the GOP.
The DEMs have generally done far more to open education opportunities than the GOP. So blaming college-educated parents for trying to get the best for their children is absurd. Those same college parents are voting for the party that supports education funding, free community college, a reliable tax base for public schools, etc.
Community colleges used to be free in a lot of states. Trade schools were within reach of most people.
Now, with the global shift in industry there are fewer and fewer factory jobs. So the trade school is not an option anymore.
Thanks to a GOP determined to eviscerate government, community colleges are struggling to survive, while imposing tuition fees that make them unreachable to many.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-w...
According to 538, voters with college degrees favor the DEMs over the GOP.
The DEMs have generally done far more to open education opportunities than the GOP. So blaming college-educated parents for trying to get the best for their children is absurd. Those same college parents are voting for the party that supports education funding, free community college, a reliable tax base for public schools, etc.
Community colleges used to be free in a lot of states. Trade schools were within reach of most people.
Now, with the global shift in industry there are fewer and fewer factory jobs. So the trade school is not an option anymore.
Thanks to a GOP determined to eviscerate government, community colleges are struggling to survive, while imposing tuition fees that make them unreachable to many.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-w...
5
It is good that this column is an opinion for mine is diametrically opposed. I am where I am because of the work ethic instilled by my parents and their insistence that I get a college degree. They could not afford to help financially, but I made it on my own. Meanwhile many of the families who are on aid have mother at home teaching the children the ins and outs of the welfare system.
2
Was it truly on your own? Because right now, we have a situation where, my grandson's best friend will end up debt free because of Pell Grants and my grandson ends up $80K in debt. $80,000 dollars in debt because he wanted an education and the other guy gets it free?
1
I scarcely don't you paid for your entire college education straight put off pocket with no help from anyone or other entity.
Oooh, nasty. And do you know that for a fact?
1
Good to see David back to his old stalking-horse, the coded tastes of the upper middle class. He made hay with this in his book, Bohos In Paradise. (You're welcome for the plug, Dave.) Just as long as we all acknowledge that a taste for guns is also purely a matter of taste - the vast majority of them unused and purely symbolic of a coded belief system based on not much.
2
"American upper-middle-class culture ... is now laced with cultural signifiers .... Their chief message is, 'You are not welcome here.'”
This is a problem. Maybe worse than what the media is spoon feeding us daily.
This is a problem. Maybe worse than what the media is spoon feeding us daily.
"Aspiring to Waspdom" is still an "American" value?
1
Thank you David. These are "the brahmins" of America. Much more devastating than any other class or caste system because of it's invisibility.
"Breast-feed at higher rates" And this is divisive? Oh, Dave. Take an upper middle class nap.
1
Geez, David. You could have said, "My treat."
4
This is David Brooks at his most bizarre. What was insensitive about taking his "friend" to a place where he liked the food? Did they suddenly leave because he couldn't explain to her what sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette were? Who was embarrassed here and why? He was embarrassed FOR her, and that is patronizing. This is how things are kept from people, we make assumptions about them, that they don't know, wouldn't like or wouldn't understand what is foreign to them or 'too complicated" like why for-profit health care is morally questionable, how dangerous global warming is to strategic global politics, etc.. Mr. Brooks is not practicing the egalitarianism he seems to be preaching here.
7
Hey David, I am double Ivy, live not far from you, and have no idea what soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette are, either. And I can tell you from experience that the vaunted Montgomery County Public Schools are not nearly as great as many say they are. Motivated kids in DC and elsewhere with strong and encouraging parents can get a solid education and succeed academically, too. The notion that you need a certain stroller -- we did not -- or hold strong opinions on David Foster Wallace -- never read him -- for your children to succeed academically and in life in general is complete and utter nonsense. And if those are the people you are spending time with or are allowing them to influence your life, maybe you need new friends.
Yes, it is difficult to climb the ladder of academic and financial success in America -- and, yes, some people have certain advantages (life will never be completely fair) -- but it is far from impossible. As someone who is normally a bleeding heart liberal, it is striking for me to hear a Republican like you make excuses for those who think it cannot be done and -- worse yet -- do not even try. And finally, the next time you take a friend to a restaurant, museum or anywhere else for that matter, and they know less than you do, take a second to educate them rather than letting them take the easy way out. Geez, what's gotten into you?
Yes, it is difficult to climb the ladder of academic and financial success in America -- and, yes, some people have certain advantages (life will never be completely fair) -- but it is far from impossible. As someone who is normally a bleeding heart liberal, it is striking for me to hear a Republican like you make excuses for those who think it cannot be done and -- worse yet -- do not even try. And finally, the next time you take a friend to a restaurant, museum or anywhere else for that matter, and they know less than you do, take a second to educate them rather than letting them take the easy way out. Geez, what's gotten into you?
7
I agree with some of your arguments: certainly the richer suburbs should be faulted for zoning laws that keep the riffraff out from their parent-enriched "public" schools. Businesses who only look at candidates from Ivy League schools are also a problem. "Hiring people who look/eat/talk like you" will only further stratify our society.
However, I doubt your "friend with only a high school degree" will remain your friend after reading that condescending paragraph about her. Pretty sure a person with a GED living in Little Italy would be comfortable with "soppressata", while a PhD who grew up in Boise might not be. Or maybe she doesn't like fatty pork products? Heck, I don't know the different Italian meats, and I'm a person with a post-college degree living in a fancy Northeast suburb. I just don't take myself as seriously as you.
However, I doubt your "friend with only a high school degree" will remain your friend after reading that condescending paragraph about her. Pretty sure a person with a GED living in Little Italy would be comfortable with "soppressata", while a PhD who grew up in Boise might not be. Or maybe she doesn't like fatty pork products? Heck, I don't know the different Italian meats, and I'm a person with a post-college degree living in a fancy Northeast suburb. I just don't take myself as seriously as you.
2
You know Mr. Brooks, I'm the son of a PhD, have a masters degree and am a CPA. I have no idea what Padrino, Pomodoro, soppressata, capicollo, or striata are. Baguette is, I believe, some variety of bread. Either I haven't gotten the 2017 edition of the privileged lexicon or I just don't go to those sorts of restaurants. I will however turn my nose up at what sort of Mexican food you have on the east cost (presuming New York).
Now if you don't mind I will enjoy my breakfast bean and sausage breakfast taco. (Flower tortilla, re-friend bean paste, and thick cut spicy sausage links)
Now if you don't mind I will enjoy my breakfast bean and sausage breakfast taco. (Flower tortilla, re-friend bean paste, and thick cut spicy sausage links)
2
"WE" are not ruining America. Republicrooks and Crony Capitalists (and the highly corrupt Koch Brothers) are ruining America. You, Mr Brooks, are a part of it, with all your apologies and word (i.e. MEANING) twisting. So, wrong again.
8
Well, we've come a long way in this country. The class warfare and discrimination used to be defined by race and ethnic background. According to David Brooks it's now a schism between the smart and the stupid. David, watch the movie Idiocracy again and then get back to me with a column of solutions, not just idle observations.
2
Soon, David will be advocating single-payer health insurance. Perhaps his head isn't as hard as I thought.
1
David, there is nothing new here. Wasn't Literacy itself an indication of class from early Rome all the way to the 20th century? Men in certain countries still do not teach the girls in order to keep them down. I bemoan the fact that this exists, but human beings are basically selfish creatures.
Your comments about lunch with your "high school degree only" friend was one of the most patronizing things I've ever read. The poor thing couldn't figure out a sandwich menu? Pity the befuddled 80%.
As a member of the 80% (though I have a college degree), I'd like to point out the sandwich I desire - and not with my index finger.
Your educated class also makes up the pseudo "tasteful" dweebs who think their material wealth makes them better than others. I know the type; they bore me.
Real people who live life with spirit, optimism, and a sense of family are what make America - or any country - great. You don't need a degree to realize this, but maybe having one makes it harder to see.
By the way, I bet I could go to one of our local, "hole in the wall" Mexican restaurants and get a mole dish more refined and tasty than whatever a striata baguette is (ya, it's a piece of bread, right?).
As a member of the 80% (though I have a college degree), I'd like to point out the sandwich I desire - and not with my index finger.
Your educated class also makes up the pseudo "tasteful" dweebs who think their material wealth makes them better than others. I know the type; they bore me.
Real people who live life with spirit, optimism, and a sense of family are what make America - or any country - great. You don't need a degree to realize this, but maybe having one makes it harder to see.
By the way, I bet I could go to one of our local, "hole in the wall" Mexican restaurants and get a mole dish more refined and tasty than whatever a striata baguette is (ya, it's a piece of bread, right?).
5
One thing that crosses ALL cultural boundaries: The incredibly annoying GOP fall-back habit of blaming women when their stupid policies need real examination. Trump regularly hauls out Hillary Clinton or Rosie O'Donnell. Brooks has middle class moms and their baby carriers. Ugh. Stop it.
Focus on this David: GOP Stoopid
Focus on this David: GOP Stoopid
4
Insensitively, he led a friend with only a high school degree into a gourmet sandwich shop where she couldn't handle sandwiches name "Padrino" and "Pomodoro". Wow! Brooks is the poster child for the elites that Trump voters despise.
1
Mr. Brookes, I'm disappointed, if not annoyed, by your shallow piece, with a hyperbolical title"How We Are Ruining America." Mr. Brookes, get serious. Are we really ruining American by shopping at Whole Foods, and stop eating unpronounceably named sandwiches?
The real barriers that prevent upward mobility are unemployment, poor public education, and lack of opportunity, which the Republican "pull yourself up by your boot straps" philosophy and resentment of the poor helped create.
The real barriers that prevent upward mobility are unemployment, poor public education, and lack of opportunity, which the Republican "pull yourself up by your boot straps" philosophy and resentment of the poor helped create.
6
So, what David is saying is that people are obsessed with status, and displaying their status through innumerable symbols, such as where they eat, what diaper bag they buy, what clothes they and their kids wear, etc. People are excluding others from their group because they don't want to socialize with anyone who doesn't share their status. Elites don't want to send their kids to school with anyone outside of their class--lower class feel afraid or unwelcome at museums, trendy restaurants, etc. This is just another manifestation of the self-segregation that has been happening in the last several decades, as rich get richer and poor get poorer, the middle class is shrinking, and our country is getting more divided. The answer would be to have more mixed neighborhoods, schools, community groups, etc. where people encounter others outside of their own narrow cliques. That used to be what happened in college--but not in Ivy League schools, of course, and it won't happen now with the GOP defunding public schools and state colleges and universities.
2
Most people can remember, if only vaguely, the 4th grade. It is an interesting time in any school but more so in the smaller "mill towns" where most everyone you encounter is "working class" -- especially your peer group. They enjoy picking on and at each other, throwing spit-wads and especially noticing the budding girls. And of course ignoring and disrespecting the teachers. Sad because the 4th grade is a great dividing time where curiosity, intellect and cognitive skills begin separating us into "the Blade or the Block".
Maybe I was lucky but I had then and now 70-years after a thrill and love of learning - and while I played on every team -- baseball, football and lacrosse -- my one solace in this maze of irrational behavior was Mrs. Miller the Librarian. She taught me the Dewey Decimal System and let me borrow 5-books at a time when she saw that three only lasted until Wednesday and finally "hired" me as the first Assistant ever in that shabby rundown 1889 red stone school. I was also lucky to be able to put up a pretty good fist fight once word got around - "library boy".
The poor and disadvantaged are the way they are for two reasons -- lack of motivation and lack of parental interest at an early age. And here we have Brooks lamenting their plight like a garden variety sophomore Socialist.
Let the wretches put down their fists and spit-wads and pick up a load of books - and a good paper dictionary!
Maybe I was lucky but I had then and now 70-years after a thrill and love of learning - and while I played on every team -- baseball, football and lacrosse -- my one solace in this maze of irrational behavior was Mrs. Miller the Librarian. She taught me the Dewey Decimal System and let me borrow 5-books at a time when she saw that three only lasted until Wednesday and finally "hired" me as the first Assistant ever in that shabby rundown 1889 red stone school. I was also lucky to be able to put up a pretty good fist fight once word got around - "library boy".
The poor and disadvantaged are the way they are for two reasons -- lack of motivation and lack of parental interest at an early age. And here we have Brooks lamenting their plight like a garden variety sophomore Socialist.
Let the wretches put down their fists and spit-wads and pick up a load of books - and a good paper dictionary!
1
Brooks makes it sound like there is a conscious, deliberate effort to create an exclusive culture of the rich. Cultures arise in every context -- rich or not -- and are difficult to navigate by outsiders. Are you proposing the elimination of culture?
"Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette."
Talk about patronizing! I have a BA, MA, JD and Ph.D. I'm not poorly educated, to say the least. I don't recall ever seeing "soppresseta," "capicollo," and a "striata" baguette on a menu. Maybe I've seen them before, but I certainly couldn't tell you what they are. I'm perfectly comfortable admitting as much, and would have preferred Mexican too. Not because I am insecure about my social class or education, but mainly because I prefer to eat food I know I like! It's insane to me that Brooks thinks this anecdote signifies anything other than how presumptuous he is to assume the reason that someone prefers Mexican food is because she didn't go to Swarthmore.
Talk about patronizing! I have a BA, MA, JD and Ph.D. I'm not poorly educated, to say the least. I don't recall ever seeing "soppresseta," "capicollo," and a "striata" baguette on a menu. Maybe I've seen them before, but I certainly couldn't tell you what they are. I'm perfectly comfortable admitting as much, and would have preferred Mexican too. Not because I am insecure about my social class or education, but mainly because I prefer to eat food I know I like! It's insane to me that Brooks thinks this anecdote signifies anything other than how presumptuous he is to assume the reason that someone prefers Mexican food is because she didn't go to Swarthmore.
7
You're basing an assessment of a large group of people (those with only high school diplomas, a group in whose cohort I sit as a college drop-out) on one woman's reaction to a SANDWICH MENU? Wow, man, I have long thought you were slightly (or greatly, depending on the topic or the day) clueless, but this is Olympic level tone-deaf-ery you've got going on here. You might be floating this entire "insight" on one woman's fussy-eating preferences.
4
We're really at a loss when our most emotionally evolved begin to experience pleasure when they participate in a system where a lot of promising human beings will receive little feedback on their excellence... for them, it'll all seem to slip out into a void of no-response. I think for this to be happening, most upper-middle-class liberals have to experiencing some kind of growth panic, some sense that their prosperity is selfish and spoiled of them and warranting a punishment, and are in response helping nurture a society downgraded from the one they at some level know is the much richer -- a fully open society... some hippie '60s vision, that actually would be possible if we weren't bent on repeating the '30s.
Some gigantic maw is becoming satisfied, for the masses, whatever their talent, having to have to will past guaranteed invisibility to manifest their best creative work (in this, you are either exempt from being a troll by your class markers or are always partially a troll, culture, you will not be seen if you're on the out, no matter how able), and for so many liberals to force-deny themselves their more genuinely provisioning openness.
What came first -- trolls themselves? or the psychic need to obscure genuine talent and human interestingness by casting this dispersion over the bulk of the human lot, making the game not about saying something interesting and unique but about qualifying yourself as not as trollish as the other guys?
Some gigantic maw is becoming satisfied, for the masses, whatever their talent, having to have to will past guaranteed invisibility to manifest their best creative work (in this, you are either exempt from being a troll by your class markers or are always partially a troll, culture, you will not be seen if you're on the out, no matter how able), and for so many liberals to force-deny themselves their more genuinely provisioning openness.
What came first -- trolls themselves? or the psychic need to obscure genuine talent and human interestingness by casting this dispersion over the bulk of the human lot, making the game not about saying something interesting and unique but about qualifying yourself as not as trollish as the other guys?
DB: "Sorry to expose to exotic food that clash with your proletarian sensibilities!"
DB's Imaginary Friend: "Dave, I know what's in a hoagie."
DB's Imaginary Friend: "Dave, I know what's in a hoagie."
2
This is not a new idea. See Pierre Bourdieu's "Distinction."
I fear the elitist NYTimes has reached a new low with this Op-Ed. My hard work has enabled me to give my kids opportunities I could have only dreamt of . Not sure who Brooks is pandering to but this rubbish is just ridiculous.
8
I realize now what a blessing the GI Bill was. No way I would have gotten through
UW Architecture School and had a sucessful career. It's a pretty tough world now. JGAIA
UW Architecture School and had a sucessful career. It's a pretty tough world now. JGAIA
The first thing that jumped off the page at me was the description of the sandwich shop. David Brooks is always pontificating about religion, morals, and the rest of the right-wing family values claptrap. I have nothing against morals or religion, just the hypocrisy. David Brooks is also justifiably not ashamed to state that he's Jewish.
The Talmud states that causing someone embarrassment is akin to murdering them because when their face turns red it's like the blood draining from the body. Forgetting the rabbinical bungling of physiology, the message is that nobody should ever embarrass someone intentionally. Or, as Rabbi Hillel said when asked to summarize the entire Torah while standing on one foot: "what is hateful to you, do not do unto others. The rest is commentary, now go and study."
Does David's "friend" not read the NYT, especially his columns? Does a lack of familiarity with fancy names for what are really just variations of pork mean one is unable to read this article? Is Mr. Brooks going to embarrass his "friend" a second time when they read this? Let's completely overlook the fact that Jews that sermonize about religion and values and whatnot shouldn't be eating pork in the first place.
This piece, like most of what Brooks writes, is just an embarrassment. He simply can't call out the GOP for getting us to this particular crossroad, and he has no idea down which road to proceed. His party switched the signposts, and the scarecrow offers no help.
The Talmud states that causing someone embarrassment is akin to murdering them because when their face turns red it's like the blood draining from the body. Forgetting the rabbinical bungling of physiology, the message is that nobody should ever embarrass someone intentionally. Or, as Rabbi Hillel said when asked to summarize the entire Torah while standing on one foot: "what is hateful to you, do not do unto others. The rest is commentary, now go and study."
Does David's "friend" not read the NYT, especially his columns? Does a lack of familiarity with fancy names for what are really just variations of pork mean one is unable to read this article? Is Mr. Brooks going to embarrass his "friend" a second time when they read this? Let's completely overlook the fact that Jews that sermonize about religion and values and whatnot shouldn't be eating pork in the first place.
This piece, like most of what Brooks writes, is just an embarrassment. He simply can't call out the GOP for getting us to this particular crossroad, and he has no idea down which road to proceed. His party switched the signposts, and the scarecrow offers no help.
4
The social code does matter, but not the way Brooks thinks. A lot of poor, almost poor, and skin-of-your-teeth middle class folks can't stand latte sipping, Pilates loving, fancy sandwich eating Democrats--you know, the ones that want everybody to have health care and all that elite stuff. So the code works in a perverse way. It affects how people vote (often against their own economic interest). It's not what keeps them from getting educated and getting jobs. By the way, I just found out what quinoa is, and it's not nearly as bad as it sounds.
18
I thought I was educated about until I got to the deli meat section of the piece.
"pediacracy?" is Brooks making up words?
"pediacracy?" is Brooks making up words?
I grew up rather modestly, sharing a bedroom with siblings in a cramped house, with parents having never attended college, and now go to one of the top schools (top 3) in the United States. I once believed that the US was a pure meritocracy in the embodiment of the American Dream, but the amount of privilege I encounter on a more than regular basis makes me believe otherwise. Naively I thought a non-insignificant portion of students would have similar backgrounds to mine, however I found that this was not often the case, even if other students would claim to come from modesty. I had once overheard a student complain that their parents were "just" doctors.
I stress that the vast majority of students don't show off their wealth, but at times I encounter people bragging about their parents' houses, kids barely over 18 driving brand new Porsches, unsolicited name-dropping, or flashing some form of monetary wealth. At times these incidents are bit naive, but in what I imagine to be fueled by a nouveau riche, A-type, keep up with the Jones' mentality inspired by their parents, the aforementioned incidents happen more often than not. And sadly, because of the lack of economic diversity at these schools, these types of students are oblivious to their own privilege. Further still, there is no indication that this ignorance corrects itself as these students enter highly paid white-collar occupations, or provided cushy jobs because of their connections - thus the cycle continues.
I stress that the vast majority of students don't show off their wealth, but at times I encounter people bragging about their parents' houses, kids barely over 18 driving brand new Porsches, unsolicited name-dropping, or flashing some form of monetary wealth. At times these incidents are bit naive, but in what I imagine to be fueled by a nouveau riche, A-type, keep up with the Jones' mentality inspired by their parents, the aforementioned incidents happen more often than not. And sadly, because of the lack of economic diversity at these schools, these types of students are oblivious to their own privilege. Further still, there is no indication that this ignorance corrects itself as these students enter highly paid white-collar occupations, or provided cushy jobs because of their connections - thus the cycle continues.
4
Jeesus. Come out to Forest Hills and experience the real world my friend. I don't know anyone who drives a porsche.
The religious "Right" loves to put down public education in order to destroy it so Ms DeVos can get richer and so their version of religion can be given tax payer money..These people tell me teachers are in it for the money..very funny for Oklahoma..They make my blood boil as my mother, sister and niece love their students and spend their own money and time on the children//Lets copy the Scandinavian countries and let teachers individualize education//Children need to feel loved in order to learn
Seldom if ever does pundit Brooks note any research in his ramblings. It would have helped if he'd consulted Alan Touraine's "The Academic System in American Society." He'd discover that the odds have always been stacked against immigrants and the poor. Where you enter college is largely related to where you end up on the socioeconomic scale. Look at David's own Main Line history with connections to the "right people." It's how he's fueled his career...does Mr. Brooks think that if he was a poor kid from say Truckee, California who got a BA from Sacramento State that he'd end up a columnist for the Grey Lady?
We're a society riven by class and race. Most of the original 13 colonies, like New York, were slave economies. I was having a discussion with some friends over lunch. One person spoke about how her male relatives all voted for Trump and how angry they were about the economy. A person of color noted: "They're angry because they've watched their lives destroyed by globalization. White men have always counted on not being victims of economic forces... that is only supposed to happen to immigrants and minorities. When they saw a Black man with Ivy League degrees become president...they became angry ... they thought, like Bill Clinton, that Obama should have only been handing out coffee to his white betters." The room was filled with silence.
The question for me is do we want liberty and justice for all ... or only for the few like Mr. Brooks.
We're a society riven by class and race. Most of the original 13 colonies, like New York, were slave economies. I was having a discussion with some friends over lunch. One person spoke about how her male relatives all voted for Trump and how angry they were about the economy. A person of color noted: "They're angry because they've watched their lives destroyed by globalization. White men have always counted on not being victims of economic forces... that is only supposed to happen to immigrants and minorities. When they saw a Black man with Ivy League degrees become president...they became angry ... they thought, like Bill Clinton, that Obama should have only been handing out coffee to his white betters." The room was filled with silence.
The question for me is do we want liberty and justice for all ... or only for the few like Mr. Brooks.
1
How We are Ruining America is by embracing Republican economic theory. How we are ruining America is by starting a war on false pretenses which resulted in monstrous suffering and instability. How we are ruining America is Mr Trump's constant degradation of our nation.
I appreciate much of Mr Brooks article. Maybe the title is just inappropriate for a nation so wrecked as ours on a day when we learn, beyond any question, that a campaign for the Presidency gleefully embraced collusion with an enemy nation.
I appreciate much of Mr Brooks article. Maybe the title is just inappropriate for a nation so wrecked as ours on a day when we learn, beyond any question, that a campaign for the Presidency gleefully embraced collusion with an enemy nation.
1
Next time, David, when you invite someone to lunch ask him/her beforehand where s/he would like to eat. That's the polite and considerate thing to do -- for both your male and female friends. As an effete Wharton graduate, I prefer Mexican any day. Taco Bell rules!
1
Mr. Brooks, you desperately need a vacation from the New York city "I'm doing better than you" sweepstake follies.
State universities offer excellent educational opportunities for middle-class kids.
The problem is that Republican red state legislatures across America have continuously cut funding for state universities causing huge annual tuition increases and crushing student debt.
The real question is: why are Republican red state legislatures making it so difficult for the average family to afford sending their kids to college?
Is it an attempt to dumb-down the middle class even further so they can continue to confuse the public with their "facts don't matter" brain washing?
State universities offer excellent educational opportunities for middle-class kids.
The problem is that Republican red state legislatures across America have continuously cut funding for state universities causing huge annual tuition increases and crushing student debt.
The real question is: why are Republican red state legislatures making it so difficult for the average family to afford sending their kids to college?
Is it an attempt to dumb-down the middle class even further so they can continue to confuse the public with their "facts don't matter" brain washing?
4
Mr. Brooks: your breathtaking arrogance and elitist condescension towards people without a college education, (how NICE of you to take your underprivileged friend to that sophisticated sandwich shop where she couldn't possibly appreciate the nuances of fancy gourmet sandwiches fit only for your king of people) and your assumption that they are incapable of self education or self refinement, is frankly, vile. Instead of twisting yourself into rhetorical knots coming up with facile exercises in meaningless sociology, maybe you should consider a little contrition and possibly apologizing for your life long aid and comfort for the morally bankrupt Republican ideologies your lying, crooked Republican criminal friends have been implementing to reduce Americans to serfdom for their Koch Brother plutocrat corporate owners.
4
We have seen other countries in the developed world redesign their education systems from the ground up over decades recognizing the only way they can adequately complete in a global economy is to insure every single child regardless of where they were born or what their parents class or income is will get everything they need to find a way to develop and grow and contribute. For some this means training for service sector or manufacturing jobs for others it is college education to become the best teachers for the next generation, or doctors, or engineers, etc.
Instead we look for quick fixes.
During WWII we needed everybody and we used everybody and by figuring out how to value women and minorities and to use everyone regardless of class or income we were able as a nation to do amazing things. We did something similar with the space race during the cold war and everyone was pulling together. We did not learn the real lesson we needed to learn from that. You don’t win this sort of game with a few superstars you need everybody working together as a team. And you need to help every team member develop to the best of their ability. We leave a very large portion of our team sitting on the sidelines not just during the game but during practice. We are wasting much of our most valuable resource – ALL of our people!
Instead we look for quick fixes.
During WWII we needed everybody and we used everybody and by figuring out how to value women and minorities and to use everyone regardless of class or income we were able as a nation to do amazing things. We did something similar with the space race during the cold war and everyone was pulling together. We did not learn the real lesson we needed to learn from that. You don’t win this sort of game with a few superstars you need everybody working together as a team. And you need to help every team member develop to the best of their ability. We leave a very large portion of our team sitting on the sidelines not just during the game but during practice. We are wasting much of our most valuable resource – ALL of our people!
3
@Bruce Shreffler
In this country we stay competitive by importing people from those countries.
Yet another govt policy favoring big biz at the expense of the general public that helped elect the National Disgrace.
In this country we stay competitive by importing people from those countries.
Yet another govt policy favoring big biz at the expense of the general public that helped elect the National Disgrace.
Well, if you're not achieving it's your own fault. That's GOP mantra. Just like healthcare. You will have the opportunity to buy health insurance. Now go buy it.
2
This is nonsense.
To feel at home in opportunity-rich areas, you’ve got to understand the right barre techniques, sport the right baby carrier, have the right podcast, food truck, tea, wine and Pilates tastes, not to mention possess the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace, child-rearing, gender norms and intersectionality.
But the zoning and financial support issues are real. How can those barriers be reduced? With good public schools -- that provide after school enrichment programs -- and with good pubic universities that anyone can enter without having to take on loans that will burden them for a long time.
In other words, we can do a lot more the help everyone succeed. We just aren't doing it.
To feel at home in opportunity-rich areas, you’ve got to understand the right barre techniques, sport the right baby carrier, have the right podcast, food truck, tea, wine and Pilates tastes, not to mention possess the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace, child-rearing, gender norms and intersectionality.
But the zoning and financial support issues are real. How can those barriers be reduced? With good public schools -- that provide after school enrichment programs -- and with good pubic universities that anyone can enter without having to take on loans that will burden them for a long time.
In other words, we can do a lot more the help everyone succeed. We just aren't doing it.
Yes, lol. I always find it so funny that my NY east side Manhattan and San Feancisco friends are all liberals who not only are rich and live in gated communities (eat only gluten free, organic stuff, lattes, and the rest of the "look at me I'm liberal" package) but pride themselves of caring "oh so much" for the poor minorities (because, you know they clean their dishes and keep their gardens so pretty) yet don't mention some public housing project in their area, and don't even propose busing poor minority kids to their impecable public schools cause if you do they will then move their own kids to a private one.
ROFL, rich liberals, gotta love them...bless their hearts.
ROFL, rich liberals, gotta love them...bless their hearts.
We make it difficult for a large part of the population to obtain a good education and then wonder why pockets of the country votes the way it does.
I read some comments ;
Some people in comment section doesn't understand an iota of Brooks column.
That is really sad...........................................
We the people is the basis of America, we is not a communist or socialist manifesto.
We as a nation always better than I.
But for many here educated or non educated there is no grasp about we as a nation.
Looks like many commenters dumped the people ( we concept) to city sewage decades ago.
Good luck with that country of yours.
Some people in comment section doesn't understand an iota of Brooks column.
That is really sad...........................................
We the people is the basis of America, we is not a communist or socialist manifesto.
We as a nation always better than I.
But for many here educated or non educated there is no grasp about we as a nation.
Looks like many commenters dumped the people ( we concept) to city sewage decades ago.
Good luck with that country of yours.
Why didn't you stick with your initial line of thinking that was smart and on to something real? Who can possibly believe that cultural capital, knowing what a Padrino sandwich is or is not, is as crucial a factor in inequality as zoning and other infrastructural factors? Please, give me a break. Why not talk about the pay-to-play programs or other features that institutionalize inequality? These are surely as important as college admissions, which is a real problem, and much more important than acquiring a lingo.
Mr Brooks, I commend you for opening yourself up to cultural attack by unabashedly proclaiming yourself culturally elite, and then (maybe) starting to do something about it. Where I personally have 'superior' knowledge, I am quite proud (as well as pleased) about it. Nevertheless, I hope this column has a 'part two' offering some practical (and face-saving) ways to ameliorate the problem. Be proud of your 'capicollo' Pilates indeed :-) .
No Borders for you, zoning codes for us.
3
Seriously David-I'm keeping other people kids down by breastfeeding mine? Really?Absurd.
5
I respectfully see this differently... Without a doubt, mothers generally make the best choices they can for their children, and since breastfeeding gives babies the perfect nutrients to set them up for a healthier life, it's a great choice. (I breastfed both my babies for two years each for that very reason.) Breastfeeding could be an equalizer in that sense;however, the important point is that poor women, black women and latinas have poorer maternal and newborn health outcomes than mothers of more privileged means. A significant factor is access to the same quality of healthcare. It is no great leap to see how that means less education about breastfeeding and less support for overcoming challenges on that path. My read is not that Brooks is saying we should deny our children optimal nutrition, but that we should care that others get the education and support they need to make similar choices. If we value fairness, we should challenge the structural and cultural barriers that prevent some women from choosing breastfeeding (i.e., access to lactation support, supportive workplace polices such as family leave, etc...)
2
Even the title of this does the author a disservice by alienating anyone who is not college educated, good job dave. #whyhillarylost
3
None of this gobbledygook from Mr. Brooks applies to Immigrants from 80's and beyond who came here for college education. They worked hard in College and beyond and emphasized the value of education and hard work to their next generation. They didn't try to suppress opportunities for anyone else. Of course, they are a very small percentage of the population.
Solution to most of our problems is to raise education level of ALL children, so that they learn to think and analyze. But that might lead to its base deserting his party.
Solution to most of our problems is to raise education level of ALL children, so that they learn to think and analyze. But that might lead to its base deserting his party.
Maybe you could have been kind to your high school educated friend instead of snobbish by helping them pick out a delicious sandwich that they would have enjoyed. I have a degree and work professionally but I have a hard time going to any food place that I am not familiar with and knowing exactly what I am going to get because food lauguage is not my native tounge.
20
The issue here isn't that you took your friend to a gourmet sandwich place. The issue is that an adult woman is so incurious and so intimidated that she can't just ask her own friend, or the restaurant staff, "which of these things is closest to salami?" Or try something new. Someone who rigidly insists on staying in their own comfort zone is going to have a hard time getting ahead in life and may unfortunately pass that habit on to her own children. But we should recognize that the fault lies with her, not with society.
18
Please out the recent Pew studies which suggest that republicans in general feel that higher education is having a negative impact on our culture and society. Last I looked it was your party that installed Betsy DeVos, the enemy of the improvements to public schools. Your party has failed to support a national policy of parental leave or a higher minimum wage, both of which would lift prospects for lower income families, as would a national tuition free college option. Far more than changing the behavior of "pediacentric" parents.
As others have said, what is insensitive and offensive is your attitude toward community and state-run colleges and universities and toward your "friend" who you took to lunch. To, in essence, say 1. That she couldn't enjoy a "gourmet sandwich shop" because she isn't familiar with some of the ingredients, 2. That her failure to know the names of these ingredients is attributable to her "inferior" education and 3. That sensitivity would have meant taking her only to a
place with which she's already familiar is itself elitist and disrespectful.
And let us be clear: this is really a bashing of upper middle class mothers for whom pressures to perform at work and at home are higher than they have ever been, often to their own detriment and that of their children. To now hold them accountable for the educational opportunities - and length of breast feeding - of lower income children is bizarre.
As others have said, what is insensitive and offensive is your attitude toward community and state-run colleges and universities and toward your "friend" who you took to lunch. To, in essence, say 1. That she couldn't enjoy a "gourmet sandwich shop" because she isn't familiar with some of the ingredients, 2. That her failure to know the names of these ingredients is attributable to her "inferior" education and 3. That sensitivity would have meant taking her only to a
place with which she's already familiar is itself elitist and disrespectful.
And let us be clear: this is really a bashing of upper middle class mothers for whom pressures to perform at work and at home are higher than they have ever been, often to their own detriment and that of their children. To now hold them accountable for the educational opportunities - and length of breast feeding - of lower income children is bizarre.
4
Where to begin, Mr Brooks. This is the most out-of-your-mind column ever. Blame the elites, again. and what is an elite? Someone who lives in a lovely home in a lovely area, who is educated, made enough middle or upper middle class money to travel, encourage or provide college for their children, blah blah? or is the word really a label for pundits to use to make neat boxes into which their predetermined prejudices can be stuffed?
My husband's grandfathers came from Spain. Mine came from Ireland and Italy. The overriding value in our families was to embrace the 'work hard and don't let anyone say you can't' ethic, and always strive for generational progress. Our families had rules, expectations and boundaries. There was no sitting on the stoop in New York, and no uncounted days at the beach in California, if you know what I mean. We both had a date certain for getting out of the house, to become independent. Why don't you write a column about the effects of digital media dumbing down expectations? But no, the fault is with The Elite. I call that whining. I call that lack of goals. I call that a sense of entitlement.
My husband's grandfathers came from Spain. Mine came from Ireland and Italy. The overriding value in our families was to embrace the 'work hard and don't let anyone say you can't' ethic, and always strive for generational progress. Our families had rules, expectations and boundaries. There was no sitting on the stoop in New York, and no uncounted days at the beach in California, if you know what I mean. We both had a date certain for getting out of the house, to become independent. Why don't you write a column about the effects of digital media dumbing down expectations? But no, the fault is with The Elite. I call that whining. I call that lack of goals. I call that a sense of entitlement.
2
Dear Mr. Brooks - Thank you for publishing this insightful article. As a member of the more privileged group of American families, it has given me pause about the direct (though unintended) consequences of my own actions.
1
I graduated from college, albeit it was a state university in the Midwest, and I don't know what those ingredients are. I doubt even my daughters who are graduates of Ivy League schools would recognize them. I do know a high school educated and excellent cook who could inform us. Your general theme is a valid one and well worth discussing, but your lunch anecdote distracts from and weakens its impact.
4
Oh God, this has become a "thing?" Has sensitivity really gotten to the point that we need to restrict intellectual conversation?
I am deeply working-class, despite having gone to grad school and will be the first in line to crucify someone who is behaving like a snob. I didn't go to a really good restaurant with fresh ingredients until I was in my 30's, and was still surprised by good menus into my 40's. Brooks said nothing wrong here, all he did was reflect a change in fast-food that now includes higher-end menus. Do we need to punish him for this? Is it really wrong for him to report that education/income levels correspond with more difficulty with reading a menu with lesser known ingredients? Do we need less cultural insight in the Trump era because some weird political correctness that makes no sense? Stop this foolishness America, we have the survival of our republic on the line and we're going after someone based on a banal cultural observation?
I am deeply working-class, despite having gone to grad school and will be the first in line to crucify someone who is behaving like a snob. I didn't go to a really good restaurant with fresh ingredients until I was in my 30's, and was still surprised by good menus into my 40's. Brooks said nothing wrong here, all he did was reflect a change in fast-food that now includes higher-end menus. Do we need to punish him for this? Is it really wrong for him to report that education/income levels correspond with more difficulty with reading a menu with lesser known ingredients? Do we need less cultural insight in the Trump era because some weird political correctness that makes no sense? Stop this foolishness America, we have the survival of our republic on the line and we're going after someone based on a banal cultural observation?
2
suicide |ˈso͞oəˌsīd|
noun
1 the action of killing oneself intentionally: he committed suicide at the age of forty | drug-related suicides.
For you, David.
noun
1 the action of killing oneself intentionally: he committed suicide at the age of forty | drug-related suicides.
For you, David.
As long as we do not defend and support our teachers and investing resources in education against the politician's assaults, we are collaborating in ruining the future of America. If we elect person like Trump our president who appoints an education hater like Betsy deVos our secretary of education, we should not expect a bright future for country. Now the youths are not better off than their parents for the first time in history. Education is the back bone of a nation's future. Politicians are very indifferent to our future. I recommend a book " The Vanishing American Adult ..." by Senator Ben Sasse for everybody specially to the Senator's colleagues.
2
Wow. Just so many things wrong with this piece.
Mr Brooks says "upper-middle-class parents have become fanatical about making sure their children never sink back to those levels, and of course there’s nothing wrong in devoting yourself to your own progeny" and yet the tone of the preceding paragraphs, to me, suggests that he feels just the opposite.
As for "the right barre techniques, sport the right baby carrier, have the right podcast, food truck, tea, wine and Pilates tastes, not to mention possess the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace, child-rearing, gender norms and intersectionality" - I'm a privileged suburban 50+ white male who graduated from an elite college in the 80's and aside from liking DFW and supporting gay rights, that's not me or most of the people I know, and its not my children, who both went to public schools. A big story that came out of the 2016 election was how the mainstream media had apparently lost touch with "real America." Mr Brooks makes it clear that he still doesn't understand the bottom 80 percent or the top 20 percent.
I won't comment on the ridiculous anecdote about his high school educated friend other than to say that that topic has been adequately covered by other commenters.
Mr Brooks says "upper-middle-class parents have become fanatical about making sure their children never sink back to those levels, and of course there’s nothing wrong in devoting yourself to your own progeny" and yet the tone of the preceding paragraphs, to me, suggests that he feels just the opposite.
As for "the right barre techniques, sport the right baby carrier, have the right podcast, food truck, tea, wine and Pilates tastes, not to mention possess the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace, child-rearing, gender norms and intersectionality" - I'm a privileged suburban 50+ white male who graduated from an elite college in the 80's and aside from liking DFW and supporting gay rights, that's not me or most of the people I know, and its not my children, who both went to public schools. A big story that came out of the 2016 election was how the mainstream media had apparently lost touch with "real America." Mr Brooks makes it clear that he still doesn't understand the bottom 80 percent or the top 20 percent.
I won't comment on the ridiculous anecdote about his high school educated friend other than to say that that topic has been adequately covered by other commenters.
It is not the "college-educated" who are "ruining America." It is the ultra-rich and the politicians in their pockets. Our country is turning so "red" because it is being gerrymandered to be red. There are two men, brothers, who control more wealth than most of the countries in the world. They, and their political-social kin, are desperately trying to rid our country of any remnant whatsoever of programs intended for the public good. Soon to be on their agenda is killing the graduated income tax and replacing it with a flat tax. Then the bifurcation of America will be complete. By not admitting this, David, you are complicit.
3
Thanks to the flattening/"disruption" of our economy, PhDs and high school grads work together in those very same restaurants that are so worrisome to Mr. Brooks. Really, what a breathtaking display of condescension.
2
It seems to me that David is channeling Paul Fussell.
Sure, David believes the fatwas of Freemarket Jihad. Like Russ, he'd be uplifted in spirit if America married a Greek Orthodox kid and converted. But let's ignore his occasional dizziness-inducing prescriptions and critique this article as if we hadn't known and loved David for years.
Here, he isn't addressing the tax laws and union-busting that have pursued the Middle Class to extinction. David is describing the unspoken class barriers described by Paul Fussell in "Class: a guide to the American status system."
That book did violence to the American sense of an ideal self in an ideal country. Our exceptional society just can’t have boundaries unscaleable by hard work, good moral character, and mountains of money!
It sounds like Old World snobbery; it is—and it seems to be at least partly true.
Money is associated with class: money will help you retain a class position you already have. Fussell asserts that you get class from something that isn't money—your parents' bodies and names, their church, the schools you were sent to, the portions of sense of self all those institutions installed in your mind.
Money can't buy class; nor can money buy happiness. What money can buy is relief from pain. Money can buy a who-o-le bunch of relief from pain. But having money won't alter your tastes, your patterns of conversation, your word choices. Denying the reality of class reinforces those barriers.
Sure, David believes the fatwas of Freemarket Jihad. Like Russ, he'd be uplifted in spirit if America married a Greek Orthodox kid and converted. But let's ignore his occasional dizziness-inducing prescriptions and critique this article as if we hadn't known and loved David for years.
Here, he isn't addressing the tax laws and union-busting that have pursued the Middle Class to extinction. David is describing the unspoken class barriers described by Paul Fussell in "Class: a guide to the American status system."
That book did violence to the American sense of an ideal self in an ideal country. Our exceptional society just can’t have boundaries unscaleable by hard work, good moral character, and mountains of money!
It sounds like Old World snobbery; it is—and it seems to be at least partly true.
Money is associated with class: money will help you retain a class position you already have. Fussell asserts that you get class from something that isn't money—your parents' bodies and names, their church, the schools you were sent to, the portions of sense of self all those institutions installed in your mind.
Money can't buy class; nor can money buy happiness. What money can buy is relief from pain. Money can buy a who-o-le bunch of relief from pain. But having money won't alter your tastes, your patterns of conversation, your word choices. Denying the reality of class reinforces those barriers.
How are we ruining America? In this American era financial success is based on education, investment and luck. Happiness is based on faith, generosity, higher levels of self sacrifice and maturity. If the focus is the narrow target of secular consumerism that you are describing then America is in a ruinous state. I agree that there are inequalities, but our lives are not entirely defined by social mobility, class, wealth or education. At least mine isn't. I hope your existence isn't.
2
The whole Bernie Sanders push for "free college" only intensifies this segregation of the "privileged" from the "cake eaters". The plan was for community colleges to be the focus of "free college", thus freeing the Ivy League (and the Ivy League wannabees) to cater to the "elites'.
You can tell all the stories you like, the real problem is the republican party and the wanton destruction they have wrought upon our nation for 40 years.
De-regulation is the single greatest harm/evil done this nation in all of its history and yes that includes the evil of slavery. Every single problem we have today is directly traceable to deregulation and cutting taxes. It will be the reason the US falls when it does in the next 75-100 years or less.
De-regulation is the single greatest harm/evil done this nation in all of its history and yes that includes the evil of slavery. Every single problem we have today is directly traceable to deregulation and cutting taxes. It will be the reason the US falls when it does in the next 75-100 years or less.
2
Dear Mr. Brooks,
On reading your latest column, I thought I would have to weigh in to point out how your eternal focus on the "values" of elites rather than the increased inequalities of income, wealth, and the erosion of material public goods, always supports that "ruin of America" rather than remedying it.
But my fellow readers have already accomplished that, in these thoughtful comments.
It makes me wonder--if it is possible for so many of your readers, thousands, to see it, coming (and I say this for the sake of your mistaken sense of difference) from every level of education, income, and wealthy--what will it take for you ever to see that your economic and social values can be, and must be, fundamentally changed, if you truly believe in any of the democratic and spiritual values you claim to uphold? Support policies for the middle class and poor rather than the rich--stop our decades-long upward redistribution of wealth--and democracy, fraternity, equality, and patriotism will succeed.
On reading your latest column, I thought I would have to weigh in to point out how your eternal focus on the "values" of elites rather than the increased inequalities of income, wealth, and the erosion of material public goods, always supports that "ruin of America" rather than remedying it.
But my fellow readers have already accomplished that, in these thoughtful comments.
It makes me wonder--if it is possible for so many of your readers, thousands, to see it, coming (and I say this for the sake of your mistaken sense of difference) from every level of education, income, and wealthy--what will it take for you ever to see that your economic and social values can be, and must be, fundamentally changed, if you truly believe in any of the democratic and spiritual values you claim to uphold? Support policies for the middle class and poor rather than the rich--stop our decades-long upward redistribution of wealth--and democracy, fraternity, equality, and patriotism will succeed.
2
Full disclosure: I came from a lower middle class family and went to public school. Brought up with a brother by a widowed mother making a very modest govt salary. Half my college was a state university. I worked my butt off at the profession accessible to me, sent my daughter to the best schools and saved for her college education. Because I did, we paid full freight as we didn't qualify for financial aid. Anyone who can learn what a tamale is can learn what sopressata is. I did and I don't feel like I'm in any special club, just aware of the world around me.
Here's a more actionable idea for people of all classes: work hard, live within your means, pick your priorities and take responsibility for them. And, get over yourself.