As seen in the Washington Square News.
Yalie Sam Heller trusts in Yale’s exceptionalism, but he thinks sometimes Yalies let their elitism allow it to get away from them. Well, at least that’s how he starts the piece “Elitism isn’t enough: You have to act on it,” for his latest biweekly Yale Daily News column, “I Die a True American.”
According to Heller, Yalies make cash bets on who will be first to be elected to Congress and then recall, fondly, how they “rolled naked down the stairs” back at New Haven. “Whatever the reason, it’s sometimes difficult not to sniff at our contemporaries at schools that are merely good, students who don’t have electronic card access to manicured courtyards and who aren’t preternaturally confident that they’ll be captains of industry within 15 or 20 years, max … though, nothing brings you down to earth quite like a Bentley kid smashing your face into a wrestling mat.”
Pity. Apparently, Yale is the only Ivy besides Dartmouth not to have an NCAA wrestling team. Heller, who wrestles for a club team, believes that despite the many ways “ivy-laureled god-kings” can reinforce their superiority (going by “senator” in an instant messenger screen name, tattooing a “massive family crest” across a chest, etc.), the best way to do it is to pummel some kid from Valley Forge Military College who failed out of his previous school – instead of quietly resigning himself to the fact that he’ll be his competitor’s “boss’s boss.”
(By the way, Heller – in a flourish of my own elitism, “family” crests do not exist. Crests are granted only to individuals, and the United States doesn’t recognize them.)
Heller actually lost to the Valley Forge kid (who got his face smashed now?). But he decided then and there – OK, after he checked his trust fund to make sure he’s got enough to buy the victor’s college – to write a column that included a greatest hits list of Yale achievements and mildly pondered the notion that Yalies need to prove their worth: “We’re eventually going to go head-to-head with these kids, and it’s going to be as equals.” And what about after graduation, Heller? “We have to demonstrate genuine leadership above and beyond test scores.”
That’s right. Heller hasn’t challenged the idea that Yalies think they are exceptional and entitled to lead your life as an adult. He merely challenged the method as to how this will be accomplished.
Sound familiar, NYU students? It’s clear that we don’t have the Revolutionary history of most of the Ivies. (Except Cornell – the jury’s still out on how you managed your elite spot. With our founding in 1831, we’ve got 34 years of history on you.) But surely we establish our elitism in different ways. “New Ivy”? We scoff at such established hierarchy. We’re not happy being No. 2, you know. So we reaffirm our purple-powered superiority by raising our tuition ever higher; wearing much cooler clothing (because you thought the “Rugby” store was sooo cool until you realized it was just the next incarnation of Ralph Lauren); listening to much cooler music (we heard of them before you did – and they’re total sellouts now that you’ve heard it); insisting that the color is really “violet” (like crimson is to red – get it?); and basking in the glory of being America’s reigning “No. 1 Dream School” three years running, while admitting fewer Ivy rejects than ever.
Well, maybe not that last part. But we have more spots to fill than you do. Honest!
So maybe the “NYU” acronym doesn’t quite have the cachet of a one-word name that just reeks of Ivy elitism. Hmm.
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, Cornell?
Meet Gallatin.
Andrew Nusca is a former news editor and contributing writer for WSN. E-mail him at opinion@nyunews.com.
Excerpts from Sam Heller’s column
“Elitism isn’t enough: You have to act on it”
Published in Yale Daily News March 2, 2007
“Whatever the reason, it’s sometimes difficult not to sniff at our contemporaries at schools that are merely good, students who don’t have electronic card access to manicured courtyards and who aren’t preternaturally confident that they’ll be captains of industry within 15 or 20 years, max. Speaking from my experience at NCWA Regionals last weekend, though, nothing brings you down to earth quite like a Bentley kid smashing your face into a wrestling mat.”
“It would’ve been easy then to resort to facile elitism, to convince myself that, while I might’ve lost to him by a major decision, I would be his boss’s boss. But, despite my conviction that I was a real world-beater, when it was just me and Valley Forge’s Mike Morrin on Sunday, he won.”
“When only two of 21 candidates for president attended an Ivy League school as undergraduates and two more were in Ivy graduate programs (thanks, Ivygate), we need to understand that we’re eventually going to go head-to-head with these kids, and it’s going to be as equals.”
Yalie confronts the horror of losing, comes out snobby
As seen in the Washington Square News.
Yalie Sam Heller trusts in Yale’s exceptionalism, but he thinks sometimes Yalies let their elitism allow it to get away from them. Well, at least that’s how he starts the piece “Elitism isn’t enough: You have to act on it,” for his latest biweekly Yale Daily News column, “I Die a True American.”
According to Heller, Yalies make cash bets on who will be first to be elected to Congress and then recall, fondly, how they “rolled naked down the stairs” back at New Haven. “Whatever the reason, it’s sometimes difficult not to sniff at our contemporaries at schools that are merely good, students who don’t have electronic card access to manicured courtyards and who aren’t preternaturally confident that they’ll be captains of industry within 15 or 20 years, max … though, nothing brings you down to earth quite like a Bentley kid smashing your face into a wrestling mat.”
Pity. Apparently, Yale is the only Ivy besides Dartmouth not to have an NCAA wrestling team. Heller, who wrestles for a club team, believes that despite the many ways “ivy-laureled god-kings” can reinforce their superiority (going by “senator” in an instant messenger screen name, tattooing a “massive family crest” across a chest, etc.), the best way to do it is to pummel some kid from Valley Forge Military College who failed out of his previous school – instead of quietly resigning himself to the fact that he’ll be his competitor’s “boss’s boss.”
(By the way, Heller – in a flourish of my own elitism, “family” crests do not exist. Crests are granted only to individuals, and the United States doesn’t recognize them.)
Heller actually lost to the Valley Forge kid (who got his face smashed now?). But he decided then and there – OK, after he checked his trust fund to make sure he’s got enough to buy the victor’s college – to write a column that included a greatest hits list of Yale achievements and mildly pondered the notion that Yalies need to prove their worth: “We’re eventually going to go head-to-head with these kids, and it’s going to be as equals.” And what about after graduation, Heller? “We have to demonstrate genuine leadership above and beyond test scores.”
That’s right. Heller hasn’t challenged the idea that Yalies think they are exceptional and entitled to lead your life as an adult. He merely challenged the method as to how this will be accomplished.
Sound familiar, NYU students? It’s clear that we don’t have the Revolutionary history of most of the Ivies. (Except Cornell – the jury’s still out on how you managed your elite spot. With our founding in 1831, we’ve got 34 years of history on you.) But surely we establish our elitism in different ways. “New Ivy”? We scoff at such established hierarchy. We’re not happy being No. 2, you know. So we reaffirm our purple-powered superiority by raising our tuition ever higher; wearing much cooler clothing (because you thought the “Rugby” store was sooo cool until you realized it was just the next incarnation of Ralph Lauren); listening to much cooler music (we heard of them before you did – and they’re total sellouts now that you’ve heard it); insisting that the color is really “violet” (like crimson is to red – get it?); and basking in the glory of being America’s reigning “No. 1 Dream School” three years running, while admitting fewer Ivy rejects than ever.
Well, maybe not that last part. But we have more spots to fill than you do. Honest!
So maybe the “NYU” acronym doesn’t quite have the cachet of a one-word name that just reeks of Ivy elitism. Hmm.
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, Cornell?
Meet Gallatin.
Andrew Nusca is a former news editor and contributing writer for WSN. E-mail him at opinion@nyunews.com.
Excerpts from Sam Heller’s column
“Elitism isn’t enough: You have to act on it”
Published in Yale Daily News March 2, 2007
“Whatever the reason, it’s sometimes difficult not to sniff at our contemporaries at schools that are merely good, students who don’t have electronic card access to manicured courtyards and who aren’t preternaturally confident that they’ll be captains of industry within 15 or 20 years, max. Speaking from my experience at NCWA Regionals last weekend, though, nothing brings you down to earth quite like a Bentley kid smashing your face into a wrestling mat.”
“It would’ve been easy then to resort to facile elitism, to convince myself that, while I might’ve lost to him by a major decision, I would be his boss’s boss. But, despite my conviction that I was a real world-beater, when it was just me and Valley Forge’s Mike Morrin on Sunday, he won.”
“When only two of 21 candidates for president attended an Ivy League school as undergraduates and two more were in Ivy graduate programs (thanks, Ivygate), we need to understand that we’re eventually going to go head-to-head with these kids, and it’s going to be as equals.”