In a Democracy, Can Elitism be Good?
Elites in basketball and jazz
Elitism has gotten a bad rap. Some who vilify elitism do so because those with greater knowledge or skills may look down on those who don’t measure up. In the case of some with more skills, money, or knowledge, this criticism is unfortunately true. From a historical perspective, much of the horrors across time have been perpetrated by elites. Further, in a society that strives for egalitarianism, recognizing the value of elites may seem like a contradiction.
Yet isn’t it also true that much of the good done in the world, over time, has been accomplished by individuals and relatively small groups of people with specialized capacities and capabilities? Whether we peer into the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, the American Revolution, or the creation of Blues and Jazz, people with specialized skills and points of view brought new ways of thinking, seeing, and being into the world. Shouldn’t people in leadership positions be well-educated, which derives not only from schooling but from life and career experience, and an increasing evolution of skills and perspectives, moving over time in the direction of wisdom? As much foolishness as we see and hear every day on social media, wisdom for sure is a premium held by few—an elite status.
Dumbing Down Rather than Lifting Up
The recent controversy over school districts cutting honors programs, though ostensibly about appeals to increase “equity,” seems to me to be another hit against elitism. Rather than enacting ways to increase the number of “black” and “brown” students in AP and other honors programs, some districts have begun to cut them out altogether.
That approach seems ass-backwards. I happened to have benefited greatly from honors courses and programs (AP classes and the National Honor Society), so I know their value from experience. My daughter Kaya advanced her potential through such programs too. Rather than flattening the public school curriculum, why not advocate for a universal, individual student-based curriculum focused on skill and knowledge attainment, as Sal Khan argues for in his popular TED Talk, “Let’s teach for mastery—not test scores”? Honors programs can help select public school students to compete with youth from prep and private schools. Without such programs, I’m not sure I would have fared as well at institutions such as Hamilton College and NYU.
Seth Godin on The Paradox of Discernment
A blog post from three years ago by author and serial entrepreneur Seth Godin applies to our theme. It begins with the average and transitions to the exceptional, which, by definition, is always an elite.
The typical ten-year-old violinist can’t tell the difference between a cheap instrument and a Guarneri.
A harried traveler simply wolfs down a hamburger, not really worried or aware of its provenance or flavor.
And a bureaucrat buys whatever is cheapest and meets spec, without regard for how well it is designed or the supply chain that created it.
Enthusiasts will work their whole lives to be able to tell the difference in how an orchestra sounds, or how the chocolate is tempered or the simple elegance of thoughtful engineering.
And then, once we do, the incompetent or mediocre stuff isn’t worth much.
In order to appreciate the truly great work, we often end up becoming disappointed with the rest.
By becoming a connoisseur of jazz, I have experienced what Godin describes above. Since my teen years, I have marinated myself in the bliss of song stylists such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, and Nancy Wilson. When I hear mediocre singing, I’m not moved, not impressed. In fact, I will turn the station or cover my ears when I hear lackluster singing. (My upbringing in the Black American church also accustomed me to great singing.) Call me a snob, but I’ll stick with quality, as it enriches my soul.
High standards and refined tastes are an elite endeavor. Neither talent, motivation, exercise of will, nor equality of results are evenly distributed. As Albert Murray once said, if we want the very best doctors to treat us and our loved ones, then why not strive for the very best in our arts? If you yourself benefited from specialized programs in secondary education, why shouldn’t succeeding generations have the same access? And even if you didn’t benefit from such honors programs, wouldn’t you want your own children to have access to them if they could benefit?
Albert Murray on Elitism
The example of Sal Kahn, founder of Khan Academy, advocating for the use of computer technology in education for individual instruction toward mastery may seem opposed to the concept of elitism. Not true. You individualize education so students develop skills at their own pace, rather than following by rote a schooling model where everyone learns the same thing at the same pace based on their age and grade, with many falling behind when they don’t master a particular skill, say, in algebra or geometry, which are foundations for more advanced mathematics. The very goal of access to mastery for every American citizen is an elite aspiration in a democratic context. Obviously, not all will master every subject, but the foundation for participation in a 21st century world, in a highly technological age, with human skills suffused with human emotion and creativity, and human discernment and judgment not yet replicable by AI, can be provided to our young if we renovate our education system.
Education was a deep concern of American blues idiom philosopher Albert Murray. When he spoke with Wynton Marsalis about the program design of what became Jazz at Lincoln Center—the largest institution devoted to jazz in the world—education was an essential pillar and remains so. Murray himself was well-nigh aristocratic in his orientation toward knowledge, but was more open to speaking with young aspirants to wisdom such as myself and Wynton than many authors and intellectuals of his caliber. Education was a key reason for his democratic openness.
On January 20, 1978, Murray gave an address at the Howard University Honors Convocation. The title of the speech as found in From the Briarpatch File: On Context, Procedure, and American Identity is “Academic Lead Sheet.” For music groups, a lead sheet contains just the most essential musical information, such as the melody and the chord changes for the musicians to use as a basis to play and improvise on a song. Murray intended his remarks to undergraduate students to provide the basis of their own improvisations and variations on the fundamental themes he discussed.
Elites and elitism were one of those topics.
This is the occasion on which the school officials celebrate the good students, the successful students. We are assembled here today to acknowledge and celebrate pupils whom special members of the faculty have selected as those whose academic performance qualifies them to be candidates to take on the indispensable responsibilities of being the elite of the generation now coming of age.
Elite. Yes, elite. And again elite. Don’t allow yourselves to be faked out by epithets. If elitism bothers you, substitute the word specialist and get on with the mission.
Can any group, based on whatever distinction, even survive, let alone develop and fulfill itself (to say nothing of transcending itself), without the benefit of its own elite corps of highly competent and dedicated intellectual, professional, and technical specialists?
. . . The function of the elite is to provide the rest of society with equipment for living which is commensurate with the complexity and possibilities of the time in which they live. You have to be specialists in order to do that.
—Albert Murray
Outchorus
Don’t get it twisted: for the complexity and possibilities of our times, we need elites. Don’t be faked out by college professors who speak out against elitism, because they know good and well they are elites too. Some even have the gall to speak against elitism while sending their own children to specialized institutions and private schools.
Professional athletes who have risen to the top of their profession are elites. The “black” and “brown” Directors and Vice-Presidents at Google that Jewel and I coach are elites. The question for you as a leader is what will you specialize in? In what will you strive to be best-in-class? And for our young people, let us not steer them wrong by railing against the reality or necessity of elites. Let’s prepare them for the challenges they’ll face by helping them gain mastery, and to strive for elite status themselves. That way when our young people mature into adulthood, they can leave the world better for future generations.