The other evening I was speaking with a friend's college senior son who's preparing for law school. He was describing the the various law schools and their rankings, noting, as we know, that graduates of the Tier 1 schools are guaranteed high starting salaries at prestigious firms upon graduation. He also mentioned that getting into these schools is much harder than it appears because a large percentage of slots are reserved for alumni sons and daughters, particularly those who make significant financial contributions to the school. Grades? Well, as he put it, there's a lot of "wiggle room" in these cases.
That conversation had me wondering. Has a stealth aristocracy found its way into American society?
We often wonder how simpletons like George Bush find their way into leadership positions. How banks manage to tank the economy by screwing up so basic a function as mortgage financing, why so many "leaders" think that affluent individuals and corporations shouldn't pay taxes because they create jobs for the working classes.
The supposed to best schools produce many of the corporate, legal and political leaders of our nation, yet they apparently exist to accept and graduate not the best and brightest, but the best politically and financially connected.
That seems to explain an lot of the illogical, unethical and and sheer stupid behavior we see in corporate and political America today. The "best" schools are pushing out quite a few graduates who, except for their connections, wouldn't stand a chance in an abilities based environment.
In a sense, we have that class within America that sees itself with almost a "Divine Right".... |
