The Organization Kid

As I browsed various online forums trying to learn about college, I came across a book published in 1983 with an intriguing title: Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell. I bought a copy and discovered a new lens to understand education. The book claimed that the criteria we use to define the tiers of the social hierarchy

I was becoming a hoop-jumper just like Deresiewicz’s students at Yale, internalizing the idea that education is “doing your homework, getting the answers, acing the test.” I had not developed a sense that “something larger is at stake” as Deresiewicz says, and only was playing the game of student, not using my mind.

After the 1970s, meritocracy began to look more and more like Michael Young’s dark satire. A system intended to give each new generation an equal chance to rise created a new hereditary class structure. Educated professionals pass on their money, connections, ambitions, and work ethic to their children, while less educated families fall further beh

Right through middle school Sam was a good but not great student, defined mainly by his disinterest in whatever his teacher was saying. “I was obedient in that I wouldn’t do shit I wasn’t supposed to do,” said Sam. “But I wouldn’t necessarily do shit I…

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