Bored & Confused: Am I an elitist?

At Tufts, students seem to despise the wealthy classes, striking down anything that represents power, aristocracy or elitism. Tufts students think of themselves as above the elitist nature one would find at, say, Harvard. We’re down to earth. We don’t sell out to Wall Street. We’re quirky. However, Tufts is elitist, too.

When asking the question “Am I an elitist?”, Tufts students rebuke, claiming to fight for the crucial social and political issues ailing the working classes. Tufts students do, in fact, support these issues and are politically active.

However, we are elitist simply by attending a school like Tufts. Our social encounters are nowhere close to that of the average Boston resident and even less so for the average American. We can (and should) work to help the underprivileged. What escapes the minds of many of us so-called “social justice warriors” is the ability to genuinely relate to and converse with the people we fight for. William Deresiewicz, author of "Excellent Sheep" (2014), recognizes this paradox that exists mainly at elite schools. He says, “because these schools tend to cultivate liberal attitudes, they leave their students in the paradoxical position of wanting to advocate on behalf of the working class while being unable to hold a simple conversation with anyone in it.”

Elite universities were founded under the Protestant values that people with good prospects should recognize their privilege and the mechanisms that got them there. Today, we are constantly preaching inclusivity, diversity and acceptance. Yet, we fail to recognize one major factor: our definition of inclusivity has not included, to any significant extent, the inclusion of lower social classes. Thus, many students at schools like Tufts lack the ability to communicate with anybody who has not received an elite education.

Deresiewicz puts it bluntly when recounting an experience with a plumber, “A handful of Ivy League degrees, and there I was, stiff and stupid, struck dumb by my own dumbness. I could carry on conversations with people from other countries, in other languages, but I couldn’t talk to the man who was standing in my own house.” We are learning to become incredible global citizens, working to help people around the world. However, when it comes to those struggling at home, many elite students have no idea where to begin.

So, are you an elitist? Probably. Nearly half of Tufts students attended a private high school. Our student body is the eighth richest elite university in the country in terms of median parent income.  Simply put, our interactions don’t include people outside of our own elite social circles. While some students do call for a greater push for socioeconomic diversity in admissions, it cannot be only on the administration. It’s on us. It’s on us to not see a less-educated, less-talented person as beneath us. It’s on us to measure value not only in grades, SAT scores or prestigious jobs or internships. So yes, you are probably an elitist. But we all can do more to fix that.