Continued from last week:

Intellectual capital and the new aristocracy

by Jagath C Savanadasa

A Republican Congressman with considerable influence, Paul Ryan says his big fear is that America is losing sight of the notion that the condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life.

A democratic Senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren says that ‘opportunity is slipping away'.

Former First Lady and Secretary of State during President Obama's first term Hilary Clinton said, “Of course you need to work hard and you need to take responsibility. But we are making it so difficult for people who do these things, to feel that they are going to achieve the “American Dream”.

All these key politicians though they rarely agree on politics seem to voice the same opinion that the American dream is attainable only by a segment of the population.

It looks as if the accident of birth favours the privileged and the wealthy more than the others in U.S. Society.

Perpetuation of the elites

The magazine feels that the perpetuation of elitism is inevitable, There is the practice of nepotism which support the elites in the US which incidentally prevails in less developed societies such as Sri Lanka's too.

But more surprisingly such a segment of people (the elites) in the US more than ever before are producing children who not only push ahead but also climb up faster so as to reach the heights of meritocracy sooner that others who belong to the lesser endowed with wealth and position.

Some of the changes plainly evident in the US are to some extent due to the advancement of women in the past century.

Just as much professional men are inclined to wed professional women, there is also a big increase in the number women in the professions and in academia.

This has facilitated marriage between the professionals. To support this contention the magazine says that between 1960 and 2005 there had been a steep rise in such marriages which in that period almost doubled from 25 percent to 48 percent.

This trend does not show signs of abating and it leads to a string of benefits to their off-spring such as passing down the value of education. The process begins when the chldren are very young, indeed at the Kindergarten level.

Yet another feature that seems deliberately cultivated by the universities in general in the US is the legacy aspect. It is said that the universities that engage in research and in the liberal arts, prefer legacy students. But this is not practised by the top US universities.Studies conducted in relation to the current trends in admission to US universities indicate that there is stiff competition to build up endowments. In other words, money seems to speak a lot in certain universities. There is a drive for racial diversity in college campuses and men seem to a slight degree less in numbers in such campuses that women.

Advantage

A combination of sports and brains could also be advantageous. In other words according to the study if you could just afford to pay your full tuition fee and get into a highly recognised sport you are favoured provided this does not erode the yearly funds reserved fro student who continues sports and studies.

And finally how do the Asian students fare in this complex mixture of university education in the US? The type of ‘filtering” practised by the system is possible unfair by the Asian aspirants for university education in the US system. But the best of US universities or those in the Ivy League deny that they Impose quotas for Asians.

The article also notes that on graduation the American elites aim for law firms, bank and consultancy houses where salaries offered are higher then the rest.

And significantly this study adds that in the recruitment process wealth is not a criteria.

Destination

But those graduates who continued sports and achieved academic destination in the university, are preferred.

And this fortunately include people with different shades of skin but somewhat unfortunately parents who had done blue collar work may find that their off spring discriminated.But the present writer would like to mention in conclusion that at least in the not too distant past the really gifted and hardworking were able to reach dizzying heights and fulfil the “American dream.

In this regard the writer would refer to Howard Shultz the 61-year-old CEO of Starbruks, combine in the coffee trade. Shultz who is on the cover of the TIME of February 16 and is featured in the lead story had a difficult upbringing.

His father was an uneducated blue collar worker who as bitter about his own life. But his son rose far above poverty and deprivation to reach the top of the corporate ladder in the US.

Concluded

The writer was on a USIS/Fulbright funded study in the US two decades ago. He is Senior Chamber of Commerce official with a number of publications to his credit.