Hi Due,

Thanks for this reflection on the class gap in our educational system. It is something I recently have been reflecting on as well.

It reminds me of a recent article in the Atlantic regarding the high number of teenage suicides at Palo Alto High School. A particularly stark datapoint from the article was how mental trauma occurs most often in the richest and poorest members of our student populations (a “U-shaped” curve).

What we are seeing today is a broad subconscious social experiment whereby an obsession with numeric or superficial barometers of “excellence” is polarizing our communities further and further on socioeconomic and/or ethnic lines. Like putting blood in a centrifuge, we are spinning ourselves into increasingly stratified pockets of humanity which, because of the extremes of their cultural DNA, are becoming more and more unrecognizable to each other.

The result, whether it is at Harvard or at Palo Alto H.S., is increasingly a) the creation of isolated communities which can no longer relate to the experiences and emotions of those they have been segregated from and b) the inevitable imbalances that occur when extremes are concentrated in tightly situated geographies.

We as a society have long held and observed that extreme concentration of poverty yields unconscionable suffering and pain. However, I believe we are just beginning to pay the proper attention to the potential suffering and pain on the other side of the spectrum.

I believe what you experienced and have recounted, although painful, is extremely important in starting to bridge the divide between classes.

Philosophically, our society cannot sustain a trajectory where it continues to stratify itself on class based or ethnic lines. It is a social experiment doomed to failure. We know this for a fact for those in poverty. However, we are beginning to see that this, perhaps surprisingly to some, also holds true for the privileged as well in a much more subtle and insidious way.

The question is, what happens to society when superficial barometers of excellence (i.e. wealth, test scores, titles, awards) are the most socially valued and sought after resources and thus naturally become concentrated in the hands of the few? How do these select few who have the privilege of accessing these resources then further distinguish themselves from each other? Logically, based on their behavior to date, they attempt to do so through the further accumulation of “metrics of success.”

As a parent of two young sons myself, it is extremely difficult to step outside of these norms when it is so embedded in our culture. However, I am certain that a singular focus on “performance”, whether academic or economic, does not improve the holistic well being of our children or prepare them for a more diverse future.

This is an arms race that has no winners.