How Higher Education Can Win Back America
Preview:
Anti-elitism runs so deep in American culture that even our founding fathers thought it was old news. In 1813 Thomas Jefferson warned that the “artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents,” represented “a mischievous ingredient in government, and provision should be made to prevent its ascendancy.” Like James Madison and Ben Franklin, he worried that this elite was interested in protecting its own privileges rather than the good of the Republic.
Originally published: December 27, 2024
Author: Michael S. Roth
Position: President
Institution: Wesleyan University
Published by: The New York Times