On Elitism
stanford.edu
On Elitism
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Re: On Elitism
#2The blogger doth protest too much, methinks. We learn all about his academic credentials almost as soon as the blog post begins, but don't hear anything about his real-world accomplishments beyond attending great schools.
What does everyone think of the blogger's academics page?
http://www.stanford.edu/~pgbovine/academic.htm
Disclaimer: I don't know the blogger, and as far as I know I don't know any of his professional colleagues or classmates from any era. I'm not competent to judge accomplishments in the domain of computer science, but I try to pick up nuances from English writing, just as does any other reader of English.
Re: On Elitism
#3The blogger doth protest too much, methinks. We learn all about his academic credentials almost as soon as the blog post begins, but don't hear anything about his real-world accomplishments beyond attending great schools. What does everyone think of the blogger's academics page? http://www.stanford.edu/~pgbovine/academic.htm Disclaimer: I don't know the blogger, and as far as I know I don't know any of his profession…
That is unfortunately true.
There is this old joke:
Q: How do you know someone is from MIT {Stanford, Havard, ...}?
A: He tells you.
Re: On Elitism
#4The blogger doth protest too much, methinks. We learn all about his academic credentials almost as soon as the blog post begins, but don't hear anything about his real-world accomplishments beyond attending great schools. What does everyone think of the blogger's academics page? http://www.stanford.edu/~pgbovine/academic.htm Disclaimer: I don't know the blogger, and as far as I know I don't know any of his profession…
This is pretty impressive:
2009 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award for HAMPI: A Solver for String Constraints, an ISSTA 2009 paper with Kiezun (lead author), Ganesh, Hooimeijer, and Ernst
The rest is mediocre-impressive. Nothing to laugh at, but nothing to distinguish him from the other MIT/Stanford students either. I think he has a good point.
Re: On Elitism
#5Is it a sort of oxymoron exercise or something?
Re: On Elitism
#6In The Psychology of Persuasion the author looks at how the appearance of authority yields big results: http://www.takebackyourbrain.com/2007/the-psychology-of-pers... - The disconnect, then, is that confidence and arrogance are often interpreted as authority.
Re: On Elitism
#7>"The smartest kids in the class had reputable externally-recognizable marks of status --- their top-ranked grades on exams and homeworks --- and thus did not need to assert their intelligence."
Having the top grades on exams and homework doesn't in any way demonstrate that those kids are the smartest in the class. Grades are correlated with intelligence to some degree, but much more strongly correlated with work-ethic and compliance.
Re: On Elitism
#8Unfortunately where I went to middle/high school there was very little elitism built around GPA and test scores. However, everyone just instinctively knew that the most dangerous bullies were not the most popular kids, but instead the kids just below them in the social heirarchy. The top tier were generally secure in themselves, but those below were always looking for an edge to get into the pantheon.
Re: On Elitism
#9I haven't noticed anything to suggest that elitism is more prevalent among those without elite credentials. Two distinguished professors from my school come to mind. Both of them have very impressive track records and yet both of them are on opposite ends of the arrogance spectrum.
I think it comes down to how comfortable you are with yourself. If you constantly wish you were higher up in the food chain, there's a good chance you are an elitist, and getting elite credentials likely won't satisfy you anyway.
Re: On Elitism
#10I think it is true that the most insecure tend to exhibit the most elitism; elitism being defined as going out of your way to put down another group you consider inferior. The author, however, goes out of his way to condemn this sort of elitism, basically succumbing to the same elitism he is condemning. Just as I'm basically doing, going out of my way to write this comment. I think the thing to realize is that comparing yourself to others in a better/worse than relationship is a pretty human thing to do, even if it isn't good. It should be avoided and maybe even corrected, but it shouldn't be condemned or used as a way to put people down, lest you succumb to it yourself.