Khan Flashcards
What did Khan first notice at his new school?
Many black and brown kids
Student dorms were segregated cuz white children and parents complained.
What was his family like?
Father is from Pakistan (now surgeon)
Mother from Ireland
Now have a good amount of money (enough to send him to private school and live in a rich neighborhood)
Why was Khan discontent with his private school?
increasing awareness of inequality.
When are Inequalities tolerable?
Inequality is more tolerable if its character is perceived as “fair.”
Systematic, durable inequalities: those where advantages and disadvantages are transferred from generation to generation—are largely unacceptable
What does Khan believe about inequality?
is both immoral and inefficient
What are the two things Khan argues have increased?
- Openness (Inclusivity)
- Poverty (rich getting richer)
How is it that institutions (ex. universities) became more open to ppl previously excluded, but wealth inequality is increasing?
Part of the explanation emerges once we look at class. (Openness Khan mentioned before is racial)
Harvard’s “middle income” is the richest 5 percent of our nation
– to us openness means diversity, and diversity means race. But class matters
What did some schools attempt to do in order to avoid the class pitfall?
Base acceptance based on results only (SAT)
Meritocracy, elite of society would be based around skill and talent.
What does Khan argue about Meritocracy?
Attributes can be developed among richer students that most do not have access to (Students came from families that already had astounding advantages)
Explain Khan’s “New elite”
The boys and girls he sees as he walk through St. Paul (he is now a staff member)
He describes them as: a group of advantaged youths who don’t quite reflect what we typically imagine when we conjure up a vision of the well-off. They are not all
born into rich families. They are not all white. Their families did not arrive
on these shores four centuries ago. They are not all from the Northeast.
They do not share a preppy culture; they don’t avoid rap music and instead
educate themselves in the “finer” cultural things
What does Khan argue about the New Elite?
in certain fundamental ways they are like the rest of twenty-first-century
America: they firmly believe in the importance of the hard work required
to achieve their position at a place like St. Paul’s and the continued hard
work it will take to maintain their advantaged position
Instead of entitlement, I have found that St. Paul’s increasingly cultivates privilege. (their position / status is a result of what they have done)
What are the three lessons of privilege that
students learn?
Lesson 1: Hierarchies Are Natural and They Can Be Treated Like Ladders, Not Ceilings
– Students learn to emphasize hard work and talent when explaining their
good fortune
Lesson 2: Experiences Matter
–. In learning their
place at the school students rely not on their heritage but instead on experiences. There is a shift from the logic of the old elite—who you are—to that of the new elite—what you have done. Privilege is not something you are born with; it is something you learn to develop and cultivate
Lesson 3: Privilege Means Being at Ease,
No Matter What the Context
– practice of privilege is ease: feeling comfortable in just about any social situation
