Excellence: Can We Be Equal And Excellent Too?

This is a book about excellence, more particularly about the conditions under which excellence is possible in our kind of society; but it is also—inevitably—a book about equality, about the kinds of equality that can and must be honored, and the kinds that cannot be forced. Such a book must raise some questions which Americans have shown little inclination to discuss rationally. What are the characteristic difficulties a democracy encounters in pursuing excellence? Is there a way out of these difficulties? How equal do we want to be? How equal can we be? What do we mean when we say, “Let the best man win”? Can an equalitarian society tolerate winners? Are we overproducing highly educated people? How much talent can the society absorb? Does society owe a living to talent? Does talent invariably have a chance to exhibit itself in our society? Does every young American have a “right” to a college education? Are we headed toward domination by an intellectual elite? Is it possible for a people to achieve excellence if they don’t believe in anything? Have the American people lost their sense of purpose and the drive which would make it possible for them to achieve excellence?