The concept of the "New Elite"

[Belacqua]

Well I have to say it's not often you can score a big ZERO on a test and it's a good thing.

 

Here I thought I failed. It turns out I'm elite!

 

No kidding. Apparently, I was darn near the elite of precalculus students in high school. And here I thought I was a failure. :)

[Wheres Toto]

1. Do you know who Jimmie Johnson is? (The really famous one, not the football coach.)

2. Can you identify military ranks by uniform insignias?

3. Do you know what MMA and UFC stand for?

4. Do you know what Branson, Mo., is famous for?

5. Have you ever attended a meeting of a Kiwanis or Rotary club?

6. Do you know who replaced Bob Barker as host of "The Price is Right?"

7. Have you ever lived in a town with fewer than 25,000 people? (During college doesn't count.)

8. Can you name the authors of the "Left Behind" series?

9. Do you live in an area where most people lack college degrees? (Gentrifying neighborhoods don't count.)

10. Can you identify a field of soybeans?

 

Edited to add: Oops, I forgot to provide for a "0" option in the poll. If you had 0 "yes" answers, please use the "1" option. Sorry about that!

 

I actually had to look up the population of my town and it's under 5,000. I'm born and raised in NJ and evidently only once have I lived in a town over 25,000 (it was over 50,000). All the others were 15,000 or under. I never would have thought it.

 

Other than that, I had one other yes. I knew Drew Carey was the host of the Price is Right because it used to be on the tv's at the gym when I was there on the treadmills.

[cathmom]

I thought the football coach Jimmy Johnson WAS the really famous one! But then I vaguely recalled that I think there's a NASCAR driver named that.

 

I answered that I got 4, but that's because I answered 4 questions only halfway: the Jimmy Johnson one, Branson (something having to do with country music, I think? I should know because I listen to country frequently!), Kiwanis (never been to a meeting, but when I was about 13-14, my friend's father was in the Kiwanis and they hosted the Miss NJ pageant and I went to it to volunteer. So does that count halfway or not?), and I think Tim LaHaye is one of the authors of Left Behind. So really I only got two, except one of them isn't really accurate because I don't live in a town. And I don't know if there were other hosts of TPIR between Bob Barker and Drew Carey, but I do know that Drew Carey SUCKS as host and should be fired if he hasn't been already!

[RoughCollie]

I earned both of my yeses in the last year: I live in a town of less than 25K people (if you can call a rural area a "town") and I live in an area where the vast majority of people do not have college degrees.

 

I don't think this questionnaire is valid. I'm not one of the elite, nor am I elitist; I'm just an ordinary person.

Edited October 27, 2010 by RoughCollie

[Catherine]

He co-wrote The Bell Curve.

 

One fact I find interesting about him is that he credits the SAT with his admission to Harvard, in the early 1960's, because he was from a humble background. BUT, he now thinks the SAT should be scrapped, "The evidence has become overwhelming that the SAT no longer serves a democratizing purpose."

[cathmom]

To clarify, this isn't what the author was getting at. He was saying that the "New Elite" is out of touch with "Mainstream America." When he said that people who got between 3 and 7 yes answers should "get out more," he was suggesting that if they did, they would get more questions right, not less, presumably because they'd have contact with more different kinds of people who would know these things. He describes in some detail how this "elite" group goes through their entire lives in a bubble, never mixing with people from other social groups.

 

The article wasn't at all negative about "mainstream America."

 

Yes, they do, and that's what makes it so hysterical to watch them on Sunday news shows saying, "Well, most Americans feel this way..." Or reading a book by a journalist who lives in NYC and realizing that they have less than no idea what my life is like.

 

I don't know that, as I hardly ever watch TV.

But what's the necessary link between not watching TV and being "elite" escapes me. :glare:

(Mind you, I'm somewhat baffled by my 0 on this test, one would have thought I managed to assimilate a bit after all these years...)

 

I would argue that these things are NOT mainstream. Since when is NASCAR mainstream? I know they've been hyping it as such, but I would say that the NFL is more mainstream. And I've actually watched at least UFC, if not MMA, because my dh likes martial arts, but I did not recognize the acronyms without any context. But those are not things that all Americans would know IMO.

 

:iagree:

 

And besides, who in any kind of "elite" thinks that a stinkin' NASCAR driver is more famous than a football coach? ;)

 

:iagree:

[RoughCollie]

I completely missed the post in which Skueppers said this: He describes in some detail how this "elite" group goes through their entire lives in a bubble, never mixing with people from other social groups.

 

I agree that there are some people who rarely mix with those from other socio-economic groups. I was one of them. Before I moved to PA, I didn't come into contact with those outside my regular group very often for over two decades, unless I visited my extended family, except for a few friends I met at church.

 

Not mixing with people from other groups is often just the way things play out. We didn't live near people who weren't like us, and we didn't work with them either. I did notice that the two friendship groups I had did not mix well because they did not have much in common. People from both groups were not eager to spend time with me and people from the other group. The two groups were interested in talking about and doing entirely different things. For example, one group would discuss history and current world events, and the other group would say that knowing history was a waste of time. One group would discuss their professional lives and the other group would talk about what they had seen on t.v., unless I encouraged them to talk about their work, which bored the other group. One group would discuss the books they were reading, and the other group would not be made up of readers. One group liked to go camping, the other group preferred cruises or trips to Europe. Two different worlds -- and now that I live in another world, I can attest to the fact that they are indeed quite different.

Edited October 27, 2010 by RoughCollie

[TechWife]

OK, does anyone else think that this quiz is reminiscent of the No Child Left Behind Act? At it's heart, NCLB is an attempt to make everyone average.

 

According to the Washington Post, if we possess a specific, pre-determined body of knowledge we are good to go because we are in touch with the world around us, the "mainstream." If we aren't, we need to pull ourselves up and get out more. If we are beyond out of touch, "elite", then we are just ignored (like gifted kids are ignored in NCLB legislation).

 

I wonder why someone is more elite the less they know. In reality, it usually works the other way around. Otherwise, why would we care to put something like NCLB in place?

 

In the poll I said I have 5 right, but I have to downgrade to 4 after reading the answers others have posted. I misremembered who wrote the silly Left Behind books.

[Renee in NC]

I completely missed the post in which Skueppers said this: He describes in some detail how this "elite" group goes through their entire lives in a bubble, never mixing with people from other social groups.

 

I agree that there are some people who rarely mix with those from other socio-economic groups. I was one of them. Before I moved to PA, I didn't come into contact with those outside my regular group very often for over two decades, unless I visited my extended family, except for a few friends I met at church.

 

Not mixing with people from other groups is often just the way things play out. We didn't live near people who weren't like us, and we didn't work with them either. I did notice that the two friendship groups I had did not mix well because they did not have much in common. People from both groups were not eager to spend time with me and people from the other group. The two groups were interested in talking about and doing entirely different things. For example, one group would discuss history and current world events, and the other group would say that knowing history was a waste of time. One group would discuss their professional lives and the other group would talk about what they had seen on t.v., unless I encouraged them to talk about their work, which bored the other group. One group would discuss the books they were reading, and the other group would not be made up of readers. One group liked to go camping, the other group preferred cruises or trips to Europe. Two different worlds -- and now that I live in another world, I can attest to the fact that they are indeed quite different.

 

Most defintely two different worlds! The funny thing is - I would rather sit around and talk about history and current world events, books, professional lives, etc. but I got 7 right!:D My dh belongs to the other group you mention (he got 8.) He and I mix quite well :tongue_smilie: but we have never had the same group of friends in our entire marriage (for the same reasons you mention.)

 

I doubt any of my family (on my father's side) could answer any of those questions, except maybe the Branson question because my grandmother's sister went there. They are also in a much higher socioeconomic class. I think there is some correlation there.

[Rhonda in TX]

The answer key said that:

 

* If you got 0-2 "yes" answers, you're a member of the New Elite.

* If you got 8-10 "yes" answers, you're a part of mainstream America.

 

The author also suggested that those who got between 3 and 7 yes answers needed to "get out more."

 

So those with 0-2 answers DON'T need to get out more, but 3-7 do??? :lol:

 

I knew the answers to 4.

[Melinda in VT]

They are also in a much higher socioeconomic class. I think there is some correlation there.

 

I think there is some socioeconomic correlation, but I also think there is a heavy geographic correlation.

 

I live in a rural community that values family farms. But soybeans are not the popular crop here. And the Left Behind books don't fit the religious views of most people in my state. We're pretty far from Branson. Etc.