Quote of the Day:
The recent election makes me hopeful that we are moving past the culture of grievance that has poisoned our society and distorted our politics for the past eight years.
Joel Zinberg in City Journal
A visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a practicing surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital, Joel Zinberg is hoping that we can move past the ugly culture of grievance. But maybe in what is called "the real world," where people work hard and want the best for their children, the grievance culture does not prevail. Dr. Zinberg describes parent-teacher conferences at the Bronx Science High School (he is a Bronx Science parent):
I heard no whining about disrespect, microaggressions, or cultural appropriation. The parents weren’t interested in the Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren, liberal-elite narrative about oppression and demanding redress from the government. They were only interested in learning how their children were doing and how they could help.
Bronx Science students get admitted by a colorblind test. The result of this merit-based system? Most of the students are poor or lower-middle class. Many are immigrants or sons and daughters of recent immigrants. All are intent on taking advantage of the opportunity to obtain a first-class high school education and go on to college.
The government did not intervene to select this diverse group: it resulted from motivated parents who value education, hard work, and individual initiative. In fact, many succeeded in spite of the government, surmounting substandard public elementary and middle schools.
. . .
The recent election makes me hopeful that we are moving past the culture of grievance that has poisoned our society and distorted our politics for the past eight years. Americans want equality of opportunity not equality of results. The opportunity that my friend and I took advantage of 40 years ago is alive and well in America.
The opportunity to which Dr. Zinberg referred was attending Stuyvesant High School, another specialized and racially diverse school.
The U.S. in the past provided an environment for upward mobility (which is just a dry term for the American Dream).
Let's hope with charter schools empowered and more jobs available, the American Dream will be revived.