tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3406509183596335885.post1183706278957630225..comments2023-09-22T05:58:17.585-04:00Comments on The Prox: Lost in the Meritocracy or Part of the Meritocracy? A ReviewUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3406509183596335885.post-3679254013005042262009-08-01T00:11:11.127-04:002009-08-01T00:11:11.127-04:00Though not quite finished with the book, I appreci...Though not quite finished with the book, I appreciate this review. One wonders whether or not Kirn is aware of the irony of being one of the beneficiaries of the so-called meritocracy. He thinks he's lost? Try being in the Ivy League and having to leave because of money and illness, and ending up in an inferior occupation. It sucks a whole lot worse than going through some mental anguish - so common in intense schools - then finishing, going to another prestigious school, and becoming a successful writer. Sucks a WHOLE lot more. Additionally, there is the question of credibility. A public school teacher put a hand on his nipple while he was in the lunch line? Nobody noticed this? And cussed with the f word and more in a class? Hard to believe. Are we supposed to take this as hyperbole in the service of humor? If so, then what else isn't true? And he's relatively poor, but his father is a patent lawyer and a Princeton grad himself. Man, that's really the pits, isn't it? Just can't get into privilege bashing and affected soul searching when the writer is himself so privileged, and still playing the same game. I won't be reading any more from Kirn.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3406509183596335885.post-56925751455237588702009-06-12T16:41:39.035-04:002009-06-12T16:41:39.035-04:00This guy is just as much a product of Princeton as...This guy is just as much a product of Princeton as someone who marches in 40 consecutive P-rades. Princeton inspires strong feelings, both positive and negative, and he obviously professes to have the latter. To me, he sounds like just another Terrace hipster, with an entitled malevolent streak brought on by drug use and privileged upbringing. But what do I know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3406509183596335885.post-15544567666372828102009-06-11T21:12:49.938-04:002009-06-11T21:12:49.938-04:00The book is wonderful when read more as a novel th...The book is wonderful when read more as a novel than as a critique of Pton and all Education.....Character, voice, narrative are all incredible...you're sad when you have to stop reading......Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3406509183596335885.post-33026219635008323232009-06-08T22:10:52.778-04:002009-06-08T22:10:52.778-04:00Thanks for writing a much more nuanced review than...Thanks for writing a much more nuanced review than many of the others I've read. I think you get at a lot of the book's problems, most centrally Kirn's tendency to over-generalize (though I should say that I really enjoyed the book, and there's a lot in it to which I can relate).<br /><br />The only thing I'd take issue with is that it seems to me you're suggesting that the reason Kirn was unhappy at Princeton and ultimately turned to drugs as a coping/fitting-in mechanism is because he was a transfer student. I don't think that's indicated by Kirn's experiences, and it could have as much to do with coming from a different part of the country and a different socioeconomic/cultural background. I know I often felt culture shock in my first year at Princeton, now that the university no longer accepts transfers—and like Kirn, I have an alum parent, too. However false a sense it might be in a reasonably diverse environment, in my experience it is very easy indeed to feel alienated at Princeton, and not something easily explained away by a transfer policy.Emilyhttp://worthlessdrivel.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3406509183596335885.post-79343665577685364522009-06-08T17:00:56.152-04:002009-06-08T17:00:56.152-04:00We are all encouraged to downplay the importance o...We are all encouraged to downplay the importance of native intelligence, and the role of intelligence as a selection criterion for college. Of course this makes sense: a large part of the reason for college is to obtain an expensive (and thus hard to fake) credential of our intelligence for future employers. Hence many employers are more impressed by our Ivy League diploma than by the contents of our transcript.<br /><br />As an institution dedicated to providing these expensive indicators, it makes sense for colleges to try to discredit the importance of intelligence: if employers were to switch to using IQ tests instead, colleges would be out of business.ACnoreply@blogger.com