The Rise of Progressivism Among the Educated Elite

To the Editor:

Re “The Sins of the Educated Class,” by David Brooks (column, June 7):

Mr. Brooks’s insightful column omits one problem. Many “elite” parents and students have never really interactedwith “real” average Americans. I went to the same university as Mr. Brooks, and I believe that my education about people was greatly enhanced by what I did not learn in class.

Especially important were the facts that I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, spent my summers working in an automobile body shop (where I learned many things, including that you take a shower after, not before, work) and spent time in the Army. All these experiences brought me into regular daily contact with people dealing with survival issues — living paycheck to paycheck, not being able to ever afford decent housing, worried about inflation, etc.

Don’t only blame the students for their attitudes and behaviors; they are built into our societal structure. Current scholars at elite schools are deprived of the great daily lessons and educational opportunities that I had. Possible solutions include required gap years, duty in the military, a required year of national service (good luck getting that through Congress) or interrupting their college careers with a real job for a year.

Those who take advantage of such experiences would benefit greatly, and so would the country.

Jim Webster
Shelter Island, N.Y.

To the Editor:

In his anguished attempt to place the country’s woes at the doorstep of progressives, David Brooks ignores the single greatest creation of inequality in the U.S. today — the tax code. Progressives did not pass the Reagan tax cuts of 1981, nor the Bush tax cuts of 2001, nor the Trump tax cuts of 2017, which have shifted enormous wealth from the middle class to the very wealthy — a shift that shows no signs of abating anytime soon.

The economic divide in this country has not been unwittingly created. The divide is the result of concerted effort by a greedy class, not the educated class. The educated class, though, has been better at navigating the resulting system than the working class, an effect that the wealthy class has used to divide and conquer to insure that the educated and working classes do not finally work together to create a more just society.