Excellence Runs On Inequality

Somebody finally said it. “Democracy runs on equality; freedom and excellence run on inequality,” Carlos Carvalho, president of University of Austin (click: In Defense Of Inequality). Discuss: is the very democratic ideal of equality somehow at odds with the pursuit of excellence, even freedom?

Maybe we should start by first putting into some historical context that Jeffersonian all-men-are-created-equal clause in the Declaration Of Independence. A quick romp through ChatGPT reveals the phrase was heavily influenced by Enlightenment ideals of human dignity and liberty. It reflected a philosophical aspiration for equality as to the rights of “man” (others would follow) in societal self-government rather than some assertion about individual equivalence in terms of talents, intellect, or social standing.

Enter Carlos Carvalho. From his academic perch he asserts that pretty much every university seems to have abandoned the cultivation of excellence as their core mission, choosing rather to lower standards in the name of equality. Is he right and, if he is, how might this tyranny of low expectations play out to suffocate the very people whose uncommon talent, courage, and vision might otherwise pull us forward?

Perhaps that term “abandoned” is somewhat qualified as he cites De Tocqueville’s observation that democracies may actually prefer equality in servitude over inequality in freedom. It comes down to identifying the purpose of education, whether it is to lift or level the human potential. There are those who suggest that education has devolved into a kind of sanctioned propaganda of the masses by the overseers du jour.

It is human nature to imagine that our present reality is squalid, diminished, and an ignominious comedown from better days when household appliances lasted and workers worked and honor mattered. Exuberant democratic energy usually finds its own standards and creates its own excellence. The same might be said of the academic world.

Long live Chariots Of Fire in whatever form.

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