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Message: [QUOTE="cuseinchina, post: 724223, member: 3079"] You should read the book Twilight of the Elites...it's about how the meritocracy that has replaced the aristocracy in this country is messing everything up despite good intentions. Power now flows to those who are good at taking a test, which very often has almost nothing to do with who is best suited for a particular job. Even the military has this egg-head problem through the way they select for the academies. And you will find that sometimes those who get the best grades have very little actual working knowledge - they are just genetically well-suited to memorizing facts for exams. In the time of the aristocracy, at least you knew that for the most part the elites who were running the show had a very broad and deep education and hopefully some sense of moral responsibility and obligation for ruling over the rest of us plebes. In the meritocracy all that counts is winning...and the terms on which you win say very little about your ability to lead. Not calling for a return to feudal days here, just furthering your point that grades by themselves mean very very little. Anyway an interesting read as it is written by a liberal who has surely benefited from the meritocracy and really just throws the whole idea of what is fair on its head for reconsideration. having said all of that...Cohen has shown his true colors a few too many time to win me back with one decently written homage piece. And the comparisons to Thamel are somewhat insulting to Pete who despite his somewhat hackneyed style is a very solid reporter and also truly a good guy with a moral compass that Cohen has thus far not proven he has. Would be great to see more work like this profiling team members and their backstories, and whatever else. I actually don't really blame Cohen though for much of what he's done to-date...there is clearly an editor or two driving this. But if he thinks he's going to get to the NY times because he's on the 'cutting edge' of journalism at syracuse.com, he's sadly mistaken and being misled by his mentors at the post standard...they are leading him down a path that goes straight to the job title of local sports blogger. Making up controversy to drive page clicks is not something that gets you to the big time. I hope he's figured that out and will do more work like what he's done here. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?