The American Paradox:
KECSKEMETI, PAUL
The American Paradox Excellence. By John W Gardner. Harper's. 171 pp. $3.95. Reviewed by Paul Kecskemeti Staff member, RAND Corporation; Contributor, "Commentary" "Partisan Review" American...
...Yet, strangely enough, "the idea that the two views might often conflict doesn't occur to him...
...too few aspire to high achievement...
...If everybody competes in the arena of higher education, the majority must remain frustrated...
...One may judge oneself by intrinsically high standards, whether or not competition for differential rewards is encouraged by society...
...The American attitude toward equality and competition is far less irrational than Gardner's paradox would suggest...
...It is axiomatic for Gardner that there can be no striving for "excellence," for high individual achievement, in social systems based upon hereditary privilege...
...Pre-eminence can be bestowed on the former basis, but not on the latter...
...There are such defenses in the labor unions, in the business community, in the civil service, in education...
...For sheer excellence of individual production in crafts and arts, the modern democratic cultures cannot hold a candle to traditional and caste-bound ages and cultures, e.g., Europe in the Middle Ages, peasant cultures, Japan...
...In several such systems, including medieval and early modern Europe, competition was lively on all social levels...
...Our egalitarian society is so solicitous of every individual that there is no incentive for the highly talented...
...the Church and expanding urban life afforded many channels for upward mobility, and individual ability was a highly important determinant of status...
...Gardner is no advocate of "rugged individualism" and unmitigated competition...
...Have we not built up a social system in which individual merit alone counts...
...The success of the few depends on the favor of the many, expressed in quantitative terms...
...Yet, according to the author, too many Americans are content to earn a living with as little effort as possible...
...But in a democracy, the accident of birth is no handicap...
...In such societies, every individual's position in life is determined solely by his birth, regardless of his ability...
...In fact, attention to intrinsic standards of excellence is apt to lead to beneficial results precisely where competition is inhibited and the outward criterion of success does not get mixed up with the inward criterion of craftsmanship...
...They were not created by apostles of the intrinsic equality of all men but by groups of people who banded together to look after their own interests...
...American egalitarianism is not concerned with inhibiting competition for differential rewards but with regulating the conditions and consequences of that competition...
...Contributor, "Commentary" "Partisan Review" American society, John Gardner believes, is suffering from a grave defect...
...Nevertheless, it seems to me that Gardner's argument about excellence is not free from confusion...
...The predicament of our own democracy seems to me overstated as well...
...The many, who cannot be winners themselves, participate with zest in picking the winners...
...Actually, however, one of the problem's essential aspects has nothing to do with the ranking of individuals...
...the fact that some people make a lot of money does not seem to most Americans to contradict the principle that all men are equal...
...Equality, in this sense, means equal dignity...
...There is, for example, comparatively little jealousy of material wealth in America...
...The problem raised by the author (who is president of the Carnegie Corporation and of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching) is of the highest importance, and his mellow and wellbalanced discussion is thought-provoking...
...The road is open for all talents...
...The typical American, he says, holds two convictions with equal fervor: "All men are equal," and "let the best man win...
...As a result, America is in danger of being outstripped and overwhelmed by rivals with a better developed sense of the need for excellence...
...Hence, society must find a way to grant recognition to all individuals who give their best in their field, instead of tying status to college degrees...
...Gardner rightly urges each individual to accept high standards in his own work, but this is something quite different from trying to excel others...
...Few cultures were less stagnant and more dynamic than Western and Central Europe from the 11th to the 18th century, hereditary privilege notwithstanding...
...American democracy characteristically encourages those forms of competition which do not conflict with its concept of equality, and is quite tolerant of the inequalities resulting from the approved forms of competition...
...But it seems to me that he confuses the issue by defining it in terms of a deficiency in competitive motivations among Americans...
...Gardner finds the root of the paradox in an internal contradiction which characterizes American culture...
...Specifically, the educational system ought to recognize the highly gifted, and, at the same time, provide meaningful goals to the less gifted...
...No absurdity, no pursuit of irreconcilable goals is involved in this fusion of egalitarianism and competitiveness...
...he is not opposed to the protective features of American democracy...
...But he argues that a way must be found to make "individuals at many levels of ability accept the need for high standards of performance and strive to achieve those Standards within the limits possible for them...
...To begin with, the problem is treated primarily as a matter of ranking individuals along a scale...
...His sentiments are those of the Irishman who cried, 'I'm as good as you are, and a great deal better too!'" America's "equalitarianism," Gardner continues, reduces the possible social benefits of competitive striving for excellence...
...Gardner's book has the merit of raising the problem of excellence as a matter of intrinsic standards...
...Yet the American refusal to look up to anybody does seem to inhibit the quest for excellence defined in terms of intrinsic standards independent of competition...
...There is a pervasive egalitarianism in American culture, but its manifestations lie elsewhere...
...It fails to encourage high achievement, and where excellence exists, it fails to give due recognition...
...In any case, success in America bears a quantitative tag: It bespeaks a relative, positional difference between winner and loser, rather than some qualitative, intrinsic superiority...
...Thus, American society creates "elaborate institutional defenses to diminish the emphasis upon performance as a determinant of status...
...How did we get into such a predicament...
...The point is not that there should be no prominent people but that in certain important respects the prominent should not count for more than the others...
...Occasionally, as in athletic competition, the achievements themselves are directly measurable...
...This is excellent advice indeed...
...Indeed, Gardner's bleak picture of social systems based on hereditary privilege seems to me badly overdrawn...
...This reverence is difficult to achieve in a culture which insists on placing every individual on the same level even while bestowing pre-eminence upon some for their prowess in achieving some quantitative distinction...
...The various devices serving to mitigate the rigors of economic competition noted by Gardner do not seem to me to reflect any egalitarian ethos...
...To acquire such standards and live up to them, one must have a reverent attitude toward masters, both one's own teachers and the great masters who are universal models of excellence...
...Most of these devices, whether in the field of business, entertainment or politics, operate by popular favor...
...American life is full of mechanisms for separating winners from losers...
Vol. 44 • July 1961 • No. 28
