<|endoftext|> however, this kind of affirmative action is much less pernicious than another practised by many universities: ��legacy preferences��, a programme for the children of alumni—as if privileged children were not already doing well enough out of the education system.
In most Ivy League institutions, the eight supposedly most select universities of the north-east, ��legacies�� make up between 10% and 15% of every class. At Harvard they are over three times more likely to be admitted than others. The students in America's places of higher education are increasingly becoming an oligarchy tempered by racial preferences. This is sad in itself, but even sadder when you consider the extraordinary role that the same universities—particularly Conant's Harvard—played in promoting meritocracy in the first half of the 20th century.
America's great companies are also becoming less successful agents of upward mobility. The years from 1880 to 1960 were a period of great corporate behemoths. These produced a new class of Americans—professional managers. They built elaborate internal hierarchies, and also accepted their responsibilities to both their workers and their local communities. But since the 1970s the pressure of competition has forced these behemoths to become much leaner—to reduce their layers, contract out some activities, and shift from full-time to part-time employees. It has became harder for people to start at the bottom and rise up the company hierarchy by dint of hard work and self-improvement. And it has also become harder for managers to keep their jobs in a single company.
There are a few shafts of sun on the horizon. George Bush's No Child Left Behind Act tries to use a mixture of tests and punishments for lousy schools to improve the performance of minority children. Senator Edward Kennedy bangs the drum against legacy preferences. But the bad news outdoes the good. The Republicans, by getting rid of inheritance tax, seem hell-bent on ignoring Teddy Roosevelt's warnings about the dangers of a hereditary aristocracy. The Democrats are more interested in preferment for minorities than building ladders of opportunity for all.
In his classic ��The Promise of American Life��, Herbert Croly noted that ��a democracy, not less than a monarchy or an aristocracy, must recognise political, economic, and social distinctions, but it must also withdraw its consent whenever these discriminations show any tendency to excessive endurance.�� So far Americans have been fairly tolerant of economic distinctions. But that tolerance may not last for ever, if the current trend towards ��excessive endurance�� is not reversed.<|endoftext|>A big announcement by Ubisoft is only a couple of days away, but the announcement might have been spoiled with a leak at Best Buy. Kotaku received two photographic images from a Best Buy worker showing off Assassin��s Creed III, which is allegedly slated to be revealed on March 5.
The game��s promotional art shows off an Assassin character decked out in full Native American and Continental battle regalia, wielding a tomahawk in one hand and a flintlock pistol in the other. He��s also equipped with a bow and feathered arrows. Wearing an 18th-century military jacket, he stands in front of a Continental flag.
Speculation about Assassin��s Creed III placed the game during the period of the American Revolution. Kotaku notes that the character bears resemblance to actor Wes Studi and appears Native American.<|endoftext|>Tina Fey: As Expected, A Totally Normal Person
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jim Spellman/Getty Images Jim Spellman/Getty Images
Last night, outside of the old Jewish synagogue on Sixth and I Streets in Washington, DC, I had my best-yet up-close encounter with a madwoman. She was middle-aged, wearing a rainbow-print top that hurt my eyes, and tinted-blue glasses. As I ran past her toward the synagogue, where I was running late to hear Tina Fey read, she yelled out, "Please take me with you!"
The woman was scream-crying this request (scrying?), and just as I ducked into the building, I saw three burly security guards descend upon her to escort her off the property. Later, I heard police sirens and the staff whispering on two-way radios about "the incident." I've seen crazy fans before — on TV, outside Justin Bieber shows, at ComicCon — but never just one lone woman at her berserk best, begging at the top of her lungs for a chance to see an author talk.
Not that I blame her, really. I'm happy to live in a world where the likes of Tina Fey can provoke insane fervor. The conversation sold out all of its 800-plus tickets in 12 minutes — a synagogue record — and as Fey marched up the aisle between two bodyguards, publicists flanking either side of her, I felt like I was at a bat mitzvah