false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255631195m/2563965.jpg 2563965 2 <p>Percentile is destiny in America.”<br>So says Walter Kirn, a peerless observer and interpreter of American life, in this whip-smart memoir of his own long strange trip through American education. Working his way up the ladder of standardized tests, extracurricular activities, and class rankings, Kirn launched himself eastward from his rural Minnesota hometown to the ivy-covered campus of Princeton University. There he found himself not in a temple of higher learning so much as an arena for gamesmanship, snobbery, social climbing, ass-kissing, and recreational drug use, where the point of literature classes was to mirror the instructor's critical theories and actual reading of the books under consideration was optional. Just on the other side of the “bell curve's leading edge” loomed a complete psychic collapse.<br>LOST IN THE MERITOCRACY<i> </i>reckons up the costs of a system where the point is simply to keep accumulating points and never to look back—or within. It's a remarkable book that suggests the first step toward intellectual fulfillment is getting off the treadmill that is the American meritocracy. Every American who has spent years of his or her life there will experience many shocks of recognition while reading Walter Kirn’s sharp, rueful, and often funny book—and likely a sense of liberation at its end.</p> 2572465 2008 Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever total:104|5:11|4:21|3:35|2:26|1:11| 104 307 434 47 2 0 false false Thu Oct 29 14:17:42 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 29 14:32:29 -0700 2009 personal level, I did enjoy this intellectual autobiography, but for purely situational reasons, since I'm currently constantly musing about education and class and what it means to be well educated and all that stuff.

And again, personally, I was by turns bemused and annoyed by...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Oct 11 16:21:39 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 16:30:45 -0700 2009
One paragraph ...more...]]> 1 1 false false Sun Jun 14 06:58:10 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 07:13:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 1 false false Fri May 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 08:15:57 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 08:32:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 17:24:13 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 06:38:34 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jul 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 18:32:28 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 07:27:12 -0700 2009
However, I truly dislike the narrator.

I think this should be 3.5 stars because I feel like I've been duped. I thought this book would provide a scathing critique of the breed of asshole Kirn himself "was."...more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Jul 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 18:38:01 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 17:26:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Jun 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 04:51:43 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 11:53:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 19:21:56 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 08:04:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 01 06:52:41 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 01 07:02:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jul 26 03:45:50 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 12:31:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jun 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 24 17:45:34 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 09:33:22 -0700 2009 get Kirn's struggle in the educational system. I was another one to whom the next academic prize was always the next goal. I didn't stop to ask what the point of getting an education was beyond the elusive "get an education so you can...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri May 29 18:37:22 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 01:34:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 22:19:49 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 23:10:52 -0700 2009
Here's an excerpt with an interesting perspective on conservatism.

"A conservative was a person who stopped adjusting once adjustment brought him no vital benefits. The commandment to us from kindergarten on had been ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun May 24 09:56:56 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 06:05:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 18:38:28 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 16 19:38:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 11:03:05 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 11:08:20 -0700 2009
...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 10:13:38 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 17:27:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 16:07:33 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 16:09:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 24 12:05:23 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 18:08:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2563965