Shamus Rahman Khan, Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School

P rivilege takes us into the world of St. Paul's, an exclusive boarding school, to examine the new American elite.In this well written ethnography, Khan returns to his alma mater as a teacher and researcher and discovers a transformed institution.Gone are the minority student dorms and (overt) expressions of old money and connections.In its place, the school prides itself on its racial diversity, the inclusion of women, and scholarships that allow superb disadvantaged students an education at St. Paul's.Years after graduating, Khan finds himself in a school that eschews notions of "who you are" in favour of "what you've done."Students who rely too heavily on family legacies are sequestered, and reside in a new version of a minority dorm Khan found himself in almost twenty years before.The faculty, staff and students aspire to model a world of diversity, cultural flexibility and hard work.Although much has changed at St. Paul's, the fundamental mission of the school remains.Students at St. Paul's learn how to embody privilege, much as they have throughout the school's 150 year history.What we learn from Khan is that while the method of doing privilege has changed, the ability of the elite to reproduce themselves has remained remarkably stable.Perhaps more problematic is that the new language of meritocracy (what you do, rather than who you are) allows them to frame their position as the sole result of talent and hard work.Students at St. Paul's learn to explain their good fortunes as a result of these qualities, and by default in contrast to the lack of these traits among the less advantaged.Do students at St. Paul's work hard?Through his year long tenure at St. Paul's, Khan learns that the most successful students are not necessarily the hardest working.He notes that many women, minority, and scholarship students work harder, seeing St. Paul's as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.The cruel irony is that while these students are memorizing Plato, their more successful peers are learning to embody what Khan refers to as the "ease of privilege."Masters of this lesson cultivate a distinct way of carrying themselves.They feel at ease in a variety of social settings, and learn an interactional style that allows them to "cre-

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