As it’s used today, the term “privilege” was popularized as a means to describe inequality by women’s studies scholar Peggy McIntosh. In a 1988 essay, she listed 50 claimed examples of white and male privilege. In the decades since, the idea of “privilege” has become ingrained in mainstream political rhetoric. Now, however, instead of being used to critique societal imbalance, it’s more often deployed as a personal affront or attempt to discredit.
The very word “privilege” inspires indignation, whether it be on the basis of race, socioeconomic status, or perceived academic prestige. It’s difficult to deny, though, that students at elite institutions are among our nation’s most privileged: One in six students enrolled at an Ivy League institution has a parent in the top 1% of household income, and a 2017 study showed that 71% of Penn students hail from families in the top 20%. The stereotype of Ivy League snobbery, we then understand, is to large extent based in fact: Luxuries inconceivable to the majority of the country’s population exist in abundance at our school.
Despite the glaring statistics, the Penn community still shies away from speaking openly about privilege. The prevailing idea seems to be that thinking critically about or acknowledging one’s privilege negates any claim to personal accomplishment. The fact that Penn relishes in marketing itself as diverse and accessible also fuels denial: We are encouraged to believe that truly anyone can be admitted provided that they’re willing to work hard enough. This contrast between Penn’s merit-based, open-armed branding and the undeniably privileged plurality further blinds us to the role of birthright benefit.
Privilege does not just present itself in the form of legacy status or admissions advantages — things as basic as WiFi, access to quality education, transportation, and literacy are all prerogatives assumed by aspirants to higher education. As of 2024, 54% of American adults read below the sixth-grade level, with 21% considered illiterate. This statistic already cleaves half of Americans from even beginning the steep climb to postsecondary education. Reliable health care, supportive mentors, and even being spoken to in “standard” English are all privileges we’ve each enjoyed. It is all too easy to forget that every step along the way requires knowledge and, by natural association, privilege that is too easily taken for granted.
Of course, it is only natural to perceive and emphasize the privileges that others enjoy relative to you rather than yours relative to others. Clearly, some objective scale of entitlement exists at Penn: Children of millionaires learn alongside first-generation and low-income students every year. However, undue emphasis on others’ comparative fortune is simply unproductive. We should be reminding ourselves that many things can be true at once: We can be both fortunate and talented, both grateful and industrious. There will always be those who are more connected or better off than we are — but to attend a school like Penn means that all of us, by definition, are in our own way beneficiaries of privilege.
Upon recognizing the opportunity that attending such a University represents, we can begin to understand why so many of our fellow citizens and students are disillusioned and increasingly resentful of elite institutions’ admissions practices and the matriculants’ resulting self-importance. We have created a system in which prestigious schools have become fortresses impenetrable by most of the general populace. Indeed, for some of our political leaders, emphasizing these schools’ ivory-tower status has proven effective at alienating and demonizing elite universities. Given that we’re students at one of the schools under siege, the way we handle our political caricaturization is crucial: Running from privilege only worsens this social divide. Confronting advantage does not nullify being deserving, intelligent, or hardworking — and maintaining that privilege and merit cannot coexist is a petty philosophy.
GLADYS SMITH is a College junior from Williamsburg, Va. studying health and societies. Her email is gldysmth@sas.upenn.edu.
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