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Saturday, August 19, 2006

In Paul Fussell's Class...


...we are reminded that:


The general class rule about wrist watches is, the more "scientific," technological, and space-age, the lower. Likewise with the more "information" the watch is supposed to convey, like the time of day in Kuala Lumpur, the number of days elapsed in the year so far, or the current sign of the zodiac. Some upper-class devotees of the Cartier tank watch with the black lizard strap will argue that even a second hand compromises a watch's class, implying as it may the wearer's need for great accuracy, as if he were something like a professional timer of bus arrivals and departures. The other upper-class watch is the cheapest and simplest Timex, worn with a grosgrain-ribbon strap, changed often: black ones for formal wear are amusing.





Generally, the more upper you are, Fussell goes on to note, the less interested in high-tech anything, the less concerned with accuracy and shininess and up-to-dateness... Yet more generally, uppers aren't concerned with impressing people (those old Timexes)...

By these criteria, UD's alma mater, the University of Chicago, has done her proud lately:










'The University of Chicago boasts more than 70 Nobel laureates, and its math and economics departments are among the best in the world.

But for years, the prestigious school apparently didn't have an accurate count of its faculty, number of classes or educational spending.

That's the explanation the university gave for why it changed some of the figures it reports to U.S. News & World Report for the magazine's "America's Best Colleges" guide. Partly because of those changes, Chicago jumps from No. 15 to ninth in this year's ranking...


...The magazine says it was surprised to learn a university as prominent as Chicago hadn't kept better track of its data -- the school was keeping some records by hand -- and that it failed to put its best foot forward for the closely watched rankings. But the magazine accepted the changes.

Chicago was in the U.S. News top 10 five years ago, but its rank had been sliding since then. School officials acknowledge the drop prompted them to review their data -- and they concluded Chicago was selling itself short.

"We just were too casual about it," said Michael Behnke, vice president for university relations and dean of college enrollment. "I'm kind of embarrassed we didn't catch it before."'




Keeping records by hand, being casual about such classic prole motives as "putting your best foot forward" -- excellent. Too bad Chicago finally fell for, as Fussell calls it, "the whole anxious class racket."