Eric Protzer
Paul Summerville
The writers are the co-authors of “Reclaiming Populism.”
To the Editor:
I read with interest Michael Sandel’s excellent piece on credentialism. Although surely many readers were struck by the irony of a Harvard professor publishing a piece opposing credentialism on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times.
Sam I. Hill
Gosport, Ind.
To the Editor:
I appreciate most of what Michael Sandel says. One thing we have learned from the pandemic is that the most essential workers in our economy, the people we need and should value the most, are often those who are paid the least and accorded the least respect.
I do reject Professor Sandel’s notion that we should look beyond the elite in choosing our political leaders. But I define “the elite” broadly as those who stand out by virtue of superior knowledge, skill, intelligence, experience, wisdom, maturity, courage, humility, compassion, honesty. (Today’s most powerful leader in the world possesses the opposite of all of these qualities.)
We want leaders who are better than ourselves, men and women we and our children can look up to (though not uncritically). But just as important, we want leaders who will not look down on any of us. Our challenge as citizens in a democracy — one we sometimes fail — is to recognize excellence and select leaders of that caliber.
Michael P. Bacon
Westbrook, Maine
To the Editor:
Michael J. Sandel writes near the end of his essay: “Appreciating the role of luck in life can prompt a certain humility: There, but for an accident of birth, or the grace of God, or the mystery of fate, go I.”
Professor Sandel, non-degreed individuals often choose their occupations as deliberately as you chose your own. To imply that these choices are accidents of birth, grace or the result of some cosmic influence is to imply that these non-degreed individuals are victims of circumstance.
My father had an eighth-grade education but loved his work in machine repair in an auto plant. His brother graduated from college and had a successful career at a major newspaper. Thanks to my father’s union-negotiated pension and my uncle’s blue chip stock, they both lived comfortably in their retirement. Your remark is demeaning.