The Relentless Erosion of Western Standards

In an article of May 6 in the National Post, Sabrina Maddeaux discussed the recent decision of the Toronto District School Board to eliminate admission criteria based on the skills and accomplishments of applicants to various specialized schools and programs devoted to endeavors such as the Arts, Athletics, etc.. The board’s goal being “equitable” access to such programs, it has decided to demand only an expression of interest from applicants who will henceforth be admitted on the sole basis of a lottery.

I understand that there are talented individuals who, due to circumstances beyond their control, are denied the opportunity to excel in their particular discipline. But surely accommodations can be made for such individuals without submitting human success or failure to the mere randomness of a lottery! Think of the repercussions of such a dynamic. It sacrifices Excellence in the name of Inclusiveness. If imposed on every realm of human affairs, it would jeopardize the very qualities which led the Western World to its amazing achievements. But of course the inane and generally unexpressed informing conviction of the Left is that such achievements are inherently oppressive, that Capitalism’s claim to reward merit and hard work is fundamentally dishonest, indeed that those who succeed in the world are inevitably the benefactors of “privileges” garnered with a callous disregard for others.

This Neo-Marxist vision of the human dynamic is so grossly simplistic, so blind to the realities of Human Nature, that it is in no way worthy of serving as the basis for the policies of any government agency. Yes, some around the world who fail to excel are held back by intolerable circumstances, but in the civilized nations of the West it is generally the Inner Realities of the species, those endowed by Biology as well as those born of our capacity as Moral Beings, that are preeminently responsible for the course of our lives. Whatever one’s level of “privilege,” disparities in human outcomes are inevitably related to disparities utterly beyond the purview of any government agency. Simple inarguable Fact: Some are significantly more intelligent than others; some physically stronger than others; some gifted with abilities utterly unknown to others; some, inexplicably, determined to live with integrity while others simply surrender to the vilest of their impulses. Quite literally, the Left eliminates what it means to be a real, Living Human Being from its narrative.

As any of my friends will tell you, I have no musical skills whatsoever. That I might be admitted to some Toronto School Board program to the exclusion of one who is musically gifted, makes no sense at all. But then again, the Religion of Inclusiveness makes no sense at all, crassly ignoring genuine disparities within the species by simply attributing them to matters of privilege. The result is a Culture absurdly willing to compromise the success of people of genuine merit simply because they do not belong to one of the Left’s “oppressed” minorities. The mediocrity, both intellectual and moral, born of this world-view is evident daily not only in the world of Politics where Objective Reality is habitually violated [i.e., Men and Women are not significantly different], but in the world of the Arts where a preference for Mozart over the works of Snoop Dog now apparently marks one as a White Supremacist. Truly Absurd!