Part Two: Meritocrats, Words Summary and Analysis

Meritocrats: Judt attended King's College of Cambridge during an era of strict social expectations. Dinner at the common hall, for example, was formal, begowned, and required. Curfews were strictly enforced but the "middle-class bohemian" hostel wardens often regarded the social expectations and rules with a wink, smiling benignly upon breaches of school rules. However, students made successes of themselves by doing well in exams and following the imposed social rules. Judt notes that perhaps the most valuable aspect of his college education was the instructors' disregard for standardized public testing. They seemed to assume that students would succeed based on their talents alone, not on a societal measure of intelligence. When Judt himself became a teaching fellow, he attempted to mimic the bohemian style represented at King's College. He also suggests that as a whole...