RICHARD PHELPS

 Academic Questions 

Fall 2022, 83 

Richard Phelps (excerpt)

For decades, the indefatigable Will Fitzhugh has refused to stop reminding us of the stark and stubborn paradox of American culture, both apparent and hidden at virtually every U.S. public school. We fastidiously measure observable variations in athletic skill and ability and celebrate those who excel. 

Meanwhile, we shush and shame those who attempt the same in the cognitive domain. The outfall of this profound bias can be seen in the tables of contents of Fitzhugh’s The Concord Review, where high school students publish excellent long scholarly history journal articles. Scan the names of the authors and the locations of their schools over the past few decades and one cannot help but notice the trend—away from American-born authors and toward students raised elsewhere, some now attending U.S. private schools as international students, but many still residing at home overseas. And this not in a STEM field, but in the humanities….