I asked Rob Roy where he had gone to college. 'Yale,' he said. I told him what Helen Dole said about Yale, that it ought to be called 'Plantation Owners' Tech.' 'I don't get it,' he said. 'I had to ask her to explain it myself,' I said. 'She said Yale was where plantation owners learned how to get the natives to kill each other instead of them.'
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker critiques elite institutions like Yale for training people to manipulate conflicts rather than solve them directly.
- In plain terms
- Elite schools teach how to make others fight instead of doing the work yourself.
- What can you take from it?
- Education systems may prioritize indirect control over genuine problem-solving.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who benefits when others fight for you?
- What hidden lessons do elite schools teach?
Another view
The anecdote relies on an unverified comment without broader historical evidence.
More from Kurt Vonnegut
How embarrassing to be human.
Permalink to quote #152 [Freedom of speech] isn't something somebody else gives you. That's something you give to yourself.
Permalink to quote #154 Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the Universe.
Permalink to quote #151
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