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I understand but some people on this board have implied that a Western education (the kind dominated by white upper-class culture whether or not the person learning is actually wealthy or educationally privileged) is a prerequisite to intellectualism. In other words, I believe that an elite college could be made up of primarily wealthy students who still think that intellectualism is not limited to those who’ve acquired knowledge dictated by white upper-class culture. I don’t know if this is the case for UChicago. Are students looked down upon if they know nothing about Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle?</p>
<p>Intellectualism exists everywhere, even in populations immersed in ghetto culture (I have no doubt there are intellectuals in non-Westernized cultures as well). Indeed, the top schools have higher concentrations of intellectuals, but UChicago students are simply more explicit about their intellectuality. They might even be biased towards equating intellectualism with acquisition and application of Western knowledge?</p>