“Both the U.S. health-care system and the U.S. educational system are exclusively “best” strategies: They excel at furthering the opportunities of those at the very top end. But they aren’t nearly as interested in moving people from the middle of the pack to somewhere nearer the front.”
-Malcom Gladwell, Gladwell-Simmons II: Part 2
Is this a bad thing for the average person, or is this why the US does well? Is excellence for the few the proverbial “rising tide that lifts all boats”?