Before 1773, the graduates of Harvard were arranged in a hierarchy not of merit but “according to the dignity of birth, or to the rank of [their] parents.” John Adams, a future U.S. president, graduated 14th in a class of 24 in 1773.
The first 13 students in John Adams’ class are not named on the Harvard University website, where I got this information.
Harvard’s elitist past came to mind when I saw Franklin Cudjoe’s post. It read:
“Just apologise to the lady for the uncouth remarks. But for Parliament, you really wouldn’t be fit to be her associate in intellect, respect and honour.”
Samuel Abu Jinapor has denied uttering the offensive words directed at Zanetor Rawlings, but that’s not my mutton.
My beef is with the comparison. I don’t know the basis of Franklin’s assertion. It’s true that most of us grew up adoring Rawlings. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I sat with him on two occasions, and we had long conversations.
When I first saw him in Kete-Krachi, we had sat in the dust and, in school the following day, we boasted about seeing him.
“He passed where I was sitting. I saw him fiili fiili,” we told our friends.
But that does not mean we cannot be close to his children. Abu Jinapor is a lawyer. Zanetor is a medical doctor. I have interacted with both, and I do not doubt their intellectual capacities. And I don’t believe that only politics has them close in status.
In the pre-1773 Harvard classification, Abu could not be close to Zanetor in our context. But even Harvard abandoned that long ago and became the champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Our elders say a man must do his own growing up, no matter how tall his grandfather was. The two are in parliament on merit, if we are to discount the potency of their surnames.
So, Franklin, I humbly disagree with you.
Let’s encourage everyone to aim for the very top, irrespective of the depth of deprivation from which they seek to rise. When they get there, let’s not create the impression that the nobility of life can only be conferred by one’s heritage.
The author of this piece is Manasseh Azure Awuni. He is a Ghanaian Investigative journalist and a writer.
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