As for Patton's elitist assumption that finding an "intellectual equal" outside of an Ivy League campus is next to impossible? Ugh. I'm not even going to unpack that one, but it's worth noting that this embarrassing window into how Ivy Leaguers talk to each other should be as cringe-inducing to modern audiences as Patton's take on gender relations is. Some of the dumbest and most intellectually incurious people I've known were in my class at Princeton. And some of the smartest I've known went to state schools, or community colleges, or didn't go to college.
Agree, Meadsjn — but what she is saying that while a person is in college, that is when they WILL be surrounded by the largest number to choose from who are on roughly the same intellectual equivalent. This is especially key for women if she is keen to get married and not have to “dumb down” pretend she isn’t interested in “book larnin’” She’s not saying great, smart quality men aren’t found elsewhere, or outside that particular university - she’s saying if you can find a good man young, GRAB HIM if you can if the iron is hot. Don’t wait until you are out in the workforce with maybe 1 in 10 coming up to you intellectually (or often LESS!) Face it, many men (including those who should have given it a thought) marry a woman because she is “cute” or nice to puppies and children, and don’t care if she knows John Adams from the beer Sam. Adams. Then the children grow up and he finds he married an airhead and he gets to pound his head up against the wall, wondering why she can’t grasp why voting for dumbocrat politicians is not in anyone’s best interest just because “they carrrre, and it’s for the chilllldrun.” Women who wait, find their pickings are slimmer. Then when they are 28-30 and “ready to settle down” she’ll find all the smart, good guys are already taken — either by the cupcake who wiggled her fanny at him on his first job while she was cleaning the coffee machine - or by the smart cookie who nailed him in college. She will have to beat the bushes harder than he will to find her intellectual soul mate. If a guy with an IQ of 130 marries a woman with an IQ of 100, it may work out. It DOESN’T often work out for the woman with the IQ of 130 who marries the guy with an IQ of 100. Wait too long and the educated ones are “taken” and you sure as hell don’t want to marry the idiot who doesn’t know “to” from “two” from “too.” She’ll end up killing him or herself.
She is saying: “For God’s sake, if you see a guy you really love, MARRY HIM — don’t wait until you establish your career and come back 8-10 years latter he took the cupcake.”
Well, unfortunately this is EXACTLY what Charles Murray has been saying for 20 years-—that the elites are inbreeding and that they concentrate in”super zips”, or zip codes dominated by certain college degrees combined with income levels. It is also true that men almost never “marry up” either financially or intellectually (some professions are exceptions if the man had prestige or glamor, such as high profile actor, politician, or academic).
Oh so very true. One of the most intellectually curious people I've known and who read all kinds of books on ancient history worked the tool counter at a local contractor supply house. Conversely, some of the most dogmatic and close minded and incurious carry degrees from big name schools.