David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

their face?^2
Caroline Sacks’s decision to evaluate
herself, then, by looking around her
organic chemistry classroom was not
some strange and irrational behavior. It
is what human beings do. We compare
ourselves to those in the same situation
as ourselves, which means that students
in an elite school—except, perhaps,
those at the very top of the class—are
going to face a burden that they would
not face in a less competitive
atmosphere. Citizens of happy countries
have higher suicide rates than citizens of
unhappy countries, because they look at
the smiling faces around them and the
contrast is too great. Students at “great”