Samuel Johnson was not of the aristocracy, and was to a large extent self taught, yet in one of his earliest jobs he was given the 'gist' of Parliamentary debates and then 'reconstituted' the dialogue for publication. Many men of high social standing were only too happy to let it be understood that they had really spoken so well for their causes.

And I am 'minded of an elderly Englishman I met many years ago, who'd received a turn of the century 'gentleman's' education prior to the First World War. He was of the opinion that it was rot and had spoiled him from useful pursuits.

So I come to my 'American' attitude from good English sources.