Business Daily Is the West really meritocratic?
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Oct 15, 2019 Leading US academic and author, Daniel Markovits, challenges the meritocratic idea in the West, arguing it perpetuates inequality. Discussions on the role of elite schools in supporting disadvantaged students, efforts of top universities to diversify applicants, and positive discrimination in India. Exploring economic inequalities, educational challenges, and the myth of equal opportunity in the US.
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Meritocracy Creates New Aristocracy
- Meritocracy is not a fair system but a new aristocracy based on schooling, not breeding.
- Rich families use enormous resources to educate their children, ensuring their advantage in meritocratic competition.
Inequality Exceeds Past Apartheid
- Economic inequality in the US causes bigger achievement gaps than racial segregation once did.
- The gap between rich and poor children's academic performance is now shockingly large and growing.
US Has Low Social Mobility
- Social mobility in the US is about one third that of Scandinavian countries.
- America has a more rigid class hierarchy compared to more equal European systems.