meritocracy

Can Universities Protect Diverse Admissions and Excellence?

by John Thelin

The vastly improved technology available to college admissions officers means that a handful of selective institutions can serve the interest of both nominal diversity and elite reproduction, while exacerbating the divide in elementary and secondary educational quality in the nation. 

Nepotistic Legacy Admissions are the Gaping Loophole of American Meritocracy

by Richard Reeves

Is a campaign of shaming over legacy admissions necessary to shift American norms away from tolerating these policies that reproduce generational privilege? 

Michael J. Sandel on the Dark Side of Meritocracy

by Nils Gilman

"The growing awareness of the problems with meritocracy in recent decades is a direct result of the deepening divide between winners and losers. The divide has poisoned our politics and set us apart."

Abolish Legacy Admissions

by Ronald J. Daniels

"Legacy preference is immobility written as policy, preserving for children the same advantages enjoyed by their parents. It embodies in stark and indefensible terms inherited privilege in higher education."

Break Up the Ivy League Cartel

by Sam Haselby

The incredible wealth of Ivy League and other elite universities, combined with their ever-dwindling acceptance rates, suggests that contemporary meritocracy is working to reproduce a tiny economic and political elite at the expense of democracy. 

The Broken System: What Comes After Meritocracy?

by Elizabeth Anderson

Philosopher Elizabeth Anderson reviews Michael Sandel's critique of meritocracy, a book that locates an explanation for the Trumpian moment in the rise of competitive individualism in the platforms of both major parties. 

Disdain for the Less Educated Is the Last Acceptable Prejudice

by Michael J. Sandel

Joe Biden has a secret weapon in his bid for the presidency: He is the first Democratic nominee in 36 years without a degree from an Ivy League university. His campaign may test the pervasive belief that elite academic credentials are a necessity to govern.

Americans don’t believe in meritocracy — they believe in fake-it-ocracy

by Niall Ferguson

This illegal “side door” into college came into existence because the back door of a fat donation — like the $2.5 million paid by Jared Kushner’s father to Harvard — isn’t 100 percent reliable.

The Myth of Meritocracy

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Race and ethnicity have always mattered in college admissions. But they mattered in different ways at different times.

Victor Davis Hanson: America’s Big Fat Advantage

NRO contributor Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. His The Savior Generals will appear in the spring from Bloomsbury Books. © 2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc.For all the Obama-era talk of decline, there is at least one reason why America probably won’t, at least not quite yet.“Peak oil” and our “oil addiction” were supposed to have ensured that we ran out of either gas or the money to buy it. Now, suddenly, we have more gas and oil than ever before. But the key question is: Why do we?