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8 I The Best Online Education System in the world
meritocratic screening found today is the college degree. Higher education is an imperfect meritocratic
screening system for various reasons, such as lack of uniform standards worldwide,11 lack of scope (not all
occupations and processes are included), and lack of access (some talented people never have an opportunity
to participate because of the expense, most especially in developing countries)12. However, academic degrees
serve some amount of meritocratic screening purpose in the absence of more refined methodology. Education
alone, however, does not constitute a complete system, as meritocracy must automatically confer power and
authority, which a degree independently does not accomplish.13
According to Kishore Mahbubani, "the simplest way of understanding the virtues of meritocracy is to ask the
question: why is Brazil a soccer superpower and an economic middle power? The answer is that when it looks
for soccer talent, it searches for it in all sectors of the population, from upper classes to the slums. A boy from
the slums is not discriminated against if he has soccer talent. But in the economic field, Brazil looks for talent in
a far smaller base of the population, primarily the upper and middle classes." This idea is an example on how
he perceives the concept of meritocracy. Each one of us has its own impression of what meritocracy is. The
perception that we give matters in terms of attitudes and characteristics, more so with the intelligence level.
Likewise, according to Scott Belsky14, “Imagine a world where the best ideas have the best chance to succeed.
No more favoritism that places the wrong people on creative projects. Cut out the middlemen that arbitrarily
recommend cost-efficient talent over the most deserving talent. Forget the corporate nepotism that appoints
leaders based on relationships over merit. Every individual, team, and industry would benefit from a world
where the most talented people got the most opportunity”. He implies that we dream a reality in the near
future as far as meritocracy is concerned.
Questions for discussion:
1. What is meritocracy? Use your own words / opinions to support your answer.
2. How does a meritocratic government system function? Give an example.
3. Give your insights about this phrase “Every selection of one is a rejection of many".
4. Why is meritocracy an ideology?
5. When do we say that our society is meritocratic?
References:
1Young, Michael (1958). The rise of the meritocracy, 1870-2033: An essay on education and inequality. London:
Thames & Hudson.
2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy#cite_note-riseofmeri-0
3Casey, Wilson (2009). Firsts: Origins of Everyday Things That Changed the World. Penguin USA.
4Kazin, Edwards, and Rothman (2010), 142.
5Schwarz (1996), 229
6http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=145
7"Definition
of
Meritocracy".
Oxford
Dictionary.
Oxford
University
Press.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/meritocracy. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
8Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. Fontana Press. 1988. pp. 521.
9Aristot. Pol. 2.1261b
10Aristotle, (351 BCE) Politics. Book Three Part IV. (Jowett, B., Trans)
11What's College For?: The Struggle To Define American Higher Education; Zachary Karabell.
12Journal of College Teaching & Learning – May 2008 Volume 5, Number 5 AACSB Accreditation
13Furlong, Andy; Cartmel, Fred. Higher education and social justice. Maidenhead: Open University Press
14http://the99percent.com/articles/6732/Welcome-to-the-Era-of-Creative-Meritocracy