Tyranny of Merit (pt 2: education)

Returning to Michael J. Sandel's "The Tyranny of Merit" we tackle how the college system establishes a sorting machine based on credentials. Sandel shows how the attempt at equal opportunity through education and standardized testing has allowed the wealthy to, once again, rise to the top and form a hereditary aristocracy. However, the winners feel that they deserve their success due to the struggles and challenges to achieve, lending them little pity and much hubris and disdain as they look down on those less fortunate.

As we discuss the genesis of the SAT and how it has been gamed, we also look at college entrance scandals, and how the process is traumatic for the winners and the losers of this increasingly expensive credentialization. Even those who do manage to rise, though statistically small, must deform themselves and their values to gain the dignity offered through a diploma.

In Part IV, we look at Sandel's suggestions to balance out the tyranny of merit coupled with wealth by reintroducing luck, or chance, to humble the winners while taking pressure off of them to play the soul crushing game of resume stuffing. He also looks at alternatives to education for knowledge, civic, and moral discourse, while asking us to reconsider how we value labor.

https://thewilltodiy.com/step-21-tyranny-of-merit-pt-2/

2:08 Merit: earning what you deserve

4:56 Intelligence over the Protestant Hereditary Aristocracy

7:38 We can only be proud if you have an Ivy League Degree

9:36 The richer you are, the better your SAT

11:14 Educational Sorting has created a Meritocratic arms race

17:00 College is the training ground for moral flexibility

18:53 Do we value upward mobility?

20:00 Meritocracy has reverted back to wealth

23:40 We spend less on technical training than on prisons