Meritocracy Inequalities And Elitism

Meritocracy is defined as a system in which power is only given to individuals according to their differentiated caliber. The maxim for meritocracy advocates would be “equal opportunity for all”. However, it is not always the case, as that would mean turning a blind eye to differences in genetics, social class, wealth, parental legacies and other educational opportunities. This gives rise to the many failings of meritocracy. Among them, the most serious problems associated with meritocracy would be inequality and elitism. This essay will address the individual issues and seek to find ways in which education can address these problems.

Before jumping on the bandwagon of pointing out the negative effects of meritocracy, it is necessary to

This is dangerous because the elites forget that their family background, together with luck and other factors play a huge role in bringing them to the position that they are in today. These elites become a set of specialized experts to whom key decisions are made through them (Hayes, 2012). Is it true that if social disparities and unequal rewards did not exist, those with capabilities and expertise will have no incentive to give to the society? One would think that that is a question that needs to be addressed by the elites

One way to address the problem of inequality is to discourage competition. Competition breeds and highlights inequality. Young (1958) promotes the idea of an advanced meritocracy in his book ‘The Rise Of Meritocracy’ as one that avoids competition. The increase of formative assessments, where students progress with the help of qualitative feedback whose desired outcome is to remove ranking and numerical grading, is one such example. In Singapore, policies have been put in place to reduce high-stakes examinations and summative assessments in Primary 1 and 2. However, it is still probable that parents would enroll their children in external sports or performing art classes in a bid to secure placements for their children in the elite schools. Even though it is challenging to ascertain that parents do not send their children for additional lessons, with a reduction of competition and the rise of personal formative assessments, students can learn to become industrious self-improvers, accepting and implementing external goals (Allen, 2011). Using Finland’s education as an exemplar where there is only one major examination, students can benefit from being given more time for their examination so that the weaker students can also do their best. When considering examinations in a competition-sense, it often involves time and accuracy. However,