The Merits Of Meritocracy David Brooks Summary

Wouldn’t it be nice to have it all? Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a society where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed in life? No one looks at race or anything of that nature just solely on merit and no matter where you come from or what you go through you have the same opportunity as the next person. Merit is the quality of being particularly good or worth especially so as to deserve praise or reward.

What is the American dream? The traditional American dream is one in which someone can start from nothing and build themselves up into a great success, with all the material trappings that go with that success. So, if the American dream is self-built success, then what defines success? In the American dream, success is largely defined by the possession of certain material goods and money. You are considered a success in America if you have enough money to be comfortable financially (i.e., paying all of your bills and having plenty left over for entertainment and material goods), and if you have possession of a nice house in the suburbs, a nice car or two, a pretty and well-dressed family, and the respect and even awe of your community. That is the American dream and the success that defines it.

In “The Merits of Meritocracy” David Brooks compared children in a traditional day society and children in present day society by giving different examples on how they would grow up with different qualities. David Brooks starts off his excerpt by giving himself some sort of credential, in order for him to be in the position to talk about his main point by using his own daughter’s life to illustrate her busy life which is filled with many activities and opportunities. He depicts his daughter’s life which can also represent children in today’s middle class as a fulfilling childhood which will lead into a prosperous adult life. David Brooks centralizes his point by comparing traditional children with modern day children by introducing the idea

The United State is definitely not a society where there is meritocracy because of the class system within our country. Class plays a major role in which the rich have access to higher education, jobs and opportunities than compared to the lower classes. A great example of this would be an upper class in the United State, better known as the one percent. The upper class is a numerous small group with wealthy member, which is said to make up about 1 percent of the population. They are the upper class of United State, who owns a large amount of the money in the country. The class system is something that is very well known as stated by William Domhoff “People are very aware of basic economic and educational differences and they can size up social standing fairly well from such outward signs as speech patterns, mannerisms, and style of dress, but the

Here, in the United States, the “American Dream,” is a popular belief. There is a strong relationship between hard work and success. In this perfect scenario, those who put in multiple hours are on the road to success and can move up the social ladder. Thus stating, one could be thrust into the lowest of the social status, and with some hard work, one can elevate into the world of the social elite. As a demonstration to this global view of the United States, immigrants from all over the globe have made the excursion to the “land of opportunity” in beliefs of better education, employment, government, communities, religious freedom, and lives for not only themselves but the generations that come pursuing behind them. All of this survives based on a game of social stratification – a diagram on how to successfully obtain the American dream. This observation of social class is based on many mechanisms, some of which is bestowed to people at birth, and not rewarded for hard work and dedication. The class system at play in the United States has become incredibly complex – it no longer has the fundamental class values of our forefathers. Those trying to move up in the social ladder of America are often caught replication the actions of the rich and famous, but this alone cannot make them part of the higher social class. Some think that there are simple rules to follow to climb higher into another social class ladder, but there is more to being upper class than just talking the talk or having the right identity.One way to look at class is the model developed by Janny Scott and David Leonhardt's article, “Shadowy Lines That Still Divide,” in The New York Times. They assert that “one way to think of a person’s position in society is to imagine a hand of cards. Everyone is dealt four cards, one from each suit: education, income, occupation and wealth, the four commonly used criteria for gauging class” (Scott and Leonhardt 27). While being sure on these four criteria, a basic understanding of a person’s predicted class can be made. While this model works fine for providing an elementary level of perception, it must be recognized that a person could rate well on this scale and still be in a different class than those

College is viewed many ways in the eyes of society. Menand expresses these views in three theories. Theory 1 is based on a meritocratic belief, Theory 2 is democratic, and Theory 3 is vocational. College has evolved over the years. At the start of universities only white males were able to enroll. Over the years this has changed drastically. From the nineteen-sixties to the nineteen-nineties, women and citizens of any race or ethnicity could enroll in a university. Theories of many people have been brought up as to why we have college.

Many immigrants are worried about being different because of where they come from, what their beliefs is, the language that they speak, or even their family and cultural characteristics. Even moving away from their parents may be a reason why they do not get along with the other students. “Speaking of that, a lot of people would say there would have to have problems understanding the differences between "cultural homogenization" and "cultural organization," correlated to the minorities.” The governments are afraid with the way students get along with immigrant. Although the moving of cultural, religious knowledge, and values of the first generation of children born in minority states has become a difficulty, that is important to intelligent groups, and an issue of

I have read about how immigrants struggle to get their education in the United States because of lack of well qualified ESL teachers, limited resources in schools for immigrants etc. The education system has been very unfair for the immigrants because very little things are done to help them be more successful in getting their education. In an article published in Harvard University journal a researcher says, “Even though one out of every four children in the United States is an immigrant or the U.S.-born child of immigrants, many schools are ill-equipped to meet their needs,” which shows how the education system has not been fair for the immigrants (Tamer). As we all know there are lots of immigrants in United States and I think that the education system in United States should be changed in such a way that it suits everyone including the immigrants. In the same article Tamer says, “Even though one out of every four children in the United States is an immigrant or the U.S.-born child of immigrants, many schools are ill-equipped to meet their needs”, which shows more importance of schools and programs to help the immigrants in the United States.

“Meritocracy is a term first used by the social philosopher Michael Yong in his book The Rise of Meritocracy 1870-2033, to describe a hypothetical society in which people are allocated to positions in terms of merit, which Yong defines as ability plus effort.” (Boronski and Nasima 11)

Meritocracy: an ideal system in which personal effort—or merit—determines social standing Calvinism: The religious doctrines of John Calvin. Calvin stressed that people are saved through God's grace, not through their own merits. The most famous of Calvin's ideas is his doctrine of predestination.

How to minimize the hurts of non-white children once their belief on the theory of a society is fair and equality is completely collapsed when the reality is happening in the opposite. In the reading “Why the Myth of Meritocracy Hurts Kids of Color” Mildred Boveda, an assistant education professor at Arizona State University, said: “I will admit that it sometimes felt risky to tackle these difficult conversations, but this [research] underscores why we cannot equivocate when it comes to preparing our children to face injustices.” I agree with her opinion. Because finding the proper solutions to fully empower and equipping the best knowledge that can help children cope better is not easy, but it is the responsibility of the family, the school, and society. The three elements need to act and work together in an effort to dare to speak about the truths mentioned above.

According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, Political Geography is a branch of geography that deals with human governments, the boundaries and subdivisions of political units (as nations or states), and the situations of cities. Political Geography concerns itself with trying to understand how spatial distributions of structures effect relations and how relations between governments work. Our Geography Project group chose to focus onto a more unusual, yet simple question; “What do citizens think the problems are in Eminence and is the local polity concerned with said problems.” We felt that Eminence doesn’t face any large issues, so if we were to try to find one we would need to rely on the opinions of

In the past half century, America has seen a historic decline in gender inequality across many realms of society. Women have reached unprecedented levels of success, finding equality in education, employment and political representation. Yet despite these gains, inequality remains a persistent issue. It is particularly prominent in the workplace, where women face the glass ceiling effect and a significant gender wage gap across all professions. A closer look at the competing explanations – broadly defined as meritocratic versus structural – shows that although the first may play a role in unequal pay, the second, which encompasses systemic problems of discrimination and gender “pay penalties,” contribute quite significantly to inequality in the workplace and to pay gaps in particular.

Do Americans believe meritocracy exists in America? Do talented people who work hard earning the reward that they deserve? Do talented people have enough challenges for their promotion that they merit? Living in the United States, some people think meritocracy exists because people expect about the opportunities to learn, to work, to earn, and to deserve. People also think they may have chances to earn what they deserve because the trusting of meritocracy. However, meritocracy does not exist in America and becomes a myth for many debates. There are many talented people who work hard in America do not receive any adequate reward as their expectation because they still have fewer resources, less promotion, disadvantages and uncertain future.

This week’s readings are focused on how Buddhist monasteries in China and India play an important role in producing merit. Both Lopez and Gethin explain the differences each region played in producing merit through devotional practices. Lopez explains in chapter 27, how monasteries in China implemented acts of merit into their daily practice. In addition Gethin illustrates how monks in India lived their lives practicing merit. Even though Buddhist monasteries play a significant role in producing meritorious acts, the lay community is significant. All four assemblies’ of monks, nuns, male lay followers and female lay followers played a role in producing merit.