Nicolas Lemann's Argument Of Standardized Testing

To Hayes the failure of meritocracy comes from its focus on equality of opportunity over equality of outcome. Thus, as inequality escalated, the meritocracy ended up becoming so entrenched and isolated that it is no longer even much of a meritocracy. Hayes cites his elite NYC alma mater, Hunter College High School, as a prime example. The only admissions requirement is passing its entrance exam, yet the percentage students from minority and low income backgrounds has been steadily declining due to the expensive test taking prep courses that more affluent students can afford. Meanwhile the increasingly wealthy “meritocratic elites” isolate themselves from the rest of us in the 99% by living and traveling privately – in gated communities, exclusive clubs and resorts, corporate jets, etc., blaming the masses rather than themselves for societal woes.

In the reading “The College Dropout Boom,” the author, David Leonhardt, describes the college admissions system as being ruthlessly meritocratic. When looking at the word meritocratic, one can visualize it as the construction of two parts: the word merit and the suffix “-ocracy”. The word merit can be defined as the deserving of reward for past actions and the suffix “-ocracy” is understood as a form of governing body. Therefore, meritocracy without context means a form of governing body which rewards deserving individuals based upon their past actions. From this definition, it is quite obvious why David Leonhardt used the word meritocracy to describe the college admissions system. According to Leonhardt, students are admitted into college

In the essay The Merits of Meritocracy David Brooks mentions, that meritocracy is the social system that gives opportunities and advantages to people on the basis of their abilities rather then reasons such as wealth or seniority. He believes that people more or less deserve what they get, those people who do not work hard or build up their skills should not expect rewards. He also argued that in school and in the workplace Americans need to focus on achievement, dedication, continuous improvement, and hard work. People have to succeed through there performance: those who work hard should win praise those who don’t work hard will suffer the consequences. A persons country of origin should be no excuse at all.

Bowles and Gintis also argue that in order to prevent rebellion from those disadvantaged by the inequalities of capitalism, it is necessary to produce ideologies that explain and justify inequality as fair, natural and inevitable. If people think inequality is justified then they are less likely to challenge the capitalist system. According to Bowles and Gintis, the education system plays a key role in producing such ideologies. They describe the education system as a giant ‘myth making machine’ and focus on how education promotes the ‘myth of meritocracy’. Meritocracy refers to a system where everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve, where rewards are based on ability and effort. This means that those who gain the highest rewards and status deserve it because they are the most able and hardworking. Bowles and Gintis argue that meritocracy does not actually exist. Evidence showed that the main factor determining whether or not someone has a high income is their family and class background, not their ability or educational achievement. By

When considering who the American meritocracy serves, its is imperative to reflect on how it was created. The modern meritocracy began forming in the early twentieth century with the rise of standardized testing. Headed by the Henry Chauncey and James Bryant Conant, a new method of determining social position was growing in the SAT. The SAT would work to dismantle the previous aristocratic structure of inheriting positions at elite institutions and open up opportunities for people to be placed based on their merit, their scholastic aptitude. Chauncey and Conant believed that improving the elite would improve society as a whole because the new

“There is something deeply hypocritical in a society that holds an inner-city child only eight years old "accountable" for her performance on a high-stakes standardized exam but does not hold the high officials of our government accountable for robbing her of what they gave their own kids six or seven years before,” quote Jonathan Kozol. As this quote apptly states many children are often robbed of simple childhood pleasures by standardized testing. These strenuous tests should be cut back to the absolute minimum. Standardized tests should not be required because they provide unnecessary stress, are often inaccurate because of computer and human error, and some students, particularly minorities, are at a clear disadvantage.

(Wise 179) Meritocracy is the idea that those who have made it to the top of the power structure done so by hard work and talent. If someone were to fail it is their own fault for being lazy and not trying hard enough. The reality is that this is not at all true, there are many obstacles, no matter how determined you are there will always be an obstacle. We do like to believe that we are in control of what happens in our lives, it is empowering unlike the belief that there are systematic restraints that block opportunities for

Meritocracy is the “idea that positions are earned through hard work and personal achievement and through no resources other than one’s own” (Shapiro 78). This is both an unproved and a false collective belief which leads to the creation of the term the meritocracy myth. Many Americans have fallen short of furthering themselves economically because of this ideology and were raised to believe in a stringent model of meritocracy even though life has proven how false and misleading this ideal truly is. It has been proven through examples such as the top 1%’s existence and the fact that “95% of children born to parents in the bottom 6% of wealth holders will end up poor as adults” (McNamee and Miller 96). On the other hand of the spectrum, many Americans use the term economic inequality quite frequently when talking about politics in social affairs. However not many grasp either of these terms correctly when using them with this context. Economic inequality is displayed by individuals’ contrasting situational positions within the economic distribution of income and wealth. Examples of this inequality fall into categories of either income, pay, or wealth. There are many scholarly papers that demonstrate the social issues created by these two terms and their relation to our society. The meritocracy myth is the main underlying cause to the social issue of economic inequality.

“When we began the map test I knew my students were gonna dread it, I myself dread it, and I am not even taking it. So I decided how about a reward for these kids, if you got above your past score you got 7 extra credit points for the test, which made a lot kids eager to get a good score. They went to sleep early, read before bed, and got a good meal beforehand, everything the test recommends the students to do before taking it. These kids fully ready to take it, mindset clear. When they got their scores back most were shocked because the did not score the same or higher, they got a lower score. All across the room I saw devastated faces because they wouldn’t receive their 7 extra points, and all their hard work was a complete waste. I decided to start an investigation so I called the test company and explained the situation and the only thing they told me was ‘well maybe they lied to you.’ this could not be true, 90% of these kids were A average students in an honors class.

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

The topic of Standardized Testing is not only critical to the lives of students but also to parents, educators and those in control - government officials. The public has voiced its displeasure with today’s education system and a subject being discussed in the government and also the very popular presidential debates is the Common Core Standards and No Child Left Behind Act of modern America. These government issued Acts are mired in controversy as they have led to an education system governed by politics, with opposers claiming that education is now more focused on a school's’ statistics than an individual’s knowledge. Those involved with the introduction of the Acts, although they may have thought it would have brought about positive change,

Academics regularly debate of whether the education system is meritocratic, which is a system in which advancement is based on individual ability or achievement. With this system hard work, ability and effort are rewarded so everyone who studies has an equal chance of success. This idea of meritocratic seems fair, you get rewarded on what effort you put in, but in modern societies, there are huge issues on inequality so a student’s educational attainment, could be heavily influenced by what class, gender or race they are.

Meritocracy is a society or system, whose progress is based on ability and talent, rather than on class' privilege or wealth. Sociologist believes that education system to be meritocratic because, everyone does the same exams, GCSE's, throughout the country. However, some sociologists believe say it is not meritocratic because, although they all take GCSEs they are not all necessary the same. This is because they're different exam borders for example AQA, Ed excel 'etc.'.

The debate on standardized tests and its adequacy in testing a student’s knowledge about a subject has been going on for many years. Tests, in general, has been around for centuries and without them there would not be progress and no gleams of progress. Students ranging from elementary school to high school have experienced standardized testing. Teachers, educators, and parents are also involved in the students’ lives, which revolves around the tests, one way or another. There are many views on standardized test. However, the three most common views are: educators who are for standardized test which benefits students, educators who are at the other extreme of opposing standardized tests, and educators who view tests are a benefit if done in appropriate amounts.

Talcott Parsons’ views education as a port of meritocracy. Meritocracy is a word used to describe that everyone is entitled to equal opportunity. He believes that education forms a sort of bridge between family life and society. Parsons believes that education works to instill the values of competition, equality, and individualism in the young minds of students. The meritocracy of the education system just means that everyone is entitled to the right to learn and has the same opportunity to learn. Parsons believes that achievement and rewards are determined by an individual’s effort and ability. Two