Academic Meritocracy

Keynote: Michael Young

Sir Michael Young, Lord of Dartington, coined the term ‘meritocracy’ in his eponymous work The Rise of the Meritocracy. Published in 1958, his term for the dystopic society borne out of undue emphasis on academic results quickly shed its negative connotations to became a neutral term for the allotment of power to citizens on the basis of merit, rather than by wealth or right or birth. However, the definition of merit then becomes central to the implementation of a meritocracy.

Oftentimes merit is limited de facto, if not de jure, to academic success as measured by scores on standardized tests. The articles referenced herein discuss the trappings of such an approach.

Michael Young on meritocracy

• Michael Young, The Rise of the Meritocracy Amazon.com listing.
• Michael Young, Down with meritocracy, The Guardian, 20010619
• Malcolm Dean, Obituary: Lord Young, The Guardian, 20020116

Singapore coverage

• Christopher Choo, Meritocracy should be more than academic, Straits Times, 20050131

From Elia Diodati's blog

• Deconstructing Meritocracy I
• Archive for the ‘Meritocracy’ Category

Consequences of academic meritocracy

• KnightOfPentacles, Stephen John Appold., Singapore Serf, 20050520

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This article is a stub for a more complete discussion on the flaws of meritocracy, especially of the academic variety. Please contribute!