Meritocracy

Ultimately, the ideology of meritocracy appears to me to be a bit too Utopian. Naturally, the concept of those who work hard, gain hard, is appealing. But let's be honest, is it achievable?

Take for instance, the President of the United States of America. In plenty of kindergarten classrooms around the country, little boys and girls are writing on their papers "When I grow up, I want to be the president." As these children mature, of course, fewer and fewer maintain this aspiration, but some still hold strong. Well say 15-year-old Bobby has his mind made up, that he will one day run for a presidential election. Well that's nice, Bobby, and with America's "if you dream it, you can achieve it" montra, it might even be plausible. However, the obstacle in this situation presents itself as the thousands of dollars candidates spend on campaigning, the private jets the fly all over the country to speak at conventions, the inside dealings and leverage required to be able to win. Yes, we're a country of democracy, but a heck of a lot of money goes into convincing citizens for that vote. Realistically, if you want to dream big, you better pay big too.

This really happens on smaller scales, absolutely everywhere. A family friend gets the job instead of the qualified applicant, or people from certain backgrounds get better oppurtunities. Even as illustrated in the film A Class Divided, those labeled inferior ended up with lower success rate than when they were labeled superior. The automatic front put up that comes with not having the right background, or being judged on characteristics other than pure talent, lowers expectations for ones self and therefore can even have a negative effect on their performance. So the less qualified one gets the job, while the "lowly" qualified one even suffers in their work do to the low expectations.

Although America has undoubtedly grown more capable of eliminating blatant judgement and prejudice, at least for now, and for a very long time, there will always be more to judge people on than their talents- whether it's wrong or right.