Estimated Time to Read: 5 Minutes
In his penetrating analysis of meritocracy, Sandel exposes some underlying assumptions that are left unexamined within the fabric of American society. He traces the intellectual history of the contemporary education system, highlighting how it has evolved from a confluence of diverse cultural, economic, and social factors. The indelible imprints of Protestantism and eugenics on their college admissions, alongside the metamorphosis of higher education as a monolith of American success, demonstrate how their understanding of meritocracy is deeply intertwined with their culture and history.
As they regard a culture that ascribes prodigious value to meritocracy, Sandel posits that the Americans may often find themselves incapable of fully discerning the magnitude of the status hierarchy they maintain. The existence of barriers and standards that define success and merit creates a society divided by superiority, relegating those who fall short of the benchmarks of merit to a position of exclusion. The emotional burden of meritocracy—in all its shame, humiliation, and indignity—is a clarion call to reevaluate their convictions and values.
Sandel's proposed resolutions to the quandaries of this culture remain nebulous, largely due to the complex and multifaceted nature of the issue he wrote about. His idea of contributive justice offers a promising remedy, but it is unclear to me how this could translate as pragmatic policy reforms that directly address the root causes of inequality. The immense and intricate obstacles to redefining merit and success necessitate a radical shift in values and beliefs for true progress to be made.
The university has since evolved into a quasi-corporate entity, with the weight of enormous expectations bearing down on students. This pressure fosters a pervasive sense of anxiety and stress that permeates our daily lives. The need to fit into a predetermined mold and to conform to established norms and values makes the already challenging coursework all the more difficult in an environment underscored by competition. Bereft of experience in any other mode of existence, our self-concept is intimately intertwined with our capacity to flourish. The mere specter of failure engenders a sense of dread, leaving us adrift and escapist into other sources of meaning when faced with defeat.
Completing my high school education in the arts at Silliman and now pursuing my undergraduate degree in the sciences at UP allowed me to exist in the same space with many others who are equally exceptional in their own right. Their brilliance and originality continue to supply mutual inspiration. However, recognizing that the Philippine education system was built by Americans, it becomes clear that we have inherited their challenges. The outcome is that most students accept their place in society without question, limiting their ambitions to what the ruling class permits to stay afloat in failing economies. Merely a select few regard our education as a fragment of a more expansive intellectual odyssey, approaching cognitive development with the zeal of a pilgrim because the infrastructure paralyzes such.
As scholars, we must strive to do more than just democratizing academia from its ivory towers and beyond increasing research productivity. We should also work to challenge the systems that perpetuate the present problems we have in education, so we could ultimately culminate into shaping more humane worlds where people suffer less. For those who attend prestigious universities, recognizing and dismantling the very systems they hope to reform is a formidable challenge because they are the same people who benefit from these, one in which I too am complicit. Nonetheless, by confronting the flaws in our educational system and the Philippine state of science and technology, we can seize the opportunity to redefine success and forge a path towards a more equitable future. Though the task may be daunting, it is not insurmountable.
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This write up is currently being finished to include alternative visions of more humane systems of education as demonstrated by nonconformist institutions.
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