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The Merit of Meritocracy

Summarizing Sapir · Published Thursday, April 3, 2025
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JL;DR SUMMARY The article explores the concept of meritocracy, emphasizing the historical association of Jewish figures with intellectual and professional merit, evidenced by the 1970 Supreme Court nomination debate surrounding G. Harrold Carswell. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Social Justice  Meritocracy  Inequality  Intellectual Merit  Standardized Testing  Diversity And Inclusion  Education Reform  Antiracism  Cultural Trends  Jews And Merit 

Places mentioned

Florida, United States
"Few Sapir readers may remember, if they ever knew, the names of G. Harrold Carswell and Roman Hruska. Carswell was a federal judge from Florida who, in 1970, was nominated by Richard Nixon to the Supreme Court."
Nebraska, United States
"Hruska was a Republican senator from Nebraska."
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
"As of 2022, more than two-thirds of colleges and universitiesincluding Harvard and the University of California systemhave eliminated the SAT and other standardized tests as part of their admissions requirements."
California, United States
"As of 2022, more than two-thirds of colleges and universitiesincluding Harvard and the University of California systemhave eliminated the SAT and other standardized tests as part of their admissions requirements."
San Diego, California, United States
"In October 2020, the San Diego Unified School Districtthe second-largest in Californiaended traditional grading policies as part of an effort to combat racism."
Israel
"3. Might it not also be possible to nurture Jewish excellence by endowing 100 professorships at private Israeli universities to attract top-flight American scholars?"
New York, United States
"Promising as it may be, the University of Austin isnt about to overtake Princeton as the most desirable destination for the cleverest teens. Yale Law School will still attract the sharpest aspiring lawyers, however censorious, vindictive, and politically correct its students and faculty have become. The DEI complex, with its ever-growing list of demands for change and its ever-growing army of in-house personnel and outside consultants, is not soon going to be stripped out of corporate or academic life. The woke factor may eventually cool as its excesses become more obvious. But the reigning assumptions of the anti-meritocracy will probably become embedded in our institutions in ways that will be hard to shake. Just as America (for better and worse) never got over the cultural revolution of the Sixties, we are not going to be getting over the current revolution, either."
Austin, Texas, United States
"Promising as it may be, the University of Austin isnt about to overtake Princeton as the most desirable destination for the cleverest teens."

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Cairo Item ID 48220
Cairo Source ID 29
Retrieved 2025-04-03 05:32:46 UTC
Curated 2025-04-03 08:30:57 UTC