
Does the white upper class feel exhausted and oppressed by meritocracy? - _ttg
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/opinion/sunday/white-fragility-meritocracy.html
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shams93
We have a bigger problem we see everything as a competition for scarce
resources. Like we have pretty huge unemployment in the US developer community
because US companies prefer to hire foreign workers. You're more likely to be
successful as a business builder if you come from elsewhere like none of the
"Paypal Mafia" were born here. We basically see those of us with the
misfortune to be born in the US as slaves at best. The US upper class are
retired boomers. Hardly anyone from Genx or below has made it out of basic
serfdom in the modern medieval system here.

------
uberman
Let's be real.

This article suggests (plainly asserts?) that meritocracy is a progressive
concept and that somehow "elites" are tired of it. Nothing could be farther
from the truth! Even a little research would have shown the author that the
affluent would like nothing more than to be judged via a meritocracy.

I am rich (and white), though not a 1%-er. I am also professionally involved
in helping families get their children into the best colleges possible.
Perhaps paradoxically, the affluent who are the most likely to use services
like I provide are the least likely to need them. The affluent (like me) are
in a position to give our children, family and friends every opportunity to
compete in a meritocracy. We don't level the play-field, so much as create
towering plateaus that look like the level play-field.

You cannot keep the affluent down via a meritocracy and any suggestion that
you can is ludicrous. Set any objective criteria you like to measure our kids
against for admission and we will simply and almost immediately adjust to
construct a new plateau. Favor the athlete and we will get private coaching
and have our kids play on travel/club teams. Favor the musician and our kids
will play in the string section (likely violin). Favor the volunteer, the
entrepreneur, the multi-culturalist, we will simply construct opportunities
for our friends and family to excel. Favoring class rank over SAT will do
nothing to hinder the children of the affluent who can afford private
tutoring.

Affluent Asian families are (notoriously?) good at this game and would like
nothing more than to be evaluated objectively based on merit. Of course, the
system can't just do that as elite campuses now clearly reflect their success
at this game. Sure, everyone has been caught flat footed by the recent
subjective hand waving around the need for "well rounded candidates" but it is
a momentary blip. Once some set of objective criteria is reestablished, the
affluent will optimize for it.

To be clear though, this blip related to "well rounded" candidates rather than
"test takers" is anything but furthering a meritocracy.

While the poor candidate works a part-time job in the hopes of supporting
their family and getting into a good college, the affluent candidate is
getting private tutoring. I am personally "guilty" of this as well. My school
age kids play on travel/club sports teams, they play string instruments, they
participate in private theater, they volunteer with animals and get private
tutoring. We are members of private clubs where they socialize with the
children of other affluent who encourage their children in similar ways. My
kids also play minecraft and roblox and I would never force them to do
something they hated but I do give them every opportunity to excel at the
things they like, particularly when it helps them to reach the next plateau.
By almost any objective meritorious criteria my kids will be prepared to
compete.

Without explicit class based affirmative action (completely not meritorious)
there is simply no reasonable way to expect a representative poor candidate to
compete on merit against the representative affluent candidate. Go ahead and
call for a meritocracy, but just be sure you understand who that benefits.
Rich Whites and Asians will cry all the way to their elite college dorms if
you succeed in championing this cause.

I would like to end this (rant?) by stating that while I give my kids every
opportunity to compete "on merit" and do so with no sense of shame, I do feel
that this is objectively unfair to less affluent candidates and I am in full
support of affirmative action particularly when based on class.

