The Drudgery and Danger of a Meritless Society What other possible criterion would you suggest in place of merit? by Jeff Davidson
https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-drudgery-and-danger-of-a-meritless-society/
EXCERPT
Singled Out for Merit
Today, if you attend a Little League awards banquet, the champions are given awards along with all others. Everybody receives an award for participation, much like what occurs in the larger society. Merit counts for little because the mentality today is simply participating, which means that you are worthy.
To hand out participation trophies is a sham; however, the same sham that’s taking place in many aspects of our culture. The Leftists among us are seeking to quash merit-based testing everywhere. Out with Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs), they’re racist. They’re sexist. They’re transphobic. Out with the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Out with writing an essay to get into college. Out with letter grades.
So it goes into too many aspects of society.
Ah, but you and I don’t want to live in a meritless basic society. I guarantee that you don’t want to be operated on by a brain surgeon who went to a medical school where grades were not important. You don’t want to fly in a plane with pilots who have not proven both in testing and in flight simulation that they are fully capable.
You don’t want to drive over a bridge constructed by an engineer who went to a school where testing was deemed to be worthless or racist, or biased. We’ve come too far in human civilization to resort to a time when anybody could pick up a scalpel and perform surgery or where anyone could construct a bridge because in the early days, perhaps, almost anyone had to.
Credentials matter. Academic performance matters. Competence matters. Demonstrating one’s intellectual capabilities is among the vital signs that you’re being served by a professional.
Whom You Can Trust?
What other possible criterion would you suggest in place of merit? Participation? Ethnicity? Time on the job? Having friends in high places?
With many activities in life, merit is not a factor, but these are usually personal and private, contained, local, and not forced upon the public. Suppose it comes to a life-threatening situation, public safety, public health, the orderly flow of vehicular traffic, the health and welfare of children, etc.. In that case, I’ll take the high-performance testers every time.
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