Reply to "Not a Meritocracy"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]NP. Look, I'm a nerd. I'm not into athletics or defending athletics, and my jam is scoring very well on tests. That being said ...

Nothing where humans depend on interacting with one another on a regular basis goes well as just a "meritocracy" (in the sense used here -- doing well on tests). I absolutely do not believe you want your children taught only by teachers and professors who won the prize of the position by testing well, and no other things at play. Do you know how hard it is to get many top scientists to speak in articulate English, to care about things that are not relevant to their research (e.g., your child's emotional and mental struggles after the death of a sibling), and so on, and so forth?

Teachers are not best selected as the highest performers on tests alone. Neither are your co-workers -- don't you think hiring managers take other things into account, such as how easy someone will be to work with, whether they fill a gap in a team without certain interpersonal skills, etc? If nobody likes your team, your team is not going to be as effective. You have to have BOTH the tested skills and the ability to use them effectively in a group environment.

Class groups at schools an in higher ed are to some extent teams. They tend to move together through the process, and problems tend to spread, too. (Suicide and depression are contagious. low morale is contagious. Things spread along fault lines.) Wanting to balance out a class is a reasonable goal, same as for a work team.

I think it's fine to criticize the criteria, and there is a lot to criticize. The fact that it's not just based on test scores isn't really a valid criticism, though. Nothing in life is, when the context is people having to work together.[/quote]

Brilliantly stated. [/quote]

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