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A real meritocracy would have to weigh SAT scores by temperament and cultural values because these two qualities work in tandem with intelligence to produce meritorious results. I doubt Alex Berenson was the smartest person at Yale by testing, but his temperament enabled him to confront the establishment on COVID, making him more valuable than his peers. The reporter who pressed on the Epstein story, Julie Brown, is an old woman and attended Temple University, but for some reason was the only one of her journalistic peers to pursue something which many of them hid. Edward Snowden went to community college. Andrew Norfolk, who uncovered the grooming gang scandal, went to Durham University.
With every job there are moral decisions that require certain values and temperamental qualities. If these are lacking then there are huge civilizational costs. I don’t know if a Vivek Ramaswamy has these optimal qualities. I don’t know if Asian students are temperamentally or culturally disposed to risk their reputation to fight against a corrupt power structure or official. I would argue that their culture is too credential-oriented, results-oriented, and conformist for that. There should be more studies so that we are absolutely sure that “relatively new” immigrant groups have the inner qualities that are required for influential positions in society. Maybe the studies will show that Asian students are actually more likely to have these qualities, I have no idea, but I’m sure the SAT doesn’t measure them.
That is by definition not a meritocracy.
Merit:
I would also argue that a demonstrably non-corrupt disposition would fall under ability’s “competence in doing something”.
This is just sophistry. The criteria for merit in an academic institution does not include culture and the like. Meritocracy in college admissions can include academic merit besides SAT scores, but it cannot include the criteria you are asking for.
It most certainly does, which is why basic liberal arts has always been part - even if only perfunctory - of any degree program.
The fundamental expectation of college has always been to produce a new gentry, which is why community involvement and a solid personality is still part of the admissions process. "Genius asshole who is hated by everyone but still has a career because he's just that brilliant" is much more common in fiction than reality. Even the shift to "meritocracy just means SAT scores, stop discriminating agains Asians" is fairly recent, and largely a consequence of the rapidly increasing social atomization of the modern era, and the rapid increase in credentialism.
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