Blog Archive

At some point, our students receive a cultural message that is as intoxicating as it is dangerous: You are here because you earned it. The grades, the accolades, the college admissions, the test scores—these appear to certify not only achievement but worth. In a meritocratic society, success is taken as proof of virtue.

I had the privilege to join a webinar hosted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education last week. Michael Sandel, an American political philosopher and professor of Government at Harvard University, was the keynote speaker. In his book, The Tyranny of Merit, Sandel asks us to pause to consider a disarming question: What is merit?