Book report: Twilight of the elites: America after meritocracy by Christopher Hayes
Book report: Twilight of the elites: America after meritocracy by Christopher Hayes There’s a prestigious public high school in New York City. To gain admission, it doesn’t matter who you know, who your family knows, or how rich you are. All you have to do is score well on their entrance exam and you’re in. Sounds like the perfect meritocracy, right? The smart kids –regardless of race or ethnicity or religion or anything else – will get an excellent free education and a boost into the best colleges, jobs, and lives. So, what’s the result? The student body is almost all white and Asian, from the best neighborhoods of NYC. Not what was intended at all. So, what went wrong? Well, as with anything, there are ways to game the system. There are preparation classes kids can take specifically to help them do well on the entrance exam. Of course, these classes cost a lot of money, and only the kids whose families can afford it can go. Plus, kids from better neighborhoods go to better