In 20 years, I believe that Latinos will mirror Asians in their following of the "success sequence." Latino men will achieve economic mobility through participation in the trades, while Latino women will increasingly attend college, marry afterward, and then have children with one man who is employed. The biggest difference between these groups, however, is the sheer enormity of the Latino population in this country. Asian Americans are also one of the fastest growing demographics, but their numbers pale in comparison to Latinos. White progressives have hitched their wagons to racial handouts thinking this is how to alleviate their white guilt and win the south and midwest, and they are making a huge mistake. Latinos and Asians won't play the race card and will continue to demonstrate that you don't need to in order to achieve middle class status in this country. They'll increasingly vote Republican unless the Democratic party gets their heads out of their asses and actually pays attention to racial politics that don't map onto their obsessive Black vs white paradigm.
Additionally, Yan Shen is right and Amy wax is wrong that Asian Americans are politically progressive. However, until recently they, like Latinos, have been relatively inactive in politics, perhaps voting in some elections but not others. They are weak partisans with relatively low voter turnout compared to whites and Blacks, but this is changing because Democrats are messing with education, literally the one thing that Asian Americans value above everything else. Last year, I attended a job talk by a political science professor, who is Asian, that argued with zero empirical evidence that Asian American politicians were ultra leftist feminists who aligned themselves with Black Lives Matter and social justice policies. I was floored by this person's lack of knowledge about the political attitudes and priorities of Asians, given my understanding of their values for education as the key to upward mobility and the actions of progressives that were directly attacking this. Needless to say, we did not offer them the job.
Progressive Latinos and Asians are in the minority, and like progressive whites they want to believe that everyone holds their extreme, divisive beliefs. This is why Democrats will continue to lose elections. Eventually they will lose Black voters, too. I anticipate Black immigrants and their children will start fleeing to the Republican party in droves because they oppose their educational and career achievements being stigmatized by the expansion of racial preferences, they support the police, and they are religiously conservative and pro-family.
Both excellent letters. It is my view that the deep suspicion or outright rejection of meritocracy is an expression of envy (conscious or not). Those who vilify meritocracy fear competition based on limiting principles not because they actually believe it’s biased; they fear it because it has the potential to expose their own incompetencies and shortcomings. For anyone interested in understanding envy as a theory if social behavior, I highly recommend Helmut Schoeck’s book, “Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior.”
Choice quotes include:
“Envy was said to be found sometimes in superiors towards their more talented and efficient subordinates or among colleagues who, from envy, band together in cliques against an efficient man.”
“Anyone who has already adapted himself against his will, whether out of cowardice or for the sake of comfort, begrudges others their courage, the freedom they still enjoy. Anyone who has already committed himself to the new leaders, from calculation or from real enthusiasm, sees both himself and his chosen power group endangered by those who obviously prefer, and see it as politically feasible, to keep their distance. Those at the periphery of the power centre, though in no way entitled to wield authority, now begin to exert pressure on other people in the course of daily social life, within the framework of local groups and among business or neighbourhood connections, with the object of getting them to conform as well.”
And this one from Nietzsche “Genealogy of Morals”:
“All men of resentment are these physiologically distorted and worm-riddled persons, a whole quivering kingdom of burrowing revenge, indefatigable and insatiable in its outbursts against the happy, and equally so in disguises for revenge, in pretexts for revenge: when will they really reach their final, fondest, most sublime triumph of revenge? At that time, doubtless, when they succeed in pushing their own misery, indeed all misery there is, into the consciousness of the happy; so that the latter begin one day to be ashamed of their happiness, and perchance say to themselves when they meet, ‘It is a shame to be happy! There is too much misery!’”
This debate you have going is amazing. I believe that Asian Americans know the America that they urned to be a part of. They would be shooting themselves in the foot, if they were to go along with, “wokeness”. Would a rational humane being, want such a basically destructive force to gain ground? I believe they have worked to hard to allow that!
African Americans are a whole different people. They ooze with artistic abilities that is embedded in their being. I listened to a Rabbi who came from a rabbinic household. His name was Abraham J. Twerski. He was a renowned physicist that worked with addiction. He started hospitals, for such a purpose. He treated people for substance abuse and rehabilitation of prisoners. He wrote 60 books. He passed recently, but he said that addiction stems from wanting to belong. That people want to belong to something, even if it is destructive. That is why Group mentality can develop into something evil, if you don’t have the right leader. This is where self- reflection comes in and individual 100% responsibility.
If you had some of your successful artist, athletes, musicians, intellects and personalities, start places where these inner city young men meet. This has to be a clean environment, without drugs or guns, only art. It could be lead by people who really want to break this horrible plight on your brothers. These men and women, just want to belong. They want to believe in something bigger than themselves. In the past, it was god. That was the only way out of the hell you were living. Let me tell you, I envied those churches. What a beautiful assembly. I pray for that day to come again for your people. Look at the talent that blossomed out of those churches! Then, the evil, “money”, takes peoples soul and sometimes destroys.
I think places, similar to this, saved your young brothers in the past. I in envision something much cooler, for young adults. Who knows, maybe I can even start something like that!
Glenn and others (especially Shen), what do you think about the tenure denial case of Asian-German-American professor Michael Kraus at Yale? Yale and Harvard deny almost every junior faculty member tenure, but there seems to be a tendency for people to cry racial discrimination when it happens to a non-white person (see: Lorgia García Peña). I believe Asian Americans are experiencing heightened "reverse discrimination" in higher education because they are now overrepresented, so I am sympathetic to Kraus's claims. I also think if he were Black he'd have been granted tenure, however, I might be wrong about this. Has anyone ever examined the data on recent tenure denials at Harvard and Yale to see if evidence of racial bias in either direction exists? I suspect they just aren't tenuring any assistant professors. Still, it's interesting when Asian Americans claim discrimination because they're both privileged in higher education but also a target for it, it's similar to white men claiming discrimination but dissimilar in that no one wants to diminish claims of discrimination when they come from non-whites. Where does this all end?
To letter #2 from Yan Shen - I was having a conversation with my partner about how the trajectory of first generation Asian Americans in the US belie the progressive left's argument that American meritocracy is dead and/or never existed. Ditto for immigrants from Africa. It's ironic that in order to increase access to elite education for underperforming groups we have to punish the highest performing one - and that they are not white. The VA court ruling is a great example of how much trouble the progressive left is in on this one - since Asians have historically been massively discriminated against in this country their concerns cannot be easily silenced.
So, I whole-heartedly agree that Asians are being discriminated against in higher education and K-12 through racial preferences in admission and the retrenchment of Gifted and Talented Programs. I hope the left loses a lot of elections over this because Asian Americans are absolutely not progressive sheep and they will fight back.
That said, some Asians still take up the mantle of victimhood and discrimination when it serves their ends because we've valorized victimhood so much in this country. Everyone does this on the left and the right, so I don't fault Asians for doing it. But when I saw wall-to-wall news coverage about "Asian hate crimes" after the Atlanta spa shootings in the NYT and zero coverage of skyrocketing homicides of young Black men I was furious. I agree that Asians who weren't born in this country experience massive xenophobia and casual racism (I live in a college town with a huge international students population from mostly China and S Korea). And yes, random attacks against Asians in major cities are horrifying, but there have been more random violent attacks against non-Asians in the past few years, too, coupled with murders in which Asians are almost never the victim. Asian Americans as a group are among the healthiest, safest, most prosperous in the US (lowest murder rates, low criminality, high marriage rates, low out of wedlock births, income, education, etc.). This is exactly because they work their asses off to ensure their children enter the well-worn, meritocratic grooves that ensure a comfortable life. This doesn't mean they all become millionaires, but they comfortably reach or stay in the middle class like the rest of the masses.
Embrace being the "model minority" (I'm sure we no longer say this) and reject victimhood. The American dream is flawed, but possible.
I’m definitely grateful that Glenn and Mark decided to publish my commentary. I’m probably not worthy of such an honor but am glad nonetheless that they’ve decided to give voice to my thoughts. My primary motivation for writing, apart from wanting to show my appreciation for all that Glenn and John do, was to highlight what I perceived to be the cultural precipice we find ourselves at the edge of in this country.
We’ve seen a vast assault against meritocracy over the past decade or so too numerous to recount. In the anti-woke parts of the blogosphere I’ve felt like the conversation was always a bit too focused on the narrative of Black and Hispanic communities on the one hand versus white and Asian communities on the other. The recent school board recall in San Francisco and the battles the Asian American community in New York City waged against former school chancellor Richard Carranza certainly helped push that narrative. It was also too easy to scapegoat people like Ibram X. Kendi for articulating the idea that standardized testing was inherently rooted in racism.
Against the above, I wanted to highlight the complicity of a certain element of the white intellectual class as well with respect to the erosion of the meritocratic ethos in America. I’ve now finished The Rise of Meritocracy and found it to be a delightful read, although as I noted above the satirical work is rooted in the author’s deep ambivalence veering into outright pessimism towards the meritocratic ideal. It’s easy to mock white academics like Robin DiAngelo but the intellectual class comprising of people like Michael Young, Daniel Markovits, Michael Sandel and others surely must be held to account as well for the potential impact of their espoused ideas, especially given that these ideas deserve to be taken far more seriously than Robin DiAngelo ranting about white fragility.
This isn’t to say that anti-meritocratic critiques have no merit. Any reasonable person can see the inherent tension between equality and meritocracy. As the works of the above academics note, in past eras when societies were far more feudal and aristocratic and ability far less correlated with standing in life, it was easier for those at the bottom to console themselves with the idea that their fates weren’t a reflection of their innate self-worth. Today it’s perhaps harder to make such an argument given that in theory the meritocratic floodgates have been opened. We’re confronted with what has been referred to as the paradox of egalitarianism, that as environments become increasingly equalized more of the remaining variance in outcomes must be due to nature. I’m willing to concede though that far more remains to be done and thus take to heart the sentiments voiced by Glenn and George above. It's not clear to me that we're anywhere near maximal harnessing of human capital in America even aside from race.
I surely don't possess enough knowledge or wisdom to resolve all of the underlying philosophical tensions at play, but the best embodiment of my own viewpoint is that oft repeated Churchill quote about democracy being the worst form of government except for all the others. I truly believe that as flawed as meritocracy might be, it may very well be the best possible way of organizing prosperous and productive societies. I simply can’t imagine what superior alternatives exist, but perhaps this is a reflection of my own ignorance.
I feel like this kind of anti-meritocratic pessimism is by and large absent among the East Asian and South Asian immigrant communities I’ve encountered in America. As one of the New York Times articles above points out, Asian Americans came out in force for the San Francisco school board recall despite being generally under-indexed in terms of political participation in the city. The article notes that despite being roughly 34% of the population of San Francisco, Asian Americans had only constituted about 18% of voters in recent elections. I don’t find relative East Asian political apathy to be all that surprising but also was not surprised by the fact that education seems to be one of the core issues able to galvanize the community into action.
I truly believe that there’s a cultural divide these days between Asian immigrant communities and the rest of America, as epitomized by the Asian American pushback against the erosion of meritocracy. I would argue that the meritocratic mindset is also firmly embraced by people living in Asia. I believe in his conversation with Amy Wax, Glenn alluded to our competition with China as possibly being one of the defining geopolitical storylines of the 21st century. It certainly represents a clash of vastly different cultural values. I’m skeptical that many parents or academics in China are waxing pessimistic about meritocracy in the same vein that people in this country increasingly seem to be doing. Most likely they’re striving for the best possible education for their children so that they can have the best possible outcomes in life.
George and Yan Shen, thanks for your interesting emails.
George, while it might be understandable that many Chinese Americans look to the emergence of modern day China with pride this needs to be tempered by the recognition of just what kind of society and nation it has become. China today is a communist dictatorship run by the CCP and its' autocratic Chairman Xi Jinping. They perpetuate genocide, massive inequality and a meritocracy for Party members and their families but excludes everyone else. There is no such thing as a recall election in China and any attempt to try to secure fair admissions standards for the children of non CCP members would be met with derision if not outright violence. I applaud the contributions made by Chinese Americans and I believe it is largely due to the Chinese values of hard work, education, merit, familial responsibility, patience, adaptability and self respect.
Yan Shen said, "I don't feel like white Americans these days have much appetite for defending meritocracy anymore." I recently read Shelby Steele's book, WHITE GUILT. I wish I had read it back when he wrote it, as it explained so much. His basic thesis (in my words, and no doubt I won't do it justice) is that white people carried guilt from the period of our history before 1964 and that that guilt has ever since undermined any moral authority we might like to claim we have. Add to that the current zeitgeist, in which a white person taking exception to the assertions of what I'll call the critical left will result in charges of racism, transphobia, etc., and too many whites have decided to keep their heads down and hope this storm blows over. I, too, have noticed the seemingly disproportionate number of Asian-Americans who are stepping into the breach to defend meritocracy and take other important stands, and I greatly appreciate it. I hope more white people will find the self-confidence and summon up the courage to engage.
Dr.G just read your take on Blacks and meritocracy that could take generations for structural changes in America only those Blacks and Hispanics in private and charter schools have a chance to accelerate achievement. You and John mention the Hispanic community I cannot speak for all the people who make up the Hispanic community in the US but since my parents are immigrants I see the Hispanic community in the Southwest made up primarily of Mexican descent displaying persistent underachievement again with Hispanic politicos wanting to lower academic standards. As an educator I observe segregated Hispanic schools by that I mean there is no diversity of any type some schools are 90% Hispanic meaning they have little to no interaction with any students outside their own. Black and Hispanic underachievement in tandem lagging their Asian and White counterparts.
Cultural differences will forever exist, and I reject the notion that societal values are equally valuable. Coastal elites of whatever origin, race or ethnicity have a single minded goal i. e. to immanentize the eschaton
Great stuff, as always. A couple of points. First, depending on someone else to solve your problems is not a good long term strategy. There are many organizations, people, groups, on the ground who work with individuals who need help. Of all races, colors, and creeds, as the saying used to be. I strongly suspect that the successful ones don't waste a lot of time teaching social justice grievances. I am guessing that, instead, they focus on what each individual can do for him or herself, with assistance, to become a better, more self-sustaining person. Second, culture matters. Third, merit -- achievement, ability, ambition, risk-taking -- is moral, should be valued, and should be celebrated. Denigrating true merit and achievement is bullying and providing excuses for those who don't measure up. And frankly is more than a little hypocritical since so many who criticize "the Meritocracy" would be upset if they weren't compensated or provided tenure based on what they percieve to be their own merit. Is there a fair bit of randonmess in who advances and who does not? Of course. Isn't there in every aspect of life? Hasn't there always been? Finally, the attack on objective standards is awful. But it's not really anti-Asian. It is intended to benefit black Americans by increasing their numbers in, as an example, magnet schools. But since the admissions in any given year is a zero sum game and Asian Americans tend to be more competitive for those schools everywhere, simple arithmatic shows their share of the admissions will drop.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the two letters and the responses in the comments section. Thanks for posting.
Q.E.D.
In 20 years, I believe that Latinos will mirror Asians in their following of the "success sequence." Latino men will achieve economic mobility through participation in the trades, while Latino women will increasingly attend college, marry afterward, and then have children with one man who is employed. The biggest difference between these groups, however, is the sheer enormity of the Latino population in this country. Asian Americans are also one of the fastest growing demographics, but their numbers pale in comparison to Latinos. White progressives have hitched their wagons to racial handouts thinking this is how to alleviate their white guilt and win the south and midwest, and they are making a huge mistake. Latinos and Asians won't play the race card and will continue to demonstrate that you don't need to in order to achieve middle class status in this country. They'll increasingly vote Republican unless the Democratic party gets their heads out of their asses and actually pays attention to racial politics that don't map onto their obsessive Black vs white paradigm.
Additionally, Yan Shen is right and Amy wax is wrong that Asian Americans are politically progressive. However, until recently they, like Latinos, have been relatively inactive in politics, perhaps voting in some elections but not others. They are weak partisans with relatively low voter turnout compared to whites and Blacks, but this is changing because Democrats are messing with education, literally the one thing that Asian Americans value above everything else. Last year, I attended a job talk by a political science professor, who is Asian, that argued with zero empirical evidence that Asian American politicians were ultra leftist feminists who aligned themselves with Black Lives Matter and social justice policies. I was floored by this person's lack of knowledge about the political attitudes and priorities of Asians, given my understanding of their values for education as the key to upward mobility and the actions of progressives that were directly attacking this. Needless to say, we did not offer them the job.
Progressive Latinos and Asians are in the minority, and like progressive whites they want to believe that everyone holds their extreme, divisive beliefs. This is why Democrats will continue to lose elections. Eventually they will lose Black voters, too. I anticipate Black immigrants and their children will start fleeing to the Republican party in droves because they oppose their educational and career achievements being stigmatized by the expansion of racial preferences, they support the police, and they are religiously conservative and pro-family.
Both excellent letters. It is my view that the deep suspicion or outright rejection of meritocracy is an expression of envy (conscious or not). Those who vilify meritocracy fear competition based on limiting principles not because they actually believe it’s biased; they fear it because it has the potential to expose their own incompetencies and shortcomings. For anyone interested in understanding envy as a theory if social behavior, I highly recommend Helmut Schoeck’s book, “Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior.”
Choice quotes include:
“Envy was said to be found sometimes in superiors towards their more talented and efficient subordinates or among colleagues who, from envy, band together in cliques against an efficient man.”
“Anyone who has already adapted himself against his will, whether out of cowardice or for the sake of comfort, begrudges others their courage, the freedom they still enjoy. Anyone who has already committed himself to the new leaders, from calculation or from real enthusiasm, sees both himself and his chosen power group endangered by those who obviously prefer, and see it as politically feasible, to keep their distance. Those at the periphery of the power centre, though in no way entitled to wield authority, now begin to exert pressure on other people in the course of daily social life, within the framework of local groups and among business or neighbourhood connections, with the object of getting them to conform as well.”
And this one from Nietzsche “Genealogy of Morals”:
“All men of resentment are these physiologically distorted and worm-riddled persons, a whole quivering kingdom of burrowing revenge, indefatigable and insatiable in its outbursts against the happy, and equally so in disguises for revenge, in pretexts for revenge: when will they really reach their final, fondest, most sublime triumph of revenge? At that time, doubtless, when they succeed in pushing their own misery, indeed all misery there is, into the consciousness of the happy; so that the latter begin one day to be ashamed of their happiness, and perchance say to themselves when they meet, ‘It is a shame to be happy! There is too much misery!’”
This debate you have going is amazing. I believe that Asian Americans know the America that they urned to be a part of. They would be shooting themselves in the foot, if they were to go along with, “wokeness”. Would a rational humane being, want such a basically destructive force to gain ground? I believe they have worked to hard to allow that!
African Americans are a whole different people. They ooze with artistic abilities that is embedded in their being. I listened to a Rabbi who came from a rabbinic household. His name was Abraham J. Twerski. He was a renowned physicist that worked with addiction. He started hospitals, for such a purpose. He treated people for substance abuse and rehabilitation of prisoners. He wrote 60 books. He passed recently, but he said that addiction stems from wanting to belong. That people want to belong to something, even if it is destructive. That is why Group mentality can develop into something evil, if you don’t have the right leader. This is where self- reflection comes in and individual 100% responsibility.
If you had some of your successful artist, athletes, musicians, intellects and personalities, start places where these inner city young men meet. This has to be a clean environment, without drugs or guns, only art. It could be lead by people who really want to break this horrible plight on your brothers. These men and women, just want to belong. They want to believe in something bigger than themselves. In the past, it was god. That was the only way out of the hell you were living. Let me tell you, I envied those churches. What a beautiful assembly. I pray for that day to come again for your people. Look at the talent that blossomed out of those churches! Then, the evil, “money”, takes peoples soul and sometimes destroys.
I think places, similar to this, saved your young brothers in the past. I in envision something much cooler, for young adults. Who knows, maybe I can even start something like that!
Glenn and others (especially Shen), what do you think about the tenure denial case of Asian-German-American professor Michael Kraus at Yale? Yale and Harvard deny almost every junior faculty member tenure, but there seems to be a tendency for people to cry racial discrimination when it happens to a non-white person (see: Lorgia García Peña). I believe Asian Americans are experiencing heightened "reverse discrimination" in higher education because they are now overrepresented, so I am sympathetic to Kraus's claims. I also think if he were Black he'd have been granted tenure, however, I might be wrong about this. Has anyone ever examined the data on recent tenure denials at Harvard and Yale to see if evidence of racial bias in either direction exists? I suspect they just aren't tenuring any assistant professors. Still, it's interesting when Asian Americans claim discrimination because they're both privileged in higher education but also a target for it, it's similar to white men claiming discrimination but dissimilar in that no one wants to diminish claims of discrimination when they come from non-whites. Where does this all end?
To letter #2 from Yan Shen - I was having a conversation with my partner about how the trajectory of first generation Asian Americans in the US belie the progressive left's argument that American meritocracy is dead and/or never existed. Ditto for immigrants from Africa. It's ironic that in order to increase access to elite education for underperforming groups we have to punish the highest performing one - and that they are not white. The VA court ruling is a great example of how much trouble the progressive left is in on this one - since Asians have historically been massively discriminated against in this country their concerns cannot be easily silenced.
So, I whole-heartedly agree that Asians are being discriminated against in higher education and K-12 through racial preferences in admission and the retrenchment of Gifted and Talented Programs. I hope the left loses a lot of elections over this because Asian Americans are absolutely not progressive sheep and they will fight back.
That said, some Asians still take up the mantle of victimhood and discrimination when it serves their ends because we've valorized victimhood so much in this country. Everyone does this on the left and the right, so I don't fault Asians for doing it. But when I saw wall-to-wall news coverage about "Asian hate crimes" after the Atlanta spa shootings in the NYT and zero coverage of skyrocketing homicides of young Black men I was furious. I agree that Asians who weren't born in this country experience massive xenophobia and casual racism (I live in a college town with a huge international students population from mostly China and S Korea). And yes, random attacks against Asians in major cities are horrifying, but there have been more random violent attacks against non-Asians in the past few years, too, coupled with murders in which Asians are almost never the victim. Asian Americans as a group are among the healthiest, safest, most prosperous in the US (lowest murder rates, low criminality, high marriage rates, low out of wedlock births, income, education, etc.). This is exactly because they work their asses off to ensure their children enter the well-worn, meritocratic grooves that ensure a comfortable life. This doesn't mean they all become millionaires, but they comfortably reach or stay in the middle class like the rest of the masses.
Embrace being the "model minority" (I'm sure we no longer say this) and reject victimhood. The American dream is flawed, but possible.
I’m definitely grateful that Glenn and Mark decided to publish my commentary. I’m probably not worthy of such an honor but am glad nonetheless that they’ve decided to give voice to my thoughts. My primary motivation for writing, apart from wanting to show my appreciation for all that Glenn and John do, was to highlight what I perceived to be the cultural precipice we find ourselves at the edge of in this country.
We’ve seen a vast assault against meritocracy over the past decade or so too numerous to recount. In the anti-woke parts of the blogosphere I’ve felt like the conversation was always a bit too focused on the narrative of Black and Hispanic communities on the one hand versus white and Asian communities on the other. The recent school board recall in San Francisco and the battles the Asian American community in New York City waged against former school chancellor Richard Carranza certainly helped push that narrative. It was also too easy to scapegoat people like Ibram X. Kendi for articulating the idea that standardized testing was inherently rooted in racism.
Against the above, I wanted to highlight the complicity of a certain element of the white intellectual class as well with respect to the erosion of the meritocratic ethos in America. I’ve now finished The Rise of Meritocracy and found it to be a delightful read, although as I noted above the satirical work is rooted in the author’s deep ambivalence veering into outright pessimism towards the meritocratic ideal. It’s easy to mock white academics like Robin DiAngelo but the intellectual class comprising of people like Michael Young, Daniel Markovits, Michael Sandel and others surely must be held to account as well for the potential impact of their espoused ideas, especially given that these ideas deserve to be taken far more seriously than Robin DiAngelo ranting about white fragility.
This isn’t to say that anti-meritocratic critiques have no merit. Any reasonable person can see the inherent tension between equality and meritocracy. As the works of the above academics note, in past eras when societies were far more feudal and aristocratic and ability far less correlated with standing in life, it was easier for those at the bottom to console themselves with the idea that their fates weren’t a reflection of their innate self-worth. Today it’s perhaps harder to make such an argument given that in theory the meritocratic floodgates have been opened. We’re confronted with what has been referred to as the paradox of egalitarianism, that as environments become increasingly equalized more of the remaining variance in outcomes must be due to nature. I’m willing to concede though that far more remains to be done and thus take to heart the sentiments voiced by Glenn and George above. It's not clear to me that we're anywhere near maximal harnessing of human capital in America even aside from race.
I surely don't possess enough knowledge or wisdom to resolve all of the underlying philosophical tensions at play, but the best embodiment of my own viewpoint is that oft repeated Churchill quote about democracy being the worst form of government except for all the others. I truly believe that as flawed as meritocracy might be, it may very well be the best possible way of organizing prosperous and productive societies. I simply can’t imagine what superior alternatives exist, but perhaps this is a reflection of my own ignorance.
I feel like this kind of anti-meritocratic pessimism is by and large absent among the East Asian and South Asian immigrant communities I’ve encountered in America. As one of the New York Times articles above points out, Asian Americans came out in force for the San Francisco school board recall despite being generally under-indexed in terms of political participation in the city. The article notes that despite being roughly 34% of the population of San Francisco, Asian Americans had only constituted about 18% of voters in recent elections. I don’t find relative East Asian political apathy to be all that surprising but also was not surprised by the fact that education seems to be one of the core issues able to galvanize the community into action.
I truly believe that there’s a cultural divide these days between Asian immigrant communities and the rest of America, as epitomized by the Asian American pushback against the erosion of meritocracy. I would argue that the meritocratic mindset is also firmly embraced by people living in Asia. I believe in his conversation with Amy Wax, Glenn alluded to our competition with China as possibly being one of the defining geopolitical storylines of the 21st century. It certainly represents a clash of vastly different cultural values. I’m skeptical that many parents or academics in China are waxing pessimistic about meritocracy in the same vein that people in this country increasingly seem to be doing. Most likely they’re striving for the best possible education for their children so that they can have the best possible outcomes in life.
George and Yan Shen, thanks for your interesting emails.
George, while it might be understandable that many Chinese Americans look to the emergence of modern day China with pride this needs to be tempered by the recognition of just what kind of society and nation it has become. China today is a communist dictatorship run by the CCP and its' autocratic Chairman Xi Jinping. They perpetuate genocide, massive inequality and a meritocracy for Party members and their families but excludes everyone else. There is no such thing as a recall election in China and any attempt to try to secure fair admissions standards for the children of non CCP members would be met with derision if not outright violence. I applaud the contributions made by Chinese Americans and I believe it is largely due to the Chinese values of hard work, education, merit, familial responsibility, patience, adaptability and self respect.
Thoughtful and insightful letters, thanks for sharing with us.
Yan Shen said, "I don't feel like white Americans these days have much appetite for defending meritocracy anymore." I recently read Shelby Steele's book, WHITE GUILT. I wish I had read it back when he wrote it, as it explained so much. His basic thesis (in my words, and no doubt I won't do it justice) is that white people carried guilt from the period of our history before 1964 and that that guilt has ever since undermined any moral authority we might like to claim we have. Add to that the current zeitgeist, in which a white person taking exception to the assertions of what I'll call the critical left will result in charges of racism, transphobia, etc., and too many whites have decided to keep their heads down and hope this storm blows over. I, too, have noticed the seemingly disproportionate number of Asian-Americans who are stepping into the breach to defend meritocracy and take other important stands, and I greatly appreciate it. I hope more white people will find the self-confidence and summon up the courage to engage.
Dr.G just read your take on Blacks and meritocracy that could take generations for structural changes in America only those Blacks and Hispanics in private and charter schools have a chance to accelerate achievement. You and John mention the Hispanic community I cannot speak for all the people who make up the Hispanic community in the US but since my parents are immigrants I see the Hispanic community in the Southwest made up primarily of Mexican descent displaying persistent underachievement again with Hispanic politicos wanting to lower academic standards. As an educator I observe segregated Hispanic schools by that I mean there is no diversity of any type some schools are 90% Hispanic meaning they have little to no interaction with any students outside their own. Black and Hispanic underachievement in tandem lagging their Asian and White counterparts.
Cultural differences will forever exist, and I reject the notion that societal values are equally valuable. Coastal elites of whatever origin, race or ethnicity have a single minded goal i. e. to immanentize the eschaton
Great stuff, as always. A couple of points. First, depending on someone else to solve your problems is not a good long term strategy. There are many organizations, people, groups, on the ground who work with individuals who need help. Of all races, colors, and creeds, as the saying used to be. I strongly suspect that the successful ones don't waste a lot of time teaching social justice grievances. I am guessing that, instead, they focus on what each individual can do for him or herself, with assistance, to become a better, more self-sustaining person. Second, culture matters. Third, merit -- achievement, ability, ambition, risk-taking -- is moral, should be valued, and should be celebrated. Denigrating true merit and achievement is bullying and providing excuses for those who don't measure up. And frankly is more than a little hypocritical since so many who criticize "the Meritocracy" would be upset if they weren't compensated or provided tenure based on what they percieve to be their own merit. Is there a fair bit of randonmess in who advances and who does not? Of course. Isn't there in every aspect of life? Hasn't there always been? Finally, the attack on objective standards is awful. But it's not really anti-Asian. It is intended to benefit black Americans by increasing their numbers in, as an example, magnet schools. But since the admissions in any given year is a zero sum game and Asian Americans tend to be more competitive for those schools everywhere, simple arithmatic shows their share of the admissions will drop.