Lost in the meritocracy. Lost in the Meritocracy 2022-11-09
Lost in the meritocracy Rating:
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Lost in the meritocracy is a term that refers to the belief that one's success in life is determined by their individual merit, rather than factors such as their social class, race, or ethnicity. This belief is often promoted in societies that value individualism and hard work, and it is often used as a justification for social and economic inequality.
However, while the meritocracy may seem like a fair and just system on the surface, it is often fraught with problems and challenges. For one, the concept of merit is often subjective and open to interpretation. Different people may have different ideas about what constitutes "merit," and this can lead to disputes and misunderstandings about who is deserving of certain opportunities and rewards.
Furthermore, the meritocracy can be insidious in that it often reinforces existing social and economic inequalities. Those who come from privileged backgrounds may have access to better education, resources, and networks, which can give them an advantage in the meritocracy. This can lead to a self-perpetuating cycle of inequality, where those who are already successful are able to pass on their advantages to their children and future generations.
Additionally, the meritocracy can be demoralizing for those who are struggling to succeed. It can be tempting to blame oneself for one's failures, rather than acknowledging the role that structural inequalities and other external factors may play. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness, and can contribute to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.
In conclusion, while the meritocracy may seem like a fair and just system on the surface, it is often fraught with problems and challenges. It is important to recognize that success in life is not solely determined by individual merit, and that other factors such as social class, race, and ethnicity can have a significant impact on one's opportunities and outcomes. Instead of relying solely on the meritocracy, we should strive to create a more equitable and inclusive society that values and supports the contributions of all individuals.
Lost In The Meritocracy Analysis
A good point, and I know he was making the point all along, but what a drag getting there. That was my first encounter with him as a writer and a speaker. I could never go back there now, not with a straight face. Shockingly, I already knew the story: Miss Havisham, a lunatic old woman, is thought to be the secret patron of Pip, the waifish boy who becomes a London gentleman. .
Guess what you get for not learning anything in college? Was it back the 1960s when you could get into a prestigious university with a so-so high school record and high SAT scores, and then bluff, drug, and sex your way successfully through the next four years and into a British postgraduate fellowship by relying on raw intelligence coupled with the ability to parrot back to professors just what they want to hear? The ultimate result of rich roommate dispute is cathartic and gleefully satisfying; I'm surprised it didn't make the original essay. Kirn is surely right that many books read in the English classes of elite colleges are nonsense and that many truly great books are unconscionably elided from the curriculum. There is some fresh material in the book that is well worth it. The great poems and novels mystified me still, particularly the ones I'd written papers on, and my math skills, once adequate for the SATs, had atrophied to nothing. Kirn leaves us, or our children. The Reject Shop b. But in this book, he focusses on so much more than the living situation -- he talks about the awakening he experienced when he discovered that the English department was more interested in literary criticism than in literature, and he admits that he kind of "faked his way through" large chunks of his education what psychologists would call 'the imposter syndrome.
His introduction into true education rhymed with my own personal experience which was a cherry on top. I have not read any of Walter Kirn's novels, including the one made into a Clooney movie Up In The Air , but this rather bleak memoir might persuade me to do so because of how well-written it is. I am so glad I went to San Jose State. I started to spew a list of adjectives describing my thoughts about this smug, smarmy, superficial, supercilious and that is just the list of words starting with "s" memoir that is filled with humble brags and 179 mentions of how he "crushed" his SATs, but then I remembered that I'm trying to exercise more restraint over my cynical and nihlistic tendencies, so I decided just to leave this warning for potential readers: Don't. I identified with that part of his story too, as someone who spent most of my time reading books and studying languages, but never quite understood the whole social universe of college. I blame the marketing department for packaging it as they did, but many of us would not have read it without their white lie. Unfortunately, he fails to acknowledge that every clever impostor who makes it into the mainstream displaces someone earnest and talented who doesn't.
Lost in the Meritocracy by Walter Kirn: 9780307279453
The course Business and Society is about a. As a Princetonian of probably the first generation of "meritocracy" applicants, I was prepared to,accept,Kirn's analysis and be sympathetic to his plight. I borrowed this for some light reading on a plane from a fellow Goodreader. Very funny overall, but unsettling in its attitudes about sex. My son is not at Princeton he is at Pomona and has had an amazing experience. I think that some things simply take a lot of time to sort out: even half a lifetime.
Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever by Walter Kirn
I first read Mr. It ends with perhaps the wisest words in the book: "Knowledge is a reckoning, he taught me, a way to assess your location, your true position, not a strategy for improving your position" p. But it's not so much a coming-of-age tale as a description of how the author did NOT come of age and find himself, although his self-discovery is alluded to at the end of the book it presumably takes place at a future point in his life not covered by this book. . He must never sit on the couch and always, always tiptoe carefully about the Persian rug when, on occasion, he leaves his bedroom and slinks to the toilet. And some of the worst of the spoiled brats are not even rich. The connection Kirn makes, whether purposefully or inadvertently, is that his education left him profoundly uneducated and systemically empty—its overlords expected him to produce meaningless sentences about meaningless topics and, when he performed well, bestowed upon him meaningless awards and credentials.
I enjoyed his writing so much, I promptly purchased this book. What's such great fun about the book is the intense good humor with which he looks back, and the wonderful portraits he provides of the side characters in his life: a vividly traditional older man who acted as an early mentor, a deranged sex-maniac schoolteacher, the lofty and the strange among his childhood peers—and then his soul-salting years at Princeton, where he expected enlightenment and discovered fecklessness, thievery, and self-promotion instead. Nevertheless, no one can argue that Kirn isn't clever, and while I don't think there was anything particularly special about this book, it was a decent and quick read. Arizonamom, Yep, just one experience. I just finished devouring this book which I ordered immediately after reading the excerpt published in the New Yorker. But those of us without trust funds have bills to pay. Seeking security in numbers, I sought out the company of other frauds.
Read This: 'Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever,' by Walter Kirn
In your opinion, what type of schools, if not Ivies, would this type of situation still play out with frequency? Our "Julia Child" who had been subsidizing some top level cuisine, had bought Grand Marnier, phyllo dough, and any number of expensive groceries. In Germany, sinister figures straight out of Cabaret threaten him with sodomy. Now, as he tells his own story in a tough, funny, and moving memoir, Lost in the Meritocracy, we learn that Kirn's original beleaguered innocent was himself. It's easy to get into Princeton--just win a co Perhaps if I were to read the second half of this book, I might glean some insights from the story, but it just made me too mad to finish. I really love Walter Kirn.
This article was originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in 2005. Learning was secondary, promotion was primary. To the contrary, I found myself befriended by people I would have expected to be snobs and their families as well. While I did not have any preconceived notions when I began this book, I probably would not recommend it to some one who only wants to use it for social and political material. The summer after graduating Princeton, and before he is to fly to Oxford on a Keasbey scholarship, Walter spends some time back home in Minnesota. I thought the book would be an indictment of the system, but instead it seems to me an indictment of the author.
opportunities.alumdev.columbia.edu: Customer reviews: Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever
. I give this 2 stars because Kirn is an excellent writer and kept me arguing with him and hoping for something better through the whole volume. The author never manages to figure out what he wants to do while he's in school. The text of the "free verse" poem that Kirn wrote at Macalester in order to win a contest and pad his résumé is included in the book--and is laugh-out-loud funny. As a memoirist, Kirn has planted himself on dangerous ground here. Just on the other side of the bell curve's leading edge loomed a complete psychic collapse.
