I feel conflicted about this. On the one hand, would I rather hire and work with more smart, clever, bright, caring people? Yes, definitely. But if those are the values you care about, how do you select for those values? If we use pedigree and access to elite institutions as a filter, then it seems that we are heavily just selecting for access to those institutions, which is often not indicative of the values we actually care about.[1]
People who have access to top universities, companies, and other institutions where social power, competence, and wealth tend to concentrate, are often at those institutions because they are smart and hard-working. But that isn’t the only factor. People are also at these institutions because their grandfather or father was at that institution[2], because the people had wealthy parents who could afford tutoring which boosted test scores, or because they happened to be in the right time at the right place[3]. Both with companies and with universities, acceptance into the institution ought to be meritocratic, but it has large parts that consider factors other than merit.
For those of us that have connections to elite schools or elite companies, we know that there are plenty of people at these institutions that aren’t so bright.
If we describe elitism as selecting for the best and the brightest (trying to put aside the historical baggage that phrase has), then that sounds meritocratic and I like that idea, even though it is hard to implement. If we describe elitism as selecting for people that have access to selective institutions, then I am not a fan.
I haven’t read any research on the Cohen’s D or on the correlation between “attended Ivy league school” and those other nebulous values (smart, clever, bright, caring), but I would be very interested to see it if it exists. My assumption is that there is a weak positive trend, but I’d prefer to have real data than merely going on my assumptions.
A cursory Wikipedia search reveals that “between 2014 and 2019, Harvard University accepted legacy students at a rate of 33%—more than five times higher than its overall acceptance rate during this period of 6%.”
How many of us have stories of getting a particular job or making a particular connection not due to the results of our effort or due to our being abnormally bright, but simply due to happenstance?
I feel conflicted about this. On the one hand, would I rather hire and work with more smart, clever, bright, caring people? Yes, definitely. But if those are the values you care about, how do you select for those values? If we use pedigree and access to elite institutions as a filter, then it seems that we are heavily just selecting for access to those institutions, which is often not indicative of the values we actually care about.[1]
People who have access to top universities, companies, and other institutions where social power, competence, and wealth tend to concentrate, are often at those institutions because they are smart and hard-working. But that isn’t the only factor. People are also at these institutions because their grandfather or father was at that institution[2], because the people had wealthy parents who could afford tutoring which boosted test scores, or because they happened to be in the right time at the right place[3]. Both with companies and with universities, acceptance into the institution ought to be meritocratic, but it has large parts that consider factors other than merit.
For those of us that have connections to elite schools or elite companies, we know that there are plenty of people at these institutions that aren’t so bright.
If we describe elitism as selecting for the best and the brightest (trying to put aside the historical baggage that phrase has), then that sounds meritocratic and I like that idea, even though it is hard to implement. If we describe elitism as selecting for people that have access to selective institutions, then I am not a fan.
I haven’t read any research on the Cohen’s D or on the correlation between “attended Ivy league school” and those other nebulous values (smart, clever, bright, caring), but I would be very interested to see it if it exists. My assumption is that there is a weak positive trend, but I’d prefer to have real data than merely going on my assumptions.
A cursory Wikipedia search reveals that “between 2014 and 2019, Harvard University accepted legacy students at a rate of 33%—more than five times higher than its overall acceptance rate during this period of 6%.”
How many of us have stories of getting a particular job or making a particular connection not due to the results of our effort or due to our being abnormally bright, but simply due to happenstance?