Scholar argues for move away from meritocracy in schools to redefine purpose of education

LAWRENCE — Education is the ultimate level playing field, where anyone who applies their individual talent and works hard can achieve the highest outcomes. Such is the ideal of meritocracy, the foundation of education and societies around the world. In a new article, a University of Kansas education expert argues meritocracy fosters competition and ignores unique human differences, leading to unequal educational results and furthering stratification in society. 

Yong Zhao, University Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology at KU, writes that meritocracy not only fosters unhealthy competition, it allocates resources to some while excluding others, fails to account for unequal starting points among students and ultimately hinders individual fulfillment and societal progress. He proposes education shift its focus to the human interdependence paradigm to foster the unique talents of every student to help solve real-world problems.

“I’ve been examining how obsessed parents, students and societies are in almost every country in beating other students,” Zhao said. “Whether it’s GPA, SAT scores or whatever, it’s accepted. If you do well in school, you get into college, then you get a better job. It’s accepted as normal, but it’s not.”

While high-achieving students do receive more scholarships and college graduates do generally earn more than others, Zhao points out that how students get to those points is the problem. In exploring the history of meritocracy, he and co-author Ruojon Zhong of YEE Education write how the term was popularized in the 1958 satirical work “The Rise of Meritocracy” by British sociologist Michael Dunlop Young. The book depicted a dystopian future where IQ plus effort dictates social stratification. Despite decades of research showing IQ and standardized test scores are poor predictors of intelligence and ability, the models are globally accepted.

“That system has worked for the elite for a long time, but not for everyone else,” Zhao said. “How do you help others who do not start life with social advantages like wealth or attending top schools grow and achieve? I think by allowing educational systems to change. That can help develop human interdependence instead of grabbing for resources like we do now.”

In the article, published in the peer-reviewed journal ECNU Review of Education, Zhao and Zhong propose education focus on the human interdependence paradigm to counter the shortcomings of meritocracy. The approach would begin by identifying students’ strengths and interests as soon as they enter school. This would help build a “jagged profile” that fosters each students’ unique strengths and abilities as they evolve during the progression through education. 

The new paradigm would personalize education for each student by fostering and developing their talents and interests to ultimately benefit both the student and society, according to the researchers.

“First of all, the paradigm is a mindset change. If you’re good at something, try to be better,” Zhao said. “Time is a constant. If you spend time trying to get better at something, time for other things will fall off. But you can use that skill to solve problems for others, and they will do the same. It’s not a new idea, it’s the division of labor, which society has depended on for thousands of years. Yet we don’t do that in schools. We continue to select certain students to achieve and be supported.”

Beyond pointing out the fallacies of meritocracy like assuming an equal playing field, the authors point out how it has also excluded certain students by placing an emphasis on certain subjects. Emphasis on math and science, for example, comes at the expense of humanities, arts and vocational disciplines, disadvantaging students whose talents lie in those areas. Educational reform calls often advocate for “21^st century skills,” but Zhao and Zhong argue the human interdependence paradigm could help avoid the lingering single definition of merit.

“Teachers can start right away by looking at students not as failures, or saying ‘you’re not good at math,’ for example, but you are good at other things and we can build on that,” Zhao said.

Schools interested in an approach based on the human interdependence paradigm can look to others, including schools in Australia and New Zealand that have implemented a “school within a school” approach to move away from traditional structures and guide students in learning based on their strengths and abilities. Zhao, who has published studies on the school within a school approach, said ultimately a mindset change is needed to one in which the goal is not simply good grades, high test scores or college placement, but one that fosters the development of everyone.

“The idea is that you want every human to have a happy and productive, meaningful life. I think a good, just society shouldn’t sacrifice anyone,” he said. “When people are happy and feel meaningful, you have a more democratic society that works for all. Traditional meritocracy in education does not provide that.”