Meritocracy In Education

Meritocracy is the hallmark of a society’s progress. It signifies that a society has moved past class discrimination, and is moving forward into a classless and more equal society, where individuals are recognised for themselves, and not their backgrounds. Meritocracy is defined as the equality of opportunities. In higher education, which shall be defined as post-secondary, undergraduate education in this essay, the concept of meritocracy is often applied to the admissions process. It operates on the principle of non-discrimination, where applicants are are given a fair and equal chance of gaining admission based on their academic and extra-curricular merit. While meritocracy may seem to be the perfect solution to issues of inequality and

It was introduced to promote universal education. While there were many that dropped out of school, the majority of school-going children had at least a primary education, providing them with basic literacy and arithmetic skills. Besides providing its citizens with basic education, the government also exercised meritocracy in providing opportunities for students of all walks of life a chance at receiving a university degree. Students who did well were admitted into local universities and provided with financial aid in the form of scholarships, tuition grants and bursaries. Meritocracy promotes fierce competition, pushing students to do their very best, regardless of race, language or religion. This push for excellence has created generation upon generation of highly-educated citizens who have gone on to spur the country’s socio-economic and infrastructural growth. We have seen people of all races and ethnicities excel in spite of their circumstances because of the meritocratic system and the opportunities it has given

Again, this is not truly an issue of meritocracy. In fact, it may be said to promote meritocracy. Sportsmen in national teams dedicate large amounts of time to their training, treading between their academics and their sport. Why should we ignore their contributions and their hard work? Should their sportsmanship not be deserving of merit? While it is true that sportsmen on national teams have lower requirements when it comes to securing a spot in a universities, it is not a guaranteed one - they have to meet a minimum standard. The issue of foreign students is a particularly sensitive one, with many Singaporeans wary of ‘foreign talent’. These students have gotten in based on merit - has meritocracy failed us in this? Furthermore, the students who come in on scholarships tend to be the cream of the crop, with only the best applicants receiving scholarships. Would this not push all students, both local and foreign, to work even harder, to be recognised for their