Episode Details

Adrian Wooldridge concludes by recommending a "remoralization" of meritocracy, where those with talent view their abilities as a public duty rather than just a source of personal reward. He warns against abandoning objective testing (like the SAT), arguing that lotteries or subjective admissions are more "gameable" by the privileged. Finally, he stresses that the West must purify its meritocratic systems to compete with China's "examination state," which has successfully linked its ancient testing traditions with modern science and technology. Without internal reform, the current meritocracy remains vulnerable to global competition. 8
1825