Tag Archives: meritocratic principle

School in the age of competitive individualism? Behind the rhetoric of excellence, the meritocratic illusion

School in the age of competitive individualism? Behind the rhetoric of excellence, the meritocratic illusion

THE ESSENTIALS Fifty years ago, sociologists Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron denounced the meritocratic illusion of school. These social and achievement inequalities persist, as highlighted by school assessments. Behind the promotion of excellence, we continue to transform socially inherited skills into academic judgments. The promise that schools make to the nearly 12 million students who […] … learn more→