In this piece, Gatto claims that the educational system was created as a tool for social control of the masses. Accordingly, meritocracy is an extension of this means of control, separating the masses by their utility to the social machine. The point of grades and ranking in such a system are to facilitate this process of differentiation, elevating the few the system deems deserving to positions of power while consigning the rest to roles of subservient cogs in the machine.
Considered in this light, institutions such as Williams are no more than an extension of this very system, perpetuating the existing power structure and magnifying the distinctions between the winners in this system and everyone else. Indeed a liberal arts education is a reflection of this elitist view of society. As quoted in the Gatto piece, Woodrow Wilson himself said a liberal arts education was to be confined to a selected few while the rest “forgo the privileges of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks” (37).
Williams goes so far as to active flaunt its role in this system, specifically culling “students of high academic ability and great personal promise” in order to provide a “privilege that creates the opportunity and responsibility to serve society at large” (Williams Mission Statement). That this purposeful segmentation of society to perpetual elite rule seems virtuous both on the part of the institutions as well as those subject to its practices reflects the extent to which this notion of meritocracy has permeated our modern condition.
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I do not agree with your claim that Williams works as an extension of a hierarchical system that schooling initially creates. In fact, I think that Williams makes a pointed effort in attempting to counteract many negative results of a meritocracy. Consider the efforts that Williams makes at financial aid (we have one of best in the country), and careful selection of a diverse student body from a variety of backgrounds. With this in mind, I think it is actually positive that Williams culls “students of high academic ability and great personal promise,” because those students are also ones who come from a variety of class, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. Yes, there is always more that Williams or another high level institution could do to level the playing field within society; however, I do think that Williams stands out from other institutions that are much more complicit in their role within a meritocracy.
I’d agree with the claim that Williams College and peer institutions perpetuate the hierarchical system Gatto writes about. I think this is a system that positively contributes to society overall, however. So, I don’t really have an issue with it and think that, with society’s (and especially the job market’s) current infrastructure, moving away from this system would create more problems than it would solve.