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    A ‘Meritocracy’ Is Not What People Think It Is

    The college-admissions scandal has illuminated the fact that the word’s original definition was satirical. But Americans, for the most part, have ignored that entirely.
    by Ben Zimmer Mar 14, 2019 4 minutes
    Source: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

    When news spread on Tuesday about the bombshell college-bribery scandal—in which dozens of wealthy parents, including the actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, are accused of taking part in a scheme to buy slots for their children at exclusive universities such as Georgetown and Stanford—one word kept cropping up in social-media reactions: meritocracy.

    “Guys, guys, I’m beginning to think America isn’t a meritocracy but a place where money rules and the rich rig the system to stay on top,” Jeet Heer, a contributing editor for , sarcastically observed . Other tweets zeroed in on how un-meritocratic admission into elite universities actually is, even when rich parents don’t resort to illegal tactics. “This is not a meritocracy,” wrote. “Meritocracy is a myth,” asserted , a senior writer for .

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