Why Socialists Need To Master The Discourse Of Meritocracy - TruePublica
By Thomas Helm
– It has become increasingly common to separate socialism from
meritocracy on the grounds that they cannot co-exist, that one,
somewhere, along the track of its consciousness, negates the other.
What is happening is that certain voices labelled as socialist accuse
meritocracy of being a farce, a rigged lottery, which perpetuates
unnecessary suffering, while certain liberal voices that supposedly
speak in the name of meritocracy accuse socialism of trying to pull the
carpet out from beneath its feet, of that utterly sinful phrase in
contemporary jargon: limiting potential.
The Jeremy Corbyn versus Thesesa May debate on grammar schools is a
case in point. “I remind you, Mr Corbyn, that you are where you are
today because of the grammar school system,” says Theresa May. Corbyn’s
response is to assert that it is unfair to segregate children at such a
young age on the account of an arbitrary intelligence test, that the
grammar school system contributes to the maintenance of an elitist
system.
This is an argument, essentially, about who will
maximise the potential of the next generation, executed in the manner of
the Punch and Judy show of Prime Ministers’ questions.
