The Slow Rise of America Mediocrity

Did Thomas Jefferson High School make a one-time error?

Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash

In 1958, sociologist Michael Dunlop Young wrote a dystopian book called The Rise of Meritocracy. Young depicted a future where merit, defined as intellectual talent and achievement, will be the central organizing principle of society. Merit will replace previous divisions of social class, creating a world where the merited power-holding elite will…