Chapter 10

This chapter was very interesting because of its discussion of meritocracy. The idea that a person should progress due to their ability and not their political and economic influence goes farther than just the schools. At work merit systems allow people to work their way up the ladder but many times a person’s influence will also have an effect. It is hard to tell if teachers are not swayed by influences which have nothing to do with the students ability in the classroom. Of course, this may sound like something very cliche but it probably exists. There are probably several teachers who have passed a student who they know have not performed to even the minimum levels required. I like seeing how the schools borrowed a lot of ideas from the workplace a big step in preparing the students of America for the future. Although the text discusses this idea of separate but equal education it is common knowledge that the idea was only half true, things were separate but they were far from equal. The wealthy students were at the advantage from the start as they got the better teachers, better facilities and best books while the poorest communities had second rate teachers, facilities and books. The idea of sterilization is just preplexing to me because it goes against everything we are made to believe about America. Even to this day we face some of those problems and I am not sure that we will ever be able to fix them.