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I do think that's what the author meant. I see the point, but on the other hand, it seems extremely hard to measure and account for. Unless the difference is ab
by ipince 15y ago
I do think that's what the author meant. I see the point, but on the other hand, it seems extremely hard to measure and account for. Unless the difference is abysmal, I don't think it would be right to discriminate based on socioeconomic background either.
- hugh3 15y agoBesides, in what sense is the "merit" conferred by having good genes better than the "merit" conferred by having rich parents? Via blind luck, person A happens to be born slightly smarter than person B, but with poorer parents. Person B is genetically disadvantaged relative to person A, but has a few more learning opportunities in childhood. By the time they both reach the age of eighteen, they're performing identically on the SAT (which is supposed to be a test of general intelligence). Why should we say that A's unfair genetic advantage is more meritorious than B's unfair financial advantage?
- FaceKicker 15y agoMerit isn't necessarily free of any "luck" component. I would say that a smarter person "merits" admission over a less smart person, even though the smarter person didn't really earn the intelligence in any way because he/she was born with it. If you want to get into a debate on whether intelligence gives a person merit, you might as well ask whether being hard-working gives a person merit too, since being hard-working probably also has a genetic component. If you're a determinist, you could even extend this further by saying that everyone has the exact same merit, in that nobody had any control over anything they did, good or bad.