The work that coined the term meritocracy was actually describing a dystopia - for the very reasons you mention around education: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

The work that coined the term meritocracy was actually describing a dystopia - for the very reasons you mention around education: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_of_the_Meritocracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_of_the_Meritocracy