> programs end up conferring the most advantages to those best conforming to the ideals of the dominant culture The definition of merit for any given school, i

> programs end up conferring the most advantages to those best conforming to the ideals of the dominant culture The definition of merit for any given school, is transparent. School work is relatively straight forward, in that they are designed by the teachers for students to complete, and at the end of the year you can see how students were rewarded or punished with numbers. Also, not all merit-based systems are good, some may reward bad behavior etc., but the solution is not to get rid of merit, but rather adjust what you're selecting for. Also, I feel like "dominant culture" is an ambiguous term thrown around to justify the ideology of equity and how some groups of people are perpetually oppressed. Arguably the U.S. no longer has a dominant culture. There are many cities with neighborhoods where English isn't required (i.e. Chinatowns, Miami etc). This in turn affects the local schools and their curriculum, which means their merit-based system is for the most part under their control.