The Merit System
		Comment				MAIN PATH: Review

Let me make just one more point about merit. You know from what I've already said that I don't think there is much 'merit' in the so-called merit system. What the system really measures and rewards is the advantages different people have because of the situations they are born into. People from poor families turn out to have a lot less 'merit' than people from well off families. Surprise! Surprise! But I think this fact can lead us to a better compensation argument than the ones that Ann and Malik have been making.

People are born into very different circumstances. These inequalities influence their lives enormously. It is no accident that kids from well off families have always had the lion's share of the best education and the best careers. And these things are largely beyond the control of the individual, especially when he or she is young.

The compensation that we should be thinking about --and the compensation that most Americans can accept as fair and just-- is compensation for the socially constructed inequalities that individuals cannot control. Our MINIMUM goal should be to give people with the same natural ability and willingness to work the same chance of success. Whites and blacks would both gain enormously from this approach.

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