How The Myth Of Meritocracy Ruins Students By Erica Etelson Summary

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The point of education is to gain knowledge. That knowledge will help people progress in life and that will lead to a growing society. Throughout the years education became competitive and was less about gaining knowledge and more about getting a better score on standardized tests. In the article How the Myth of Meritocracy Ruins Students by Erica Etelson, she explains how the education system is becoming more and more competitive and if there is not a change it will slowly make the education system worst. Her main argument of the article is that the idea that success should be based on ability and talent of individuals is wrong because success should not be based on ability and talent of individuals. Etelson backs up her argument by explaining to the reader about the pressure students are under, how competitiveness is causing a problem, and why things need to change. The education system needs to change so that students can go back to gaining knowledge and grow rather than compete for the best test score.
The first point that Etelson makes in her article is about the pressure that students are under today, she often refers to it as “educational pressure cooker” (Etelson, 2015). Today, every student is overwhelmed with pressure. Middle class students have pressure to get into a top college. Poor students feel …show more content…

“Students are being forced to play the game of “race to the top or get left behind”” (Etelson, 2015). The idea that success should be based on ability and talent of individuals is wrong because success should not be based on ability and talent of individuals. The pressure, the competitiveness, and the future all need to change before more kids go through an education system that is teaching them how to compete against fellow students rather than how to gain knowledge. It is time to level the playing

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