The Prize: Who's in Charge of America's Schools?

elites have spread the idea that people must be helped, but only in market-friendly ways that do not upset fundamental power equations.

The New York City schools have recently begun experimenting with a program that pays students for improving their standardized test scores; initial results have been extremely encouraging. By focusing on immediate rewards, these incentive programs help correct for the immature prefrontal cortices of children and teenagers.

Was there anything she could imagine that would convince them otherwise—that could inspire them to pursue a fairer system? “Revolution, maybe,” she said.

After the 1970s, meritocracy began to look more and more like Michael Young’s dark satire. A system intended to give each new generation an equal chance to rise created a new hereditary class structure. Educated professionals pass on their money, connections, ambitions, and work ethic to their children, while less educated families fall further beh

This in itself was disturbing to many rich people, who preferred to talk about reducing poverty or extending opportunity, not about more thoroughgoing reforms that would perhaps require sacrifice.