> Most parents don’t want meritocracy. They want their children to have an advantage over the children of others.
Thing is, "meritocracy" doesn't exist on its own either. Even if a poor person's child is among the more intellectually gifted in school, it's hard to compete against the children of those who are blessed in money. And that extends to adult life as well: those born to academic parents are much more likely to go into higher education themselves and have an easier time there (both due to connections as well as the simple opportunity of having parents to ask how to best format a paper or to proofread one), those born to rich parents can simply afford to "try themselves out" - for someone with millions to burn, they can easily afford to seed-fund whatever scheme their kid comes up while most other potential founders depend on sheer luck meeting someone in a random elevator.
And the importance of children being "advantaged" ruthlessly is a recent trend too. Up until 30, 40 years ago, most kids worked in farms or the trades and they were happy with it. But ever since employers demanded higher education and everything else became decried as "something for immigrants" aka low economic lifetime perspective, that shifted... funny, cities would drown in garbage in a matter of weeks when there would be no garbage haulers, but they would continue to be livable if Wall Street went up in flames.
Thing is, "meritocracy" doesn't exist on its own either. Even if a poor person's child is among the more intellectually gifted in school, it's hard to compete against the children of those who are blessed in money. And that extends to adult life as well: those born to academic parents are much more likely to go into higher education themselves and have an easier time there (both due to connections as well as the simple opportunity of having parents to ask how to best format a paper or to proofread one), those born to rich parents can simply afford to "try themselves out" - for someone with millions to burn, they can easily afford to seed-fund whatever scheme their kid comes up while most other potential founders depend on sheer luck meeting someone in a random elevator.
And the importance of children being "advantaged" ruthlessly is a recent trend too. Up until 30, 40 years ago, most kids worked in farms or the trades and they were happy with it. But ever since employers demanded higher education and everything else became decried as "something for immigrants" aka low economic lifetime perspective, that shifted... funny, cities would drown in garbage in a matter of weeks when there would be no garbage haulers, but they would continue to be livable if Wall Street went up in flames.