Today, many people apply to top, elite colleges or for a job that person desires. The applications come in and many of them hold the same accolades as many others. Colleges and business henceforth needed a way to choose from their top applicants, and thus the letter of recommendation became included in the application process. The addition of the letter of recommendation decreased the emphasis on the merit of the applicant dramatically. The application process became more about who the applicant knows rather than what the applicant has done. The process of the letter of recommendation is similar to the theory of name recognition. Money also holds a key role in the less meritocratic system of today, because money provides a way to make an applicant do better on an entrance exam, which the system today is based around.
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The meritocratic system described by Michael Young in his book, The Rise of the Meritocracy, has reached the point feared by Young where merit can be passed over by corrupt and monetary loopholes around the system. The letter of recommendation method used by colleges and business to find the right applicant works well for members of the upper class, not lower and middle class citizens. Upper class applicants choose members of their class to write letters making them the top candidate out of a list of candidates with similar merits. Sometimes the letters create a loophole for upper class citizens who choose a very elite person to write recommendation letter for them causing them to jump members of lower classes with better merits. Letters of recommendation prevent any social mobility and leads to the possibility of a revolt from the lower classes. The upper class gets the upper level jobs and thus make the most money. Letters of recommendation use the merit of the recommender rather than that of the applicant making the merit of younger generations less important. The recommender tends to be close to the same status of their applicant which also causes social mobility to be impossible. Name recognition, which …show more content…
In the race, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both have seen tremendous success. Trump due to his time as a businessman and on the television show, The Apprentice, has a well-known name throughout the United States. Hillary Clinton has spent time in the United States as a First Lady, Senator from New York, and Secretary of State. They both have well-known names because of their experience, but sometimes the merits of someone’s relatives can cause name recognition. For example, someone applies for a position in retail, and the applicant’s sibling has worked at the store for two years, being very successful. The sibling at the store mention to the owner about his/her sibling applying for the position. Now, the owner will take an extra look at this applicant due to the success of the sibling, not the merit of the applicant. Some political commentators say both Trump and Clinton have reaped success because of name recognition and not any of their merits. They claim Trump’s experience as a businessman do not carry over to the political field and Clinton’s experiences as Senator and Secretary of State do not correlate with her success as a candidate. Name recognition also prevents social mobility between the classes. Relatives tend to be in the same social class, and the lower and middle classes have trouble moving up between the
The meritocratic system described by Michael Young in his book, The Rise of the Meritocracy, has reached the point feared by Young where merit can be passed over by corrupt and monetary loopholes around the system. The letter of recommendation method used by colleges and business to find the right applicant works well for members of the upper class, not lower and middle class citizens. Upper class applicants choose members of their class to write letters making them the top candidate out of a list of candidates with similar merits. Sometimes the letters create a loophole for upper class citizens who choose a very elite person to write recommendation letter for them causing them to jump members of lower classes with better merits. Letters of recommendation prevent any social mobility and leads to the possibility of a revolt from the lower classes. The upper class gets the upper level jobs and thus make the most money. Letters of recommendation use the merit of the recommender rather than that of the applicant making the merit of younger generations less important. The recommender tends to be close to the same status of their applicant which also causes social mobility to be impossible. Name recognition, which …show more content…
In the race, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both have seen tremendous success. Trump due to his time as a businessman and on the television show, The Apprentice, has a well-known name throughout the United States. Hillary Clinton has spent time in the United States as a First Lady, Senator from New York, and Secretary of State. They both have well-known names because of their experience, but sometimes the merits of someone’s relatives can cause name recognition. For example, someone applies for a position in retail, and the applicant’s sibling has worked at the store for two years, being very successful. The sibling at the store mention to the owner about his/her sibling applying for the position. Now, the owner will take an extra look at this applicant due to the success of the sibling, not the merit of the applicant. Some political commentators say both Trump and Clinton have reaped success because of name recognition and not any of their merits. They claim Trump’s experience as a businessman do not carry over to the political field and Clinton’s experiences as Senator and Secretary of State do not correlate with her success as a candidate. Name recognition also prevents social mobility between the classes. Relatives tend to be in the same social class, and the lower and middle classes have trouble moving up between the