Is Meritocracy Dead? | Victor Davis Hanson

In this video, Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the state of the tertiary education system in the US and whether or not it is actually worthwhile pursuing a tertiary education anymore.
Victor Davis Hanson is an American classicist, military historian, columnist, and farmer. He has been a commentator on contemporary politics for the National Review and The Washington Times and is currently the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
In addition to writing hundreds of articles, book reviews and newspaper editorials, Hanson is also the author of twenty-four books and hosts a regular podcast series, 'The Victor Davis Hanson Show'. Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush, and was a presidential appointee in 2007-08 on the American Battle Monuments Commission. His latest book, The Dying Citizen, was published in October 2021. And his next book, soon to be released on May the 7th this year, The End of Everything, How Wars Descend Into Annihilation.
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[@bobbynicole10]

I got into college almost 20 years ago; worked incredibly hard to get a scholarship, otherwise I couldn't have attended. These lax standards are a slap in the face to hardworking young people everywhere.

[@user-hj2up6qm1d]

a lot of these kids go to college to have a good time thats true today it was true 20 years ago.

[@bigtroll8249]

U luv to brag, dont u?

[@concernedrabbit9075]

University has become a sort of factory to make money. A psychology professor told me that he deliberately starts the first semester with a light work load knowing the students are getting to know the campus and parying. He ramps up the reading lists quickly and swamps them just as they reach the cut off to drop courses knowing they can't get ther money back but they can't catch up either. The students drop the course and lose their money. Those 8 weeks are easy money for the department. Disgusting.

[@pistonburner6448]

There's a reason why socialist governments in Europe and Biden make it free for students to go to university. But not free for taxpayers.

[@ChesterSm-ge1hb]

Academia’s Industrial Complex; The’ Robber Barons of the 21st Century

[@user-ul9dv2iv9s]

Sounds like you learned your lesson for a successful career as a banker.

[@pistonburner6448]

YT is pathetic: they deleted my reply but still send me notifications of replies in this thread...

[@user-ul9dv2iv9s]

Yeah, it does that often. It's beyond a joke. Is it to pander to snowflakes? To advertisers? It's got to the stage that benign comments are censored.

[@user-vy7iw4lf5o]

I could sit and talk with Victor for hours.

[@rogeralsop3479]

Marvellous two men.

[@alancotterell9207]

Academic achievement at secondary level is not a good indication of ability. Adolescents are always erratic - a happy childhood can create better values.

[@NickMeisher]

It's a good indication of ability to stay on goals, study, focus on academic success, not be lazy : which are indicators of how well you will do in college and graduate school.

[@robertopang4240]

Amen to that, but the fact is that getting into elite (or even good) colleges is an arms race among parents.

[@atenas80525]

then why do divorce rates plummet when both parties are married? Why does abortion all but disappear with increasing education levels?

[@andyjay9346]

Why is it in the western world, USA, Australia, Britain, Canada there is only one male uni scholarship to four female uni scholarships?

[@helenkotowske3829]

Because they caved to the feminists.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

"The Anglo-sphere is committing mass suicide". quote from ~ Victor Davis Hanson - Hoover Institution 04/09/2021

[@Vikii2024]

Because female are privileged gender .

[@alancotterell9207]

'SELF-PRAISE IS NO RECOMMENDATION' !

[@MichaelE.Douroux]

I do believe that our young with the most future on the line are waking the heck up and not a minute too soon.

[@Skyking6976]

What do you mean by, “…waking the heck up…”?

[@MichaelE.Douroux]

@@Skyking6976 Figure it out.

[@Skyking6976]

@@MichaelE.Douroux Nice…

[@TTFN55]

@@MichaelE.Douroux - You sound reasonable. These lazy kids who are too lazy to do their own research want you to provide your research and knowledge OR are just lazy little fools trolling through comment sections with inane questions. "If you don't have anything to say don't say anything," my dad instructed right after, "Figure it out and let me know what you come up with."

[@TechnoMinarchist]

The worst thing with all this is that Australia is full of people who can easily tip into auth left if things don't stablise soon.

[@zantawolf]

Rendezvous with reality.

[@carldavid1558]

It’s a great line, isn’t it?

[@rwesenberg]

The universities used to be for the top 10% of HS seniors, not everybody. Universities had a mission. Now, it's about revenue. They accept students who shouldn't be there and keep them to maintain the revenue line. Students then graduate without anything like an education. The degree has little value to the student or others. The student would be far better off just buying the books, actually reading them, maybe with friends or some sort of online seminar.

[@njhoepner]

If you don't want universities to put so much effort into chasing revenue...fund them properly. Back forty years ago public universities were 70% publicly funded...now it's around 30%. There's your problem.

[@ld2906]

Deeply considered and thoroughly thought-provoking commentary. Wonderful stuff. Thank you! When academia fails to beget intellectualism, knowledge prevails over understanding, and wisdom dies an inexorably slow death. True measurement is as much an art as it is a science. Finding "the right answer" requires the wisdom to comprehend, not simply the indispensability of a return to first principles, but the vision and strategy to inspire and inculcate them, too. Without this first step, transformation is but a vain hope. "He did not know that the academic mind reflects infinity and is full of light by the simple process of being shallow and standing still" - G.K. Chesterton

[@AndrewBearchell-ci3bx]

Seems to me modern universities are about indoctrination, not learning 🤔. Also alot of these new courses seem to be pointless and a waste of time 🤔.

[@nyosito]

Hence the rush and pressure brought to bear by the educational industrial complex to open the Australian borders. They were going broke because their entire business model is based on flogging degrees to foreigners

[@terryc.3624]

Thanks Victor, many Canadians agree with you, but are scared of what people will say and Trudeau has dictated how you have to think up here..every one passes no one fails is the Canadian attitude....not me pal...good luck North America, we are stuck with two terrible leaders..

[@Jezeppi1]

Wow, a rendezvous with Reality !!!!!! Wow. Well said VDH !!!!😮 😢😅😊

[@helenkotowske3829]

That was a stunning comment.

[@MrTomV]

Hanson is an elderly man with a poor memory

[@Flussig1]

Bumper sticker.

[@simon77047]

haha, a rendezvous with reality. good one, Mr. Hanson.

[@MsJanetLouise]

VDH is my favorite guest!

[@pennyquintana7332]

Exactly, I came from a first generation family, I worked hard in high school took hard courses (in the 1980s when teachers still taught) worked hard to go to a university and graduate school. I am the first to achieve such an honor in my family, and it was a lot of hard work and sacrifice by my family. The expectations in my high school and at the university were a lot different than from today. High school students today would not survive my course load when I went to the university and graduate school. I would not change it for the world at one time I wanted to earn a PH.D in History and probably could of pursued it and been successful, but once I saw how the university was shifting, I decided not to go. Even when I became a teacher and was teaching an advance class and had to return to the university the professor I was engaged with drove me nuts. I could not believe or handle the expectations they were far below what I was was previously expected to do when I attended a university in the 1980s and graduate school. My professors were tough I learned so much and would not change anything. Today, students feel they are entitled do not have to work hard and deserve an A.

[@dnotleythere]

George Leef wrote a paper back in 2006 called the overselling of higher education. Sadly, the deterioration of higher education has been going on a long time. There is much in higher education that is impractical as seen in adjustment to the adult working world. Employers often do aptitude tests these days and/ or ask for some practical internship or a bit of other experience as criteria for many entry-level office jobs. Getting your foot into the door for your 1st professional job is harder with all this mass education that was supposed to make it easier for young people. Employers no longer take college seriously. Credential inflation will only get worse as these top prestigious colleges destroy their standards. That is something new. College had already become the new high school 15 years ago for graduates, not in top colleges. It will get down to being the new junior high or secondary middle school at this rate. Typically, the overselling of higher education is thought of in a fiscal sense. But the credential bubble bursting will be really devastating, making people wonder what it is all for. It is what George Leef foresaw happening with grade inflation, inevitably leading to credential inflation and colleges deservidely getting less respect. They are also not very career oriented. Employers do not create new good paying jobs simply because more people have degrees, as George Leef states in his paper. He also noted that this situation just leads to credential inflation in the job market hurting everybody. The education has to fit the skills employers want or be useful for graduates who want to start their own businesses and create jobs. Hanson is right. The US ignores putting a priority on good trade schools. Somehow, the current trade schools do a bad job with employers , as well, in regard to trained professionals the job market actually really needs. They are better and more practical, though, than most colleges and less expensive.

[@glennhansen6156]

Thanks Victor!!!!

[@HoboGodfrey]

As the US is in the process of destroying industry in the EU to bring some of it to the US, where will these workers be found, not Uni grads I take it?

[@throckmortensnivel2850]

Given the Ivy League universities have always favoured the children of wealthy alumni, I would like to hear more about this "meritocracy". My first question is, Since when? According to one study, "At 38 colleges in America, including five in the Ivy League - Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale, Penn and Brown - more students came from the top 1 percent of the income scale than from the entire bottom 60 percent." There's your meritocracy. Your "merit" is you have wealthy parents. The wealthier they are, the more "meritorious" you are. It is also a fact that childern of wealthy parents are more likely to live in wealthy neighbouhoods, with higher quality public schools (and better teachers). Wealthy parents are more likely to be able to pay for private schooling. That is true across the USA.

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

I’ve been an adjunct for 14 years. While my school is not woke, I became embarrassed by academia in general. I almost quit but have enjoyed working with the students. I stopped teaching classes and now am finishing up my Doctorate students with their dissertation research. I am retiring from my day job and will finish my dissertation students.

[@fdggfgdfgd251]

The funniest is when u talk to a 4 year university graduate that works ar starbucks.... and they say it was worth it

[@dannyhughes4889]

An English friend with a brother Lecturing at a respected Uni told me that his brother is constantly pressured to pass Foreign Students who don't make the grade and shouldn't be passed. This is to ensure that fails don't give the Uni a bad name and thus impact on the flow of tuition fees and other economic benefits flowing from these Students. In any case these Students will go home with a Degree that means almost nothing in practical terms but is still that piece of paper that opens doors to Government jobs.

[@pheebsbee1280]

What?! Are you telling me that a degree in Women Studies and Trans Rights is useless in the real world! 😁🤣

[@reneestevez7193]

Unless you apply for a Hollyweird Movie job as a Custom Designer.

[@jimshoe402]

No ur Wrong Boeing is 19% DEI and wants 50%. I Wonder is that why Planes are Falling out of the Sky. Skilled Trades since 18..ALOHA

[@helenkotowske3829]

I remember being in college when Women's Studies courses started. Rhetoric could have been discussed in a sociology or psychology class, but a whole major was excessive and shallow. When you get rid of religion others small gods will rise.

[@reginasemenenko148]

Who gets a degree in that though? I don't know one person silly enough to get a degree in women's studies. People who want to be employable choose something practical.

[@jeanf8998]

Good show

[@UNCHART3DGAMING]

Excellent quote “Rendezvous with Reality”

[@daheikkinen]

Hillsdale or bust

[@peterlederer3896]

Last stop Pagewood

[@ruralidiot5533]

You’re better off going to a trade school than college/university.

[@dks13827]

D I E is the term.

[@johnkaylor8670]

Many people will think your acronym transposition is just cute sarcasm or an attempt to be witty. How little those people realize about what will result =literally= if 'dei' continues to be pushed - if not implemented. People will literally die by being treated by incompetent doctors, flown by incompetent pilots or drive over bridges designed by incompetent engineers. etc. etc. etc.

[@jorgegallo3261]

Everything Victor is saying is playing out at the universities right now. Seeing it myself.

[@tarawhite4419]

I'm so glad I quit work and school 15 to 20 yrs ago

[@lv4077]

Really? Which bridge are you living under?

[@jimfesta8981]

Demographic change has resulted in the dumbing down of our colleges and universities.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Import the third world, become the third world.

[@sirguy6678]

I am an advocate for people going to college- for degrees that require higher Education (law, STEM, medicine) college is more than “book learnin’ - but people can waste their education and their money in any endeavor

[@GaryGraves-lz4fg]

Victor is a genius

[@JAKPM]

The University of Michigan is considering getting rid of SAT’s and ACT’s.

[@crataeguscrusgalli]

I am a university professor in Canada. Even the science degrees are no longer worth the effort, the time and the expense. In order to keep my grades in a range that makes the Dean happy, I have had to dumb all of my courses down. Indeed, my high school courses were more challenging than today's university courses. I am also required that incorporate woke critical theory into all of my sciences courses: failure to do this is met with strong penalties.

[@user-hj2up6qm1d]

You can't make everything equal will not work there always differences in ability like it or not.

[@3minutesofglory700]

omg uni is over 50K?! in Australia im doing a 4yr degree for 44K, and keep in mind, AUD is the weaker dollar!!! mind you, i started doing uni after i became selfemployed for 10 years and have the time and money to pay for it without debt

[@ncascadehiker]

Yeah but running a university is expensive: old buildings, executive salaries, football. I suggest middle class kids do community colleges and not worry about feeling second class. The classes are the same and cheaper.

[@user-wm7bv9ev3d]

I RccR am for a Republic. With as much as possible Personal Responsibilities. Those holding the post of Decision Making, being paid to do that, should do just that. Definately Not a One Man Show. One destinction americans have, is that most know clearly what their resposibily is, their own limits and actually carry it out. Every now and then when asked, they will answer you "That is above my pay grade". meaning I won't take that decision because it's not my call. I am not being paid to make 'that particular decision' so go to the one that does. Personal Responsibillity there is where we should go back to.

[@Skyking6976]

Is it not still a requirement to take at least one math and science course to get a degree? Why is Vic saying, “because they’re not learning mathematics and biology…”?

[@PeterCombs]

Is anyone really suprised a guy like PD did this? Really?

[@jacqquelinetackaberry5450]

MAGA for GAZA 🗽✌🏼 We are MANY in the Bay Area California ✌🏼

[@bhasty1]

Sadly it has gone the way of the dinosaur.

[@markjohnson5276]

I came out of college and designed production floors for NASA when we went to the Moon and for the Atomic energy commission when we harnessed the power of the atom. The work was all AAA quality control. Meaning, if this device failed people would die. That took meritocracy, diversity hires just wouldn't do. Then NAFTA came. Our politicians decided to send our manufacturing base off to other countries and we became a debtor Nation with a service economy. A Nation of indentured servants. Slaves. Can I make it any clearer for you? Usury is a none productive activity that enslaves others. Finally, yes meritocracy is dead in America.

[@mangiamo74]

Yes, we were sold out by our leaders and their corporate interests.

[@ralphnabozny8494]

smart students know all that, they get the notes from the last class. I did anyway.

[@MichaelJames-lz7ni]

"Meritocracy" matters - but "White Meritocracy" matters more....and these two know that full-well.

[@johnkaylor8670]

An insidious aspersion Michael. "meritocracy" literally refers to the actual, verifiable ability of an individual to perform a function. That is objective in concept - and even more objective in practice. Any =person= or =group= who tries to subvert literal merit (ability) standards is a fraud. But =meritocacy= itself is golden. And MUST be followed - or people will suffer, if not die.

[@MichaelJames-lz7ni]

@@johnkaylor8670 The entire 'meritocracy' argument is a fraud. If only white people are in-power across all Western Institutions, then they, and they ALONE decide what "merit" is, and who has it. There is nothing objective about this - to assume 'meritocracy' is fully in-practice, everywhere, is absolute delusion. White people have habitually chosen other white people (white men) as those possessing the required "merit" in power succession - utterly ignorant that, statistically, this cannot be objectively true. Ignorance of this blatant statistical bias perpetuates the fraud.

[@billrobinson9295]

Why waste your time, money and future on some useless degree that will leave you in debt and flipping burgers at McDonald's. Go to a trade school. Learn a real world skill that is instantly applicable and retire early.

[@michaellane1316]

On a mission to Mars....One of the main systems is having an issue with the life support generator. 1st astronaut, (university educated, masters in whatever), says, " If we talk to it, maybe it will understand. Hey "Hal", find the problem and fix it", ". Hals response...." That's not under my job description and they didn't program me for this one problem"...... 2nd astronaut.....A trade school graduate of multiple fields says......" have this up and rolling in 5. Step aside and let some common sense into the room."

[@Skyking6976]

Why not get something OTHER than a “…useless degree…”? Like pre-med…not useless…right???

[@alancotterell9207]

People attend university to fit into a professional pigeon hole. Versatility might be more useful, now that our manufacturing has gone offshore.

[@dks13827]

At least choonese spies aren’t coming here. 😢

[@leegrant7333]

Don't know but .....Mediocrity is alive and kicking.

[@paulfordyce3499]

What would Lenin do? Antony Beevor in his book “Russia - Revolution and Civil War says “ Lenin and Trotsky were pragmatists as well as ideologues. They had already recognised the need to recruit ‘experts’ of doubtful loyalties rather than fanatics. Many other commissars also believed that to choose the brightest and the best was the only chance of the regime surviving.”

[@atenas80525]

In the 1950's, up to 50% of a college class was made up of WW II veterans - just imagine how different things were

[@shockcat5988]

Some of those interviews were pretty funny “Lady we were a machine that killed”.

[@user-lh1jb2xm3z]

what University is fighting against the PC/Woke culture?

[@bitbucketcynic]

College is a grift.

[@reynaldowify]

Merytocracy is a bad word. Merito, at least in spanish, means deserve. Cracia means governement. A governement NEVER is deserved. It isa a charge.

[@danielc3003]

No! Mediocracy is not dead!

[@jasonmoser8957]

It hasn't been worthwhile for decades and decades. I saw all the woke back in the early 90s in university, except we called it political correctness, and this group was a political fringe.

[@asinner9096]

Go to university, may even consider to do a phd BUT dont stay in research! Waste your livets in a more senseful way

[@roostercogburn1984]

Uni's create sheep

[@user-re3zl1uj2c]

You will be a socialist state one day. Its a life rule. We as human can't stop that,

[@user-be9cf5qv2q]

How does this guy get away with such outrageous oversimplifications of the educational process? And without any definition of what his goals of education might be (civic? financial? vocational? philosophical? aesthetical?). He assumes a simplistic social structure (which is legitimitized by calling it meritocracy) that is just jaw-dropping in its naivety. It all just sounds like a whining old mad who doesn't like the fact that the world is too difficult and complex for him to understand. Poor fella.

[@drew6194]

You really have no idea what you're talking about, or how the world works, do you? Poor fella.

[@user-be9cf5qv2q]

Awwww - some more whining for you?@@drew6194

[@njhoepner]

I can remember when Hanson was an historian and not just a right-wing culture wars hack.

[@Buntowscarra]

Mr. Hanson uses his knowledge of history as a baseline for his analysis of present-day events and politics. That aside, Mr. Hanson's explanations are articulate and sensible to a fault.

[@njhoepner]

@@Buntowscarra You're entitled to your opinion.

[@Buntowscarra]

@@njhoepner Aren't we all ?

[@drew6194]

Sadly, so are you. But that's the beauty of the thing, isn't it?@@njhoepner

[@pistonburner6448]

This platform is ridiculous: no sense in commenting here when most comments are hidden/deleted.

[@brendawilliams8062]

Serious Educators take education seriously.

[@DickNasty480]

Not sure I would go to college today- depends on what profession I was going pursue. However the 4 years of living and growing on your own was quite invaluable as I look back. In my day in it cost me about $130 per class at a public university and my 1 bedroom apartment cost me $300 per month.