The term Meritocracy was coined by Michael Young in 1958.

According to it, power

and privilege should be appropriated according to the merit of everyone, not by social
origins. However, it has become exactly what it was created to prevent: A system for
the hereditary transfer of power and money across generations.

When we think about meritocracy as a fair and objective system for a society to
function, we also must consider that merit is dependent on socioeconomic status,
gender and family. Merit is often a product of privilege. The people living in privilege
have been so ingrained in the belief that anyone with the ability and hard work can
easily work themselves to the top no matter what the odds or background.

a growing body of research in psychology and neuroscience suggests that believing in

meritocracy makes people more selfish, less self-critical and even more prone to
acting in more discriminatory ways
Id like to touch upon the reservation system in India. Although marginalised students
have to be just as equally qualified as their considerably more privileged
counterparts , many people misrepresent the reservation system claiming that it gives
seats to “undeserving” students merely based on their lower status while taking away
seats from “deserving”, meritorious students. This is a clear example of how
meritocracy ignores the systemic discrimination that has been imposed upon
marginalised groups for centuries
Meritocracy in theory is an aspiration for any government but in a hierarchical social
structure, it is challenging to implement due to income inequality casteism and
nepotism.
Even in our own school, preference for admission is given for children of alumni and
siblings of current students, a clear example of nepotism.
Meritocracy has created a competition that, even when everyone plays by the rules,
only the rich can win.