Episode summary: David and Helen talk to the philosopher Michael Sandel about the damage that the idea of rewarding people on merit has done to education, democracy and public life. Why is it wrong to try to match the best students to the best universities? What is credentialism and how has it warped the way work is rewarded? Whatever happened to the idea of the common good? Plus we discuss America’s sense of itself as God’s chosen nation in the age of Obama and Trump. Talking Points: Places like Stanford and Harvard have more than 40,000 applicants for 2,000 places. Most of these applicants are qualified. - Michael thinks that universities should admit students based on a lottery. - The meritocratic way of thinking about success and social recognition has produced and intensified an epidemic of credentialism. - Should elite universities function as arbiters of opportunity? - Even going to university hasn’t delivered what people expected. - How do we translate what we can see is socially and morally wrong about our society…
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