A national New Year's resolution for 2023 must be the return to meritocracy in American education.  The left has waged a war on this concept for too long.  Leftist elites must vanquish meritocracy, as individual achievement threatens the collectivist thinking upon which these elites depend. 

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been instrumental in the leftist war against the individual and merit.  The American Bar Association's article, "A Lesson in Critical Race Theory," references Khiara Bridges in delineating the major tenets of CRT: "CRT rejects claims of meritocracy or 'colorblindness.'"  Bridges is an anthropologist and professor of law at U.C. Berkeley who wrote Critical Race Theory: A Primer.  (Ms. Bridges also accused Senator Josh Hawley of violence for his request to clarify her phrase, "people with a capacity for pregnancy," during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in July 2022.)

With characteristic duplicity, the left assaults merit through the Trojan horse of "equity."  While there are some who deny that equity in education is an attack on individual achievement, "equity" has been exposed as a hollow, fraudulent, and ultimately punitive scheme.  For example, at Virginia's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, school officials intentionally withheld National Merit awards from students and their families.  Journalist Asra Nomani states, "This episode has emerged amid the school district's new strategy of 'equal outcomes for every student, without exception.'"  The project title on the school administration slideshow that Nomani references reads, "The Equity Imperative."  In the name of equity, these high school administrators deprived at least 1,200 students of scholarship opportunities.

Fortunately, recently flipped school boards are working to return meritocracy to American education.  According to a local North Carolina outlet, The Daily Haymaker, the Moore County Board of Education just reversed a leftist policy that eradicated valedictorians and salutatorians.  One board member, David Hensley, made a notable point in the comments section of the article: while the prior board eliminated top honors for students, it kept "Principal/Teacher of the Year" honors for staff.  The left attacks meritocracy for others but prioritizes political awards for itself.

Hensley is correct.  Leftist "Teacher/Principal of the Year" award–winners have no problem throwing their own recognitions around to the point one would think these awards were newly engraved on their personal social security cards.  Anti-racist and CRT-promoting radicals on the North Carolina Board of Education even include the title acronym ("TOY") in personal email and social media addresses.  Perhaps the new catchphrase for the left should be, "Equity for thee, but not for me!"

We need to win the war for meritocracy.  The kids deserve it.

Image: MPCA Photos.