The Essay
The Mirage of Merit
How Class Distorts Opportunity
The child of a janitor and the child of a CEO should have equal odds of entering a top university is a nice fantasy but one may never even apply.
By Amna Younas, Institutional Research Analyst, American University of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates
Gen Z and Gen Alpha aren't just digital natives; they're authenticity natives.
We need the clarity of KPIs and strategic focus that characterise successful businesses [but] this cannot come at the expense of our humanistic mission
Meritocracy promises a level playing field, a world where effort and talent determine success. But in practice, education and employment systems around the world remain tilted toward the privileged. Beneath the gleaming fairness lies a mirage: the closer one gets, the more clearly inequality comes into view. Many research studies are evident and reveals enduring structural barriers that reward inherited advantage over genuine ability.
A comprehensive study, “Global Disparities in Higher Education”, drawing on data from 117 countries undertaken by Buckner and Abdelaziz in 2023, found that students from the wealthiest families in low- and middle-income nations (LMICs) are up to 14 times more likely to attend university than their poorest peers. In contrast, the gap in high-income countries is far narrower at just 1.4 times.
These findings underscore a central truth: access to education tracks more closely with family wealth than academic talent. Further reinforcing this, UNESCO’s 2024 Global Education Monitoring Report highlights how early educational disparities compound over time. From pre-schooling to university, students from low-income families consistently face obstacles such as under-resourcing, quality education, limited preparation and fewer role models that directly impact and reduce their odds of academic advancement, regardless of their personal ability.
Consider Jamal, a bright student from a rural town, who scored in the top 10 percent nationally but lacked access to college counselling. Without guidance, he missed deadlines for scholarships and applied only to local colleges. Meanwhile, a peer from a well-connected urban family attended SAT boot camps and submitted early-decision applications to elite institutions. The difference? Not effort, but access.
Consider Aiza, a bright and ambitious student from an Asian country, who was unable to pursue a Medical Doctorate degree not by lack of talent, but financial limitations. She adjusted her goals to fit her family's budget and now dreams of becoming a civil servant. However, during her preparation, she noticed that most aspirants came from elite backgrounds, highlighting how systemic privilege often distorts merit. This pattern isn't unique to her experience. Similar studies reported in many journals including MDPI, BMS, PubMed Central, Taylor & Francis suggest deep-rooted class biases in the admissions process. In Singapore, about two-thirds of medical students come from high-income households, while those from lower-income backgrounds remain underrepresented. These cases across Asia reinforce that access, not Intelligence, often determines who succeeds in elite educational and career paths.
“Elite Institutions and the Undermining of Merit”
In the USA, a report highlighted reputed elite universities under intense scrutiny in 2023 for prioritising applicants with large donations or alumni connections over more qualified peers. This system, often hidden behind the language of “holistic admissions,” rewards familiarity with elite norms over raw potential. Movements in states like California and Maryland have pushed to outlaw legacy admissions, reflecting growing public resistance to these advantages. As Yale professor Daniel Markovits argues in The Meritocracy Trap, modern meritocracy has become a new aristocracy, one built not on inherited land, but on elite schooling, private tutoring, and exclusive networks.
"Meritocracy now constitutes a modern aristocracy... purpose‑built for a world in which the greatest source of wealth is the human capital."
The Invisible Class-Ceiling in Employment - & - Class-Based Gatekeeping
Education is only the first step. Even highly credentialed workers face a class ceiling in the workplace. Anna Stansbury’s 2022 research on class in academia shows that first-generation and low‑income PhD holders earn less, are underrepresented in top institutions, and face slower career growth, despite having similar qualifications to their peers. Stansbury introduces the idea of "ease": the unspoken advantage that comes from being fluent in elite environments. For privileged students, networking, job interviews and professional norms feel second nature. For others, they require adaptation, code-switching and emotional labour.
"Meritocracy is not, even at its best, an alternative to inequality. It is a justification of inequality." - Michael Sandel
These dynamics extend well beyond academia. Research by the UK’s Social Mobility Foundation and the US- based Opportunity Insights group show that jobs and employment opportunities disproportionately flow through elite institutions and private social networks. As a result, students without these connections are often locked out of the very roles that claim to reward merit. Markovits notes that this system pressures even middle-class families to invest immensely in education and resume building just to be considerate, while pushing working-class candidates into precarious labour or overly competitive elite tracks that demand constant self-optimization.
Summing up this story, the illusion of meritocracy persists because it flatters those who succeed. But global data, legal challenges and critical scholarship, from Buckner to Sandel, reveal a sobering reality: opportunity remains tethered to class. So long as family wealth, legacy status and social capital continue to dictate who gets in and who gets ahead, equality of opportunity will remain out of reach.
To dismantle the mirage and move toward genuine fairness, policymakers and institutions must:
- Expand need-based financial aid and outreach to underrepresented regions and education sectors
- Prohibit legacy , Quota based, and donor-preference admissions
- Increase transparency in employment and admissions processes
- Create mentorship and support systems for first-generation and low-income students
A just system doesn’t merely reward the polished, it recognises the talented, regardless of background. Until we confront class-based barriers directly, merit will remain a gleaming illusion, always just out of reach, always serving the same few. Let’s make a difference. Would you?