Legacy Admissions to Economic Life

Columnist Roland Martin recently asked George Bush about preferential treatment in college admissions. (Article)

Martin: “If you say it’s a matter of merit and not race, shouldn’t colleges also get rid of legacy?”
Bush: “If what you’re saying is, is there going to be special treatment for people – in other words – we’re going to have a special exception for certain people in a system that’s supposed to be fair, I agree. I don’t think there ought to be.”
Martin: “So the colleges should get rid of legacy?”
Bush: “Well, I think so. Yeah, I think it ought to be based on merit.

That’s a good beginning. Now I understand the American social/economic system as a whole is also supposed to be fair, and based on merit. If legacy college admissions are unfair, what about plain old legacies? Should there be special treatment, a special exception, for the offspring of the rich? Or should wealth in America be based on merit?
A merit system wouldn’t need to intervene in the childhood years. At age 21, everyone would start from zero and be staked to an equal grant of start-up money that they hadn’t earned. Then let merit take its course. Merit! Red meat for Republicans, I should think.


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