Editorial WriterMeritocracy may be a myth, but that means someone is keeping the fiction alive. The multimillion-dollar college admissions scandal the Justice Department announced this week gives us a sense of who — and why. The answers go back to the myth of meritocracy and how these parents prop it up — even as they undermine meritocracy itself. That image of superiority depends on the perception of the schools as places for smart and successful people to study. Read more:Gabrielle Bluestone: The college admissions scam is the perfect scandal in the golden age of griftersJeffrey Selingo: What the admissions scandal parents got wrong about collegeJennifer Rubin: Why the college scandal matters so muchPaul Waldman: The pathologies of the winner-take-all society

Source: Washington Post March 13, 2019 20:15 UTC