David Brooks: The meritocracy is ripping America apart

FILE - This Nov. 14, 2008 file photo shows the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, at the downtown campus of Arizona State University in Phoenix. Arizona State University's journalism school is getting nearly $2 million in funding to research the future of television news. The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is the recipient of a $1.9 million grant from the Knight Foundation. The grant announced Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, will go toward experiments in broadcast and digital storytelling.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) There are at least two kinds of meritocracy in America right now. Exclusive meritocracy exists at the super-elite universities and at the industries that draw the bulk of their employees from them — Wall Street, Big Law, medicine and tech. And then there is the more open meritocracy that exists almost everywhere else.

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