Playing the Career Game
Thu, Aug 27
In today's lecture, we'll be discussing the meritocracy, the idea that success in society is organized around demonstrated abilities and merit as opposed to heredity or some other arbitrary criteria. Specifically, we are interested in how the meritocracy manifests itself in higher education and the tech industry.
We have four main in-class learning goals. By the end of the lecture today you will:
- Be familiar with several possible origins for the rise of the meritocracy in the tech industry.
- Understand the arguments made in favor of the meritocratic regime, as they relate to economic productivity and personal well-being.
- Understand the arguments made against the meritocratic regime, as they relate to personal well-being, the integrity of communities, and overall human flourishing.
- Know that it is possible to think about alternatives to the meritocratic structure.
The slides for today's lecture.
Read This:
Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, on How to Work Hard
New York Times Columnist David Brooks reflects on the ennui of college students in his recent piece We Are the Most Rejected Generation
Do This:
The instructions for Project 00 have Been Released.
The project for this unit on tech work will be the production of a Podcast that summarizes your group's dialogues over the course of the next several weeks. Review the instructions that have been posted on the Project 00 page.
This project is due Thursday 9/24 at 5pm.
Next Week's Dialogue Group Meeting
After the group assignments are finalized on Tuesday of next week, do the following:
1. Assign the the Facilitator and Scribe roles to two members of your group.
2. Find at least one hour to meet with your group to discuss the prompt of the week: How have you approached the meritocracy in your own education? Use this session to get the group acquainted with each other, set norms, and introduce individual perspectives.
Reading Quiz 00
Once you have completed the readings, fill out the following quiz. If you can't see the form below, try this direct link.