Book reviewed: The Tyranny of the Meritocracy: Democratizing Higher Education in America, by Lani Guinier

Book reviewed: The Tyranny of the Meritocracy: Democratizing Higher Education in America, by Lani Guinier

The transformation of higher education in America (four stars)
In this book, Harvard University Law Professor Lani Guinier presents a simple argument in favor of collaborative models that strengthen higher educational systems. She calls for overhaul of the standards of merit based admission policies adapted by colleges and universities. The merit systems dictate the admissions practices that favor the select few; mainly the economically privileged, leaving behind the underprivileged families. The testocracy is a standardized quantifiable merit that values perfect scores but ignores character, says the author. In her law class, Professor Guinier gives the option of writing an exam in a group two or three. The upside of this task is that it tests one’s ability to implement ideas and commit to communicating one’s perspectives in a problem solving exercise.

She offers many examples of new collaborative initiatives that prepare students for engaged citizenship in our increasingly multicultural society. In the inner city neighborhoods of Chicago, residents participated at the community meetings because they saw that their participation made better schools and safer neighborhoods. The city also developed a curriculum for them to learn problem solving and collaboration skills; Archon Fung’s work in Chicago with police, community leaders, schools and city officials is a positive example. Several other examples include; Rail side and other public urban schools in San Francisco, Seattle and New York.

Lani Guinier is well known as President Bill Clinton's nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in April 1993, but later he withdrew his nomination, following a wave of negative press which distorted political and academic views of Professor Guinier. This work is certainly worth reading since it examines the responsibility of higher educational institutions in creating learning communities for tomorrow’s leaders.