Meritocratic dreams

Meritocracy (merit, from Latin mereō: “earn” + -cracy, from Ancient Greek κράτος, kratos: "strength, power") is a political philosophy that holds power should be vested in individuals according to merit.^[1] Advancement in such a system is based on perceived intellectual talent measured through examination and/or demonstrated achievement in the field where it is implemented - Wikipedia

I was watching the anime Devil Survivor 2 The Animation the other day, and one of the main character's ambitions had me thinking.

I have been unemployed for the last three years and throughout those three years I have learned that at least the Swedish society only value those who have some form of merits that are useful for the work market. Being unemployed in this society is associated with a social stigma that is very hard to shake.

People keep asking me how I managed to get sick from stress while being unemployed. There is this preconceived notion that unemployed people are lazy and don't want to contribute to society. The only valuable work you can do is work you get payed for. People don't understand that being seen as being the lowest on the social ladder is in itself a very stressful thing. Social status is extremely important and being unemployed, and worse, living on welfare - well, you can't sink much lower on the social ladder.

It really starts when we start school at age 6 -7. Everything we do is measured against a national norm and if you don't follow it, you're either considered stupid or a prodigy. These standardized tests are supposed to "help" those who struggle, but really, all they do is trying to find dead fish.  (Thank you, hyperbole and a half) Politicians like to talk about not putting children through too much stress, but the pressure to achieve is still very much there and it doesn't get easier. 

I used to love mathematics. When I was in first grade, I was really good at it. I would finish my math homework really fast and even do more than I had to. This lead to my teacher making me take an eraser to my book and that killed my love for it.

You see, even though Sweden is essentially a meritocracy, the idea that everyone should be equal in everything gives no real room for talent to flourish, unless you're insanely good at something. It's not until we reach high school that individual talents are seen as a good thing, and that's only when selecting a major (Swedish school system is different from American in this aspect). Once you've started high school, you're back to standardized tests and a norm curve to follow. And yet they expect you to excel just before graduation.

Then you're expected to go on to college and university. Today, you basically need a chef education to flip burgers, a teacher's degree for temp work, and a degree in agriculture to mow the laws in public parks. Hell, you need a university degree to clean hotel rooms. Imagine trying to get a job in this climate when you don't have a college or university degree and you took Cultural History as major in high school.

People condemn politicians who aim for a meritocratic society, yet forget that we're very much already living in one. It's just not an official opinion. It's just not written in plain text. Sweden is suffering from academic inflation, and no one knows how to do anything about it, because we're taught from a young age that this is how reality works.