Charles Synyard (@CharlesSynyard)

In passing, will note, the whole thing is so absurd. This is a story RT covers often. There seems to be no discussion of how to generate more wealth overall and grow the economy; this education and career placement scandal regarding this Indian exam is all about many people wanting a few coveted posts. It is almost pure rent-seeking. Presumably some talent skill or intelligence is needed for these posts, but evidently, there are many qualified candidates for each one. The same thing happens in South Korea, as different as that place is. That is the impetus behind all the cram schooling that harms young people’s lives so much. As long as there is a minimum qualification, there is no reason the elites and well-connected should even have to pretend coveted, contested posts are on offer to the hoi polloi. They should just openly say the good perches are theirs, and there’s nothing everyone else can do about it. There should be no cheating—they should just hand out the rewards to whomever they want. Meritocracy is inefficient, since so much time and energy is spent at overqualification. Since only so many people can have these best positions, those in political-economic power should just decree which of their sons or nephews will get them, and that’s that! Then everyone else can know to go into other lines of work, and not waste time studying. The main pity is that the Indian BJP government couldn’t just demand the cockroaches disperse, and give them Iran-style treatment if they persisted. These ease-seeking rioters can never create anything; at best, they could only after much upheaval create exactly the same system, only with their sons in line for good jobs. Might as well just avoid the trouble, all else being equal. #India #CJP #BJP #tests #exams #rentseeking #meritocracy #elitism #elitist #elite