MERIT: THE HISTORY OF A FOUNDING IDEAL FROM THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION TO THE 21ST CENTURY
Book ID/图书代码： 03360013B61590
English Summary/英文概要： The idea that citizens’ advancement should depend exclusively on merit, on qualities that deserve reward rather than on bloodlines or wire-pulling, was among the Founding ideals of the American republic, Joseph F. Kett argues in this provocative and engaging book. Merit’s history, he contends, is best understood within the context of its often conflicting interaction with the other ideals of the Founding, equal rights and government by consent. Merit implies difference; equality suggests sameness. By sanctioning selection of those lower down by those higher up, merit potentially conflicts with the republican ideal that citizens consent to the decisions that affect their lives.
In Merit, which traces the history of its subject over three centuries, Kett asserts that Americans have reconciled merit with other principles of the Founding in ways that have shaped their distinctive approach to the grading of public schools, report cards, the forging of workplace hierarchies, employee rating forms, merit systems in government, the selection of officers for the armed forces, and standardized testing for intelligence, character, and vocational interests. Today, the concept of merit is most commonly associated with measures by which it is quantified.
Viewing their merit as an element of their selfhood—essential merit—members of the Founding generation showed no interest in quantitative measurements. Rather, they equated merit with an inner quality that accounted for their achievements and that was best measured by their reputations among their peers. In a republic based on equal rights and consent of the people, however, it became important to establish that merit-based rewards were within the grasp of ordinary Americans. In response, Americans embraced institutional merit in the form of procedures focused on drawing small distinctions among average people. They also developed a penchant for increasing the number of winners in competitions—what Kett calls "selection in" rather than "selection out"—in order to satisfy popular aspirations. Kett argues that values rooted in the Founding of the republic continue to influence Americans’ approach to controversies, including those surrounding affirmative action, which involve the ideal of merit.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： Joseph F. Kett 在这本书中说，很多美国人都认为，国民素质的提高应该仅仅依靠个人的价值观以及个人的努力付出而不是依靠血统关系或者幕后操纵。个人的价值观意味着差异性；平等预示着千篇一律。通过对比这些价值观的选择，个人的价值观可能与国家的价值观发生冲突，那些国家的价值观会影响他们的生活。
这本书追溯了三个世纪以来个人价值观主体发展的历史，Kett坚称道：美国人已经将个人的价值观与美国建国时其他的原则融合在一起，这样的做法形成了他们与众不同的评判公立学校的方法，成绩单报告的形式，工作阶层的形成，员工的评价体系，政府的办事效率，武装部队军官的选拔体系以及智力、性格和职业兴趣的标准化测试。今天，价值观的概念通常与它所量化的程度有关。
将他们的价值观看作自我提升的关键——必要的价值观——美国的开国元勋们对价值观量化的程度没有表现出丝毫的兴趣。相反，他们将价值观视为一种个人内在的品质，它代表了他们所获得的成就，而且在他们的同辈之间，他们的名誉是价值观的最好体现。Kett认为在开国元勋们心中根深蒂固的价值观会继续影响美国人对价值观辩论的看法，包括那些美国人熟知的“平权法案”（所谓的“平权法案”诞生于上个世纪60年代美国风起云涌的黑人运动和妇女运动的洪流之中。最早始于1961年肯尼迪总统的一个反对歧视的行政命令，后来几经修改，成为今天一个影响无数美国黑人的重要法案。之所以强调“黑人”，是因为这个族群获益于这个法案最大。虽说这个法案是保证少数族裔在教育和工作上的权利，然而，亚裔，犹太人或者东欧，南欧的移民们并不在这个法案的“光环”之下。所谓的受益群体大概只有非洲裔，西班牙裔，和土著印第安人。而黑人因为人数多，力量大，并且自打黑人运动以来，誓死捍卫自身的权利早就成为非洲裔美国人的优良传统，所以，在实力和威慑面前，黑人成了“平权法案”的典型受益群体。）它包含了价值观的典范。(Susie)
Awards/获奖情况：The young American republic seemed a nation peculiarly conducive to recognizing merit, or a ’quality deserving reward’ in public life. Here Kett traces the evolution of this ideal from the revolution forward, pointing out how merit frequently clashed with other ideals such as equality. . . . He succeeds in a tightrope performance, tying what seem disparate phenomena together in a frequently delightful narrative . . . . . Kett’s book has opened new historical avenues."—Library Journal (22 February 2013)
"A great virtue of this book—really a stunning notion—is that there are such things as a history of merit and a history of the idea of merit and its associated institutions in America. No one has ever written this book or anything close to it."—Michael Schudson, Columbia Journalism School, author of The Good Citizen: A History of American Civic Life
"In this brilliant book, Joseph F. Kett traces the history of merit in the United States as its meaning shifted from a personal quality to an institutionally certified warrant for allocating social rewards. As he shows, this evolution made schooling the central mechanism for distributing opportunity while at the same time subjecting schools to continual criticism for failing to distribute merit fairly."—David Labaree, Stanford University, author of Someone Has to Fail: The Zero-Sum Game of Public Schooling
"What is it you’ve earned and think you deserve but haven’t got? Joseph F. Kett takes this question all the way back to the Founding era, tracing meritocracy and its discontents up to the present. This is a tough-minded, contrarian book that takes a stand: the Founding ideal of the United States was not equality but rather merit. Kett’s historical insights on the origins of report cards, legacy admissions, the civil service, and intelligence testing add up to a challenging and bold argument that although life in these United States has never been fair, on the whole this nation is the fairest of them all."—Scott A. Sandage, author of Born Losers: A History of Failure in America
About the Author/作者介绍： Joseph F. Kett 是弗吉尼亚大学的历史学教授。他的著作包括：《在艰难中求知：在美国从自我提升到成人教育，1750年——1990年》以及《新文化素养大全》。
Joseph F. Kett is James Madison Professor of History at the University of Virginia. His books including The Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties: From Self-Improvement to Adult Education in America, 1750–1990 and (as coauthor) of The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy.
Format:HARDCOVER
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