Merit Matters

Recently, Shivam Vij reported on a fugitive Indian-origin doctor with the inviting moniker Doctor Death.

What piqued our interest was Shivam's use of this story to pour scorn over those favoring merit over reservations for education and jobs. Dilip chimed in by applauding Shivam for skewering the merit argument as it needs to be skewered. Wow!

Shivam's argument is that Dr. Death wasn't a beneficiary of reservations, yet he turned out incompetent. Hence, "merit" is a poor filter for admission to medical schools.

This argument clearly strains logic. However, we will concede that the converse -- of reservations leading to bad engineers & doctors -- is not valid either.

Reality is that most graduates from medical/engineering schools are alright, whether or not they arrived there using reservations. Furthermore, in real life, when people select a doctor, the only criterion they use is whether he/she can heal them. They couldn't care less how he/she got into a medical school. This is how a free market works, thankfully on merit.

The problem with reservations is a deeper one. It raises issues about how we organize our social order. Is entitlement our governing principle or is it competition? Which leads to success that's more gratifying?

We were thinking last night of an IIT classmate from a Rajasthani community entitled to reservations. This guy didn't need any. He ranked among the top students in a fiercely competitive class populated with very high JEE rankers. Another classmate, child of extreme & flaunted privilege, came in via reservations. He too emerged a fine engineer, but could anyone possibly consider his achievement (&, yes, merit) the same as the former's? That would be ridiculous.

Maybe we still need some reservations to ensure a level playing field. But, lets please not diminish the value of merit in life. Our Rajasthani friend understood merit well & he's the poster child for what social advancement is all about.

We're not afraid of doctors qualified via reservations, not merit. We are terrified of people who think this implies merit doesn't matter. It affirmatively does.

Update: Shivam points out that Reservations are more complex than you think (citing counseling experience at IIT Delhi of Dr. Shobna Sonpar). Two quick thoughts. One, the IIT Shobna Sonpar writes about is the time & place when this blogger was a student there -- clearly, our experiences were very different (although she likely has a privileged view given her role as counselor). Second, the issues she raises are not Dalit-centric as much as they are economic status-centric.