Transcription
And so today I want to talk about the meritocracy. The meritocracy means that people should succeed based on their talent, their ability, and their hard work. And in theory, this sounds like a good idea. And in fact, the school system is built around the idea of a meritocracy. The good students go to the best universities, and then after they graduate, they will get the very best jobs. That's the idea.
But what I will show you today is that there are actually lots of problems with the meritocracy. And what I also show you is that, in fact, this idea is actually destroying American society. Okay.
So, the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to explain to you why America has the world's most complicated admission system. Okay? So, in China, when you apply to university, you take the GACA, you take an examination, and then based on your test score, you get into university. And this is a system that most countries use. Only in America is the system that's complicated. Your transcript matters, but so does your standardized test scores, the SAT, the TOEFL. So does your extracurriculars. So does teacher recommendation letters, and so does essays in which you have to say to America, "I'm a really good person." Why does it matter if you're a good person? Okay, so it's the world's most complicated admission system. So, what I'll do first is explain to you why we have this system.
Okay, so we start off in England in the 1600s, and at this time in history in England, there's a major conflict between British belief and the king. Okay, the king is head of the Anglican Church, which is the official church of England, and there's no difference between the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church. The only difference is in the Catholic Church, the head is the Pope. In the Anglican Church, the head is the King of England. That's the only difference. In terms of rituals, in terms of belief, it's the same. Now, there are people called Protestants who believe there should be no Pope, there should be no king. You should, as an individual, be able to act as God directly. And you do that by reading the Bible. So, at this time in history, there's a major conflict between the Protestants, the Puritans, or the Dissenters, and the king, and it leads to wars, basically. And so the solution is the king says to the Dissenters, "Hey, there's this new place called America. It's far away. Go there, guys, and leave me alone." Okay.
So, the Dissenters go as pilgrims to America to build their own theocracy, what they believe to be the new Jerusalem or paradise on earth, heaven on earth. Now, one core belief of the Protestants is you must read the Bible in order to understand the mind of God. Therefore, education, literacy, learning, it is the divine imperative. And that's why they established Harvard. Okay. Harvard was a school designed to train people into the religion called ministers, in order to study the Bible, in order to spread the truth of the Bible. Now, Harvard then would encourage the development of other universities, Yale, Princeton. Okay. And collectively, they would be known as the Ivy League, right? So, this is how the Ivy League started because America was founded as a religious colony, and everyone needed to read the Bible. So, they needed places to study the Bible, and so they founded Harvard, and then Yale, and then Princeton. Okay.
But over time, as America became more wealthy, it became also less religious, and so the Ivy League became social clubs. And what I mean by that is these were just places where the rich of America went to become friends. Okay? It was to build cohesion. Right? And remember, we discussed the idea of cohesion where if you commit transgression, you become more cohesive. So, these guys did not study. They drank. They dressed up like girls. They had wild parties. They played football. They took risks, and they became good friends. And they went on to become the leaders of America.
As America became much more diverse, much bigger, and much more wealthy, it recognized that it needed to educate its population and started state schools. Okay, state schools, [snorts] what we call A&M. Okay, you may have heard the term Texas A&M. Okay, it means Texas Agricultural and Mechanical. The reason why was these schools were built to train farmers, engineers, and soldiers, okay, tradespeople, in order to help grow the American economy. Now, and this system was extremely successful. America was able to industrialize really, really quickly, and most people went to these schools. Only the rich would go to the Ivy League because they were country clubs or social clubs.
Over time, America, as it began to industrialize more and more, it recognized that it needed science and technology. So, it basically copied the best universities in Germany, and Germany was at this time the main center of science and technology in the world. And so they built something called research universities. Okay. And a couple of the first research universities were the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins. Okay. So, at about 1900, you have this system, okay, of state schools where most people went. If you're a poor person, you go to learn a trade and then you go and get a good job and make good money. If you wanted to be a professor or scientist, you went to these research universities. If you were rich, you went to these social clubs called the Ivy League. And quite honestly, it was a really good system. And America should have stayed with this system.
But what happened was, who's unhappy now about the system? These guys, right? Harvard, Yale, Princeton. Because if you think about it, over time, they become less and less relevant. Because just because you're rich doesn't mean you're smart. All the smart people are going to Chicago and Johns Hopkins. And so, over time, we can expect Chicago and Johns Hopkins to overtake the Ivy League. Okay? And that's why Harvard decided to institute scholarship programs. So, it wanted more smart people into its campus. It wanted to welcome more smart people into its campus. Okay. And this created something called the SAT. Okay. This is the origin of the SAT. The SAT was founded as a scholarship program to identify the best and brightest students from all over America so that they can come to Harvard and help Harvard be the best university in the world.
Now, who's angry about the system? Harvard's not happy that the best students are going to Chicago and Johns Hopkins. So they quit the SAT, and now the best students are coming to Harvard. Now, who's unhappy? The rich kids, right? Okay. The alumni, the legacies, because before their kids could just go to Harvard and have a great time. Now it's hard for them to get in. They have to take a test, and also they're in class with smarter people. Okay. So now Harvard has a problem. On one hand, it wants the best students in America. But on the other hand, it still wants to maintain good relations with its alumni. So that's why it created a new system. Okay? In this new system, grades are not the only factor. Test scores are not the only factor. Now it's focused on holistic. Holistic. Okay. The new word is holistic. Specifically, character. Just being smart is not good enough. You have to be a good person. You have to be a strong and brave and virtuous person. Okay? So, they have a new concept called character. But this word was created to basically keep Jews out. Okay? Because Jews are really smart, but Jews like to read books. So, they're not good at sports. And so, like that's not good. We need people who are manly, who are strong, who are brave. We need white people. Okay? So, they develop this holistic system. And that's why we have the system that we have today where it's not just test scores, it's essays, it's transcript, it's teacher recommendations, because they want to identify the Jews and keep them out. Okay. Today, we have the system to identify both the Jews and the Asians to keep them out. Yes. They would even identify for your household, like they would ask for your profile. Exactly. Exactly. So all the information that they're looking at today is to identify your ethnicity. Yeah. They want to keep, they basically want to keep Asians out of Harvard. Okay. That's it. It's that simple. All right. But I'll explain more as we go along. Okay. All right.
So, the purpose of all these changes is to ensure that Harvard remains the institution of power in America. That doesn't make sense. Harvard is not interested in academics. It's interested in power. Therefore, it must ensure that the people who come to Harvard are the ones who are most likely to succeed. And that's why it doesn't want all Asians. It wants a mix of students. Okay. But I'll explain this later on. Okay.
Now, in this new system, there are two key concepts. The first key concept is the idea of secrecy. Okay. Secrecy. Secrecy just means like, I'll never tell you why I let you in or why I didn't let you in. I don't have to. Okay. The other is the idea of discretion. Discretion means that I can choose to let in for no reason. Okay. So, in China, if you get a really high score on the GACA, Beijing or Tsinghua has to let you in. Not in America. You could be the best student in the world. They don't care if they don't like you. They'll just say, "We don't want you." Okay? They have their own institutional reasons to let you in, and they'll never tell you. All right? And the system was created to ensure that Harvard is able to recruit the best students in the world. But what's important for us to remember is from Harvard's perspective, "best" just means the most likely to succeed, not necessarily the best academically oriented student, not the smartest student. Okay.
So, let's run a thought experiment. Okay, let's just say that you are a Harvard admissions officer, and you're presented with four students. Okay, you're Harvard, the best university in the world, and you can only let in one student. Okay, you tell me who you let in, and I'll tell you if you're a good admissions officer or not. Okay. Okay. The first is the best math genius from China. Okay. [laughter] Everyone's like, "No." All right. Second is the best basketball player in the world. Okay. Basketball player in America. Okay. The third is the best student in the world. And the fourth is three generations of Harvard. Okay. So, your father, your grandfather, your great-grandfather went to Harvard. Who do you let in? You guys know the system exactly. Okay. You don't even think about it. Like, I let in number four. Okay. Because you know that in the world, he is the most likely to succeed. You're not interested in educating smart people. All you want to do is graduate rich people. Okay.
So, let's just say this guy doesn't exist. Then who do you let in? Exactly. Yep. This guy. Okay. Definitely not this guy. Okay. Definitely not math teachers from China because you know that he's probably just a math teacher, right? Math professor. Who? We don't want that. Okay. We don't want professors. We don't want lawyers. We don't want doctors. We want people who will be head of a company. We want people who will become a famous rock star. We want people who become president of the United States. That's what we want. Okay. And, um, yeah. So, either one of these two is fine. No. No. Okay. But we want these guys to apply because that helps us look better, right? We want people to apply so we can reject them so that our metrics look better. Okay. Okay. Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay. That's how the system works.
All right. So, let me explain why they do this. Okay. Why is the system set like this? The best analogy for Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Sorry. Go ahead. Like, does all the admission officers in America college doing this intentionally? Okay, that's a really good question. Okay. So, um, if you're the Ivy League, you do this because everyone wants to go to the Ivy League. But if you're an average school, you're actually just trying to recruit students. Okay. So, this is like the school, this is the mentality of admissions officers for elite schools, but most schools are just like, they want you to come in and pay the tuition. Okay. So, why did Yale pick you? Yeah, I'll explain later on. Okay. Okay. All right.
So, so Harvard is first and foremost a venture capital firm. Okay. Okay. You're an investment firm. So, let's pretend you're a venture capitalist, and I give you two options. Okay. And you tell me which option you pick. Option one is, I want to open a restaurant, and I need a million dollars from you. Okay. But guess what, guys? My uncle works for the government, so I can guarantee that he and his friends will come to my restaurant every single day. And so, there's no risk. There's absolutely no risk involved. I guarantee we'll make at least $500,000 a year. No risk. Easy money. Okay. Number two is, I want to start a website that's AI and Bitcoin or and, um, all this. Okay. Problem is, I don't even know how to write code. I have no experience writing, doing a website, and my idea isn't really fleshed out. But if it works, we can make $1 billion, guys. Okay. So, option one is low risk, really good plan, solid returns, $500,000 a year. Okay. Option two is concept, vague idea. I have absolutely no experience doing any of this, but we could possibly make a billion dollars. Okay. Which option do you take? Okay. You always take this, guys. Okay? Right? Because you don't need $500,000. That's boring. You want a billion dollars. And that's the mentality of Harvard. You understand? They want to take a risk on you. They don't want students who are solid and who become a professor. That's boring. Okay? They want crazy people who will change the world because that makes Harvard look good. Okay? Okay, I know we're saying this is they rather, so they rather a class where 10 people succeed and 999 fail rather than a thousand people succeed slightly. Does that make sense? Okay. Why? Because we only remember the 10 people who succeed. We forget everyone else. Okay. That's the Harvard mentality. And that's why they're the most famous university in the world because they're looking to create as much brand name recognition for themselves as possible. Okay? Right? Does that make sense? All right.
Now, how do we know if they succeed or not if you're Harvard? Well, remember the class that we learned last class, which is dissociative personality disorder. And what we discussed last class is in a game, people who are most likely to succeed have this characteristic. Okay? And so I'll explain why using myself as an example because I got into Yale. Okay? So, what we're going to do is this. We're going to examine my application to Yale, and then we're going to look at how the admissions officers would perceive my application and how they would judge my potential. Okay. So, three things. The first is what my application actually says. Second is they will examine my background. And the third is they will then judge my potential. Okay. All right.
So, my application. All right. So, I went to a public high school. It was good, but it's not a private high school. You get a better education in a private high school. Plus, it's in Canada, okay, which is like everyone's kind of stupid in Canada, okay? So, and I was like, top 10 of 200 kids. So, it's good, but it's not number one. It's not number two. It's just top 10. Okay. I was number 10. My SAT was 1400 out of 1600. And it's like decent, but you know, people in China get 1550, 1500 easily. Okay. So, um, not that great. I was on the soccer team. I was not athletic. The soccer team just needed players. So, I signed up. Okay. Um, I was also editor of the school newspaper. Okay. And I was captain of a quiz team. Quiz team called Reach for the Top. So, that's a Canadian thing, but I was captain of it. I organized it. Okay. So, these three activities, they're fine, but it doesn't really demonstrate leadership potential, right? You're not like head of student government, or you're not head of Model United Nations. All right. Um, on my essay, I wrote about Richard Feynman, who is a physicist. It was a really boring essay. It was, I mean, like anyone could have written it. I mean, like Chacha could have written it. Okay. It was just a bad essay. My teachers, I mean, they liked me, but they really didn't like me because I seemed aggressive to them. You know, I wanted grades too much. So, the word they use is ambitious. They thought I was ambitious. Ambitious is a dirty word in Canada. It means you don't play by the rules. It means you're too aggressive. It means you're too pushy. Okay. All right.
So, this is my application to Yale. As you can see, it is a decent but not a stellar application. So, how did I get in? Well, because there was some information that they could also derive from my application that made them interested in me. Okay. The first is that I was poor. So, I couldn't afford the application fee. I had to apply for a waiver for my application. Sorry, for my application. Okay. So, I was poor because I was an immigrant. So, I was born in China in 1976, and my family went over in 1980, in 1983 when I was like six. Okay. So, I was a poor immigrant in Canada. I transferred high school. So, I was in a poor high school, then I went to a rich high school. Okay. So, basically, I switched neighborhoods. My family lived in a poor neighborhood, and then I applied to go to a rich high school in a different neighborhood. So, I had to take the subway there every day, and I spent like half an hour on the subway. And guess what, guys? Canadians don't like that. Okay? Canadians want you to stay where you are, and that's it. So, when I told my high school principal that I was going to transfer high school, he got very upset, and he said that I'm going to write a discipline letter, okay? A discipline letter, and it's a very serious thing, and I'm going to put it in your folder so that when you apply to university, they will know that you were suspended from the school, and that's basically like a really bad thing. Okay. Um, I got this discipline letter, and when I went to the rich high school, I had no friends. Why? Because they didn't like me. Because they don't like it when someone new comes in. Okay. I didn't know their culture. I was sort of like ambitious and I was grade grubbing, but the thing is, I was desperate because my family was very poor, and I wanted a better life. Okay. Again, they know all this. Okay. They know I'm an average student, and they know that I'm pushy and ambitious, and that's why Yale let me in because it's clear from this information that I had dissociative personality disorder. Okay. What does that mean? It means first of all, I'm desperate. Okay. Desperate means like, if I don't get into Yale, I'll probably kill myself. I mean, if I didn't get into Yale, I would drown. I couldn't breathe. It was a life or death issue for me. They can see the desperation. They want that. Okay. Second, [snorts] thing is I was insecure. Okay. If you're an insecure person, it means you're not happy with who you are. It means there's a void in your heart. And therefore, the way to fill the insecurity is through achievement. Okay. So, if I made a million dollars, I wouldn't be happy. I would need to go make $2 million. If I made $10 million, I would see people around me who had $100 million, and I would be like, I need to go make a billion dollars. Okay? So, an insecure person sees the world as a competition. You're always achieving, achieving. Okay? And that's how you succeed. Okay? And the third thing is I was not a moral person. Okay? I was ready to break the rules in order to succeed. Transgressive. Okay? So, I was not supposed to leave my poor high school and go to the rich high school. That's breaking the rules in Canada. It's not illegal, but you're not supposed to do that. And I didn't care. The principal said I couldn't do that. I said to him, "Screw off. I'm still going to do it." I went to the rich high school. Everyone said to me, "You're not welcome." I said, "I don't care. I'm going to get my good grades, and I'm going to get into the Ivy League. I don't need you guys." Okay. So, they saw the desperation. They saw the insecurity. They saw the hunger and the immorality. And this is all part of dissociative personality disorder. And that's why they let me in because it's possible I go crazy. Okay? It's possible I become depressed, but it's also possible I change the world. Okay? Does that make sense? That's how they think because they're a venture capital firm. They're looking for the riskiest investment with the best possible return. They're looking for people who can become president of the United States, who can change the world, who can make a name for themselves, because if they do that, that makes Yale look good. So, you remember the name. Okay? It's all about brand name recognition. Okay? Does that make sense? All right.
Okay. So, you're like, "Okay, well, this is fine, but what's wrong with the system?" Okay. Why would this be a bad thing? It works. Why would this be a bad thing? Well, the problem with this is because Yale, Harvard, and Princeton are so powerful. Not only are they looking for people with trauma, okay, I was traumatized as a child, but they're also traumatizing the world. Okay, if that makes sense. All right. So, the meritocracy exists to find people with trauma, and because it exists, it's traumatizing the world. Okay, so let me explain how and why. Any questions so far? Is this all clear? Yeah. Um, so let's say if, like, Harvard and Princeton, why then why are they still so famous? Because the system is unreasonable and unequal for the students who have great, who have good grades. Okay. All right. That's a really good question. Okay. So, why are Harvard students, Yale students, Princeton students so famous? Okay. The reason why is when you do investment, you don't take, you don't do all risky investments. Okay. You always have diversity in your portfolio. So, the majority of students are still students who will be successful no matter what. Why? Because their families are rich. Okay? So, if you're, so we go back to the example, those four, you let in the child who had, who comes from three generations of Harvard graduates. Okay? And that's the majority of people who get into Harvard. And then you let in the athlete. Okay? So, the athlete, the legacy, these are the people who are the majority. Those are the safe investments. And then you have like 1% of positions for people like me who, you don't really know, but there's potential there. So, let's take a risk. Okay? And quite honestly, it's a crapshoot because it's all very discretionary. So, they're basically, it's all intuition. Okay? They don't have a formula for this. They think this guy is interesting. Let's just let him in. Okay. And it's possible you on an essay, you just wrote something really interesting, and they laughed, and it's like, okay, let's take a chance on this guy. They have that 1% of positions available for risk. Okay. Does that make sense? Okay. So, I'm not the average Yale student. I'm a marginalized Yale student. Okay.
So, this system, the meritocracy, the way it's set up, it creates trauma. Okay. So, let me explain why. So, let's look at university, Yale. Then we'll look at high school. [snorts] Okay? Then we'll look at parenting. You think, oh, you get into Yale, you can just relax, you're happy. Life is simple. Okay. The fact of the matter is that when you get into Yale, Yale is actually The Hunger Games. Have you read the book, The Hunger Games? It is a relentless competition because once you're in Yale, you're still competing, but now you're competing against the most competitive people in the world. Okay? So, maybe at your school, you can be the best student. Your parents love you. You have lots of good friends. You had student government. You feel really good about yourself. You go to Yale and you recognize that you're a nobody. Your parents are far away, and you're now in competition with the best students from all around the world who all want to kill you because it's a zero-sum game. Okay, only the strong survive. And so, everywhere you go, it's a competition. In the classroom, it's a seminar style. So, you're with 20 other students, and the professor is asking you questions, and you're all competing to impress a professor. Okay. Outside the classroom, you're competing to get into clubs and something called secret societies. Okay? But you're also competing for graduate school, for law school, for medical school, for scholarships like the Rhodes Scholarship. Okay? So, Yale, it sounds nice. Once you get in there, from the first day, it's an endless pursuit of achievement. It's just competition after competition after competition. Wherever you go, you're being judged by someone. Okay? You're being judged by the professor or your classmates, and everyone's looking to basically kill each other because it's a winner-take-all system. Okay. So, this is very traumatic, and it makes you so insecure that you go through life thinking that life is just like that, everyone's an enemy. I have to achieve and achieve in order to feel good about myself. I cannot stop working hard, otherwise I will be killed by other people. Okay. So, people graduate from Yale with a deep sense of insecurity, even those who come from the wealthiest families. Okay. They're always looking to achieve, and that's what Yale wants. That's what Harvard wants because these are the people who will be most successful in life. Okay. They're not happy with $1 million. They want a billion dollars. Once they have the billion dollars, they want $10 billion. Okay. It never stops. Okay.
So, to get into Yale, you have to go through high school. And high school has to train you for Yale. So, it's also a competition, also a Hunger Games. To train you for high school, your parents have to have a different parenting system. Okay? So, I'll give you two examples of parenting. Okay? The first system, which is a healthy system, you say to your child, "I love you unconditionally. No matter what you do, I will support you. I will always be here for you." And if you say that to your child every day, your child will be happy, fulfilled, and will probably end up as a teacher. Okay? Now, you can also say to your child, "I don't have time for you, but if you win the swimming competition, or you place first on your math test, or if the teacher says nice things about you, they'll take you for ice cream." And so, it's a system that neglects the child while at the same time demands the child. Okay? And this is trauma. And again, most kids will be traumatized by the system. But there are some kids who will thrive in the system, and the trauma will encourage them or drive them to achieve and achieve and achieve so that they get into Yale, so they can compete in the Hunger Games, so they can go on in life and compete some more. Okay? And that's how the system is set up. And this is what we call the meritocracy. And as I'll explain to you later on, it is destroying America and the world. All right. So, that's how the system is set up. And guess what, guys? Is it different in China? Not really. Okay. All right. So, the concept of meritocracy has conquered the world. It started in America. It actually started at Harvard, but now it's conquered the entire world. And that's why the world is so messed up.