Askwith Education Forum Explores ‘The Tyranny of Merit’ In Education

The first Askwith Education Forum of 2026 urged attendees to consider “the tyranny of merit” on higher education and American society as a whole.

Harvard Professor Michael Sandel took the Askwith Hall stage in front of an overflow crowd, delivering a lecture on merit and justice in education and issuing a call to reevaluate how we judge success and achievement in society, including how colleges enroll students.

“Our conversation comes at a time when our civic life isn’t going very well,” said Sandel. “And my suggestion tonight is that polarization has something to do with what seems an attractive ideal, the principle of meritocracy”

“An Evening With Michael Sandel” featured a lecture from the political philosopher, whose signature class at Harvard, Justice, has been made a free resource millions of people have studied around the world. Sandel’s lecture also featured a number of moments of audience participation, as he asked those in Askwith Hall to consider what a “perfect” meritocracy would look like and its potential flaws.

Dean Nonie Lesaux, who introduced the event and moderated a question and answer portion at the evening’s close, noted that Sandel has both critics and fans across the wide political spectrum. She stressed that Wednesday’s event was an opportunity for conversation, reflection, and a chance to further build Dialogue Across Differences in the Ed School community.

“Michael is a political philosopher who isn’t afraid to ask hard questions about anything, our education system included. Which makes him a perfect speaker for the Askwith Education Forum,” said HGSE Dean Nonie Lesaux during an introduction. “We can all do a better job of listening generously to one another such that we can get to a place where differences are a source of growth and progress, not division and stalemate.”

Sandel presented bold ideas in his talk, including that elite higher education institutions should instate a lottery system for qualified applicants. As he explained, focusing on meritocracy, a system where the most qualified or able find success, actually creates an oppressive landscape where students are put under extreme pressures to strive for success and achievement through exclusivity and exclusion.

“We need to rethink the role of higher education in allocating opportunity and also social recognition and esteem,” said Sandel. “We need to focus less on priming people for meritocratic competition and focus more on the dignity of work, of asking how to make life better and more secure for everyone who contributes to the economy and economic god, whether or not they have a university degree.”

Sandel covered a number of topics in his lecture and the question-and-answer period that followed, including a connection between the current political divide and erosion of civic life in modern America. Advocating for more public meeting spaces where people from different means and backgrounds coexist, Sandel advocated for an education system that prioritizes the common good over exclusivity and competition.

“Democracy does not require perfect equality, but what it does require is that people from different walks of life and different social backgrounds encounter one another. Bump up against one another in the course of their everyday lives,” said Sandel. “Because this is how we learn to negotiate and to abide our differences. And this is how we come to care for the common good.”

Sandel also discussed a self-guided Harvard Online course he created about Tech Ethics, featuring actor Michael B. Jordan and others discussing artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on the world as it evolves.