Meritocracia

"Any system that holds the downtrodden wholly responsible for their sorrowful fate is plainly defective. So, equally, is any system that does not demand of people that they make the most they can of their circumstances. In the delicate calibration of elitist toughness and egalitarian compassion, however, elitism ought to win out for two reasons. It directs society´s resources where they have the most chance of stimulating growth and change and making a better life for everyone. And it keeps the preassure on every individual capable of self-improvement to be better than he used to be and to think more about that than about how someone else is always and unjustly going to be better still."

In Defense Of Elitism, William A. Henry III