Meritocracy Disguised as Equity: The Relationship between Teacher Professional Organizations and Teacher Ideology

Abstract

The institution of public schooling in the United States exists in the popular imagination as a primary means of achieving social mobility. It is believed that schools provide students with unbiased opportunities to earn credentials that translate into real, economic benefits. This myth of equality of opportunity in the contexts of schooling, while idyllic, does more harm than good when it comes to addressing historical inequities and serving as a means for the realization of social justice. Through a window into a larger qualitative study with practicing secondary school teachers at a large, district high school in the southwest United States, I show how discourses of meritocracy at a micro level are reflected in the language of influential teacher professional organizations. I call on these organizations to examine how their use of language promotes meritocratic myths that homogenize diverse student populations and eclipse historical, Generational inequities that persist to this day.