Meritocracy's undemocratic face.

We live in a time when education and the right work experience are decisive for political participation and decision-making, and certainly for getting top jobs. I am not only thinking about MNAs in Pakistan who must have at least a bachelor's degree to be legally electable to parliament. I am thinking more of the democracies in the West, especially in Europe, where it is not written in law that formal qualifications are needed, but still it is where meritocracy thrives best.

It is a fact that hardly anyone without a university degree, preferably from a top university, is likely to become a lawmaker, government minister, or get into another powerful post. But it is also true that not all politicians have completed their degrees, often having become active in politics early in the youth wings of political parties, letting political work overshadow their academic studies. However, having rubbed shoulders with university teachers and fellow students can be as important as the actual degree, being important for politicians and also for media people.

A generation or two ago, one could reach the top of politics without much formal education, except for having been a good student at compulsory primary school. Norway's legendary PM for two decades after WWII, Einar Gerhardsen (1897-1987) had only seven years of schooling and had worked in street maintenance in the Oslo City Council before entering politics.

It should be added that the political parties, especially parties on the left, trained their junior politicians through courses and 'political apprenticeship' since many of them would come from the working class with limited formal education. It was seen as important that politicians had ordinary work experience. Some would also have been journalists in their younger years, or assistants to older politicians. There were few women in politics at that time, and they would usually have to have better formal education than men to succeed. Another top Norwegian politician in my time, Bjartmar Gjerde (1931-2009), shouldered several ministerial posts, including that of minister of education, research, culture, and church, yes, all of that in one ministry. When I in 1971 began my higher education at Lillehammer University College, Gjerde came to undertake the official opening of the new institution, modelled on American colleges. As young students we joked about Gjerde's lack of formal education, knowing that we had more of it than the whole minister. We...