Idealism, when practiced by zealots, often leads to disaster. Affirmative action is an examplle. It is based on the idea that blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, and other minorities don’t do well because of slavery and discrimination; if they had had the same environment, they would be on par with whites and Asians. Although genes and environment each account for roughly half of personality and mental traits, egalitarianists tend to ignore genes.

Egalitarianism also found advocates in China during the Cultural Revolution. Chairman Mao ordered institutions of higher learning to enroll students according to a “recommendation system.” Potential students were selected only from workers, peasants, and soldiers (WPS).

Entrance examinations were abolished, and some of the students were illiterate or semi-illiterate. My mother taught gynecology to WPS medical students. One student was confused once when my mother said something like, “After the patient remains unconscious for 48 hours, we should . . . .” No matter how my mother explained this, the student couldn’t figure out how many days and nights there are in 48 hours.

Affirmative action is practiced on a smaller scale, so its harm is hard to quantify. On the other hand, most of the 940,000 WPS graduates from these years proved to be useless.

China actually does have a form of affirmative action. However, local governments are now eliminating these preferences. Guizhou provincial government announced it would gradually stop giving extra points to ethnic minorities. Others, such as Liaoning and Fujian provinces, also announced late last year that they would drop the preferences by 2026.

As we pile egalitarian folly upon egalitarian folly, China still has a few obstacles to overcome to achieve meritocracy.