Study Hard, Get a Career and Get Ahead? It’s Not What It Used to Be.

From India to France, the implicit meritocratic bargain that underwrote stable societies by providing advancement to new generations is breaking down. Protest movements have long relied on students as some of the most ardent foot soldiers. Young people have been on the front lines of protests against war, climate change and racial inequality.

But in huge protests that have shaken India and France this fall, students have revolted against the failed promises of education itself. In India, students took to the streets after the government abruptly canceled the results of a medical-school admissions exam because test questions had been leaked online. Aspiring doctors had to take the test again, after many spent years studying for up to 12 hours a day in hopes of winning one of the coveted spots — and the chance of upward mobility.

Young people across the country saw the scandal as emblematic of a broken education system and were furious.