Discrimination of excellence[1] is the violation of formal equality of opportunity[2] and meritocracy,[3] which reward merits of individuals and overachievement.
[1] Discrimination of excellence can be caused by different reasons, including legacy preferences,[4] nepotism, substantive equality,[2] affirmative action[5] or random luck.
The United States Department of Justice scrutinized higher education over potential systemic biases in college admission standards that would underweight transparent standardized testing criteria due to affirmative action.
Non-merit-based admissions practices, degree conferral or promotion standards have been criticized.
[5] Khmer Rouge chose new teachers by ideology, affirmative action, and not by teaching excellence, which resulted in high illiteracy.