This is part two of four in my Educational Reform Series. Part One is here. Each post will highlight a (non-exhaustive) set of potential reforms, with a brief description of each suggested change.
This post deals with the elite college admissions process.
Reduce subjectivity: I previously discussed the issue of subjectivity here. Elite colleges increasingly diminish the importance of standardized scores and objective accomplishments like AMC math. Wake Forest, one of the South's best schools, is probably the most prominent school to become test-optional, following a slew of SWPL liberal arts colleges. Take a guess as to their reasoning:
By making the SAT and ACT optional, we hope to broaden the applicant pool and increase access at Wake Forest for groups of students who are currently underrepresented at selective universities.Elite schools have replaced accurate measures of ability with easily manipulated and highly subjective measures like character, talent, personality, and leadership. Classroom performance and grades, mostly a reflection of diligence and ingratiating oneself to teachers, are emphasized. It's reasonable that elite colleges aren't entirely comprised of nerds who can't affect change because they lack the social tools. But, the current admissions process too often overlooks high scholastic achievement for absurd indicators of "personal vibrancy". Please explain to me how not participating in the Key Club or not volunteering as a math tutor prohibits one from having a congenial demeanor.
I'm not advocating we adopt a Chinese-style, one test and you're in process. But surely, we need to reform this black-box process.
Eliminate social engineering objectives and affirmative action: It's not a surprise why elite colleges have implemented these subjective measures. Elite colleges believe they can engender widescale reform simply by admitting the "underrepresented" and "underpriveleged". Such a process is based on the quixotic concept of intellectual egalitarianism. Two years ago, the New York Times published this article on a recent Amherst College Graduate. Elite college administrators play the status game, thinking they're such wonderful men for using nice, hard-working people like Anthony Jack as pawns.
Tony Jack with his pure intelligence — had he been raised in Greenwich, he would have been a 1500 [he got a 1200 and a full ride to U of Florida!] kid,” said Tom Parker, the dean of admission. “He would have been tutored by Kaplan or Princeton Review. He would have had The New Yorker magazine on the coffee table.”“Tony Jack is not an anomaly,” he added.Since the subject of affirmative action has been so overdone, I'll refrain from focusing on it. The common view of affirmative action is that it's merely a tiebreaker between equally accomplished students. Rather, the racial gap at elite universities is generally around 170 SAT points (on old 1600 scale). Anecdotally, Mr. Jack was awarded a full scholarship to the University of Florida, while my friend, who had almost a perfect score on the SAT, was awarded 3,000 dollars to a similarly selective public university.
Myth of College Counseling and SAT Tutoring: This will be quick. College counselors trick wealthy helicopter parents. There exists an inordinate amount of college admissions information online, especially at College Confidential. SAT Tutoring is a similar ruse. Private tutors charge thousands of dollars for a product that can be obtained for 20 bucks and a little self-motivation.
Who gets in?: In this arbitrary admissions game, who actually gets admitted? I've categorized the accepted applicant pool into five types:
- NAMs or females applying in engineering/science
- "Leader of the world" types, even better if you come from a rich family. "Leaders of the world" were president of student government, wrote articles in their local paper, went to Model UN and Boys State, etc. John Roberts epitomized this type.
- Be a huge nerd with perfect scores and perfect grades. Be in every single science/math club, but you must have some national or state level recognition, like really high place in Math League or participating in Intel Science Competition. The key to this is NATIONAL or state level achievement. Since the quota for smart kids is depressed through affirmative action and subjectivity, these kids must set themselves apart somehow.
- Athletes: Elite colleges will significantly lower their standards for athletes, especially in the money sports of basketball and football (and lacrosse for the Ivy League).
- Miscellaneous: There are very few of these. This person probably was accepted for a fantastic essay, lots of volunteering, joining every club imaginable, and high scores. Recommendations probably helped, most likely portraying the person as a kind hearted individual.
Part Three: The problems of higher education
21 comments:
"Elite schools have replaced accurate measures of ability with easily manipulated and highly subjective measures like character, talent, personality, and leadership. Classroom performance and grades, mostly a reflection of diligence and ingratiating oneself to teachers, are emphasized. It's reasonable that elite colleges aren't entirely comprised of nerds who can't affect change because they lack the social tools."
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I remember a class in which we were supposed to learn about group process.
It was one of those team building exercise things where you are supposed to figure out how to survive after a shipwreck in the middle of the ocean. We all had to prioritize items and suggest a plan to survive and get rescued. My own personal score was the highest in the class. My group's score was the next to lowest. I couldn't manage to talk sense into those "vibrant" team members with natural "leadership" abilities.
Natural leaders that lack sense can get you killed.
I am sure that the Apollo 13 astronauts are grateful that their counterparts on the ground were actually qualified for their positions rather than just "vibrant" people with natural "leadership" talent.
Personally I trust what I can verify. Hiring one of these ACT/SAT optional graduates conforms to the Greater Fool type of thinking that Razib discussed in a post last week.
Speaking of meritless hiring practices, any thoughts on the Union guy who was appointed to head the New York Federal Reserve bank?
It's become crazy. There's also the "overkill" aspect to the focused, relevant extracurricular activities (the need to be the apostle Paul with three biotech patents). That's an exaggeration, but there seems to be that aspect.
@ Larry:
I should have included that. But yes, it's complete overkill. They expect kids to have all this research experience and make some great discovery. Not only is it absurd, but it's unfair to kids without those connections or resources.
Why should 15 year-old kids be conducting boring experiments rather than, I don't know, experiencing their childhood?
why did you have to say "(yes, Duke)"?
It also helps if your parents are alums and have given lots of money. This helps even if you are applying to a different school from the one your folks attended. Just mention "endowed chair" several times in your application.
How about letting the market decide? It was one thing when you were discussing the public school system. But this is Harvard and private LACs you're talking about. State universities are quasipublic entities at best.
You seem to think that you know better than these *private institutions* how best to run their business on some grounds of merit or efficiency or god forbid, 'justice'. Universities are businesses and they act to maximize their profits. Does that not explain some of their practices that might select the best future donors? Maybe you're unconvinced, you think what they're doing is stupid etc... won't they fall behind in the long run?
Won't undervalued candidates succeed in life anyway? I'm not shedding any tears for that kid. going to charlottesville won't screw up his whole future irrevocably. And you can bet he'll take his revenge in his own way.
Look at what happened at Lehman Brothers. Highly trained analysts provided the execs all the info they needed to make good decisions. However the execs ignored it and ruined the company. Choosing employees, even execs because they are friends, or interesting or can do you favors or have a persuasive personality, is dangerous to the company and its success.
Enterprises such as businesses and colleges have to produce results to get market share and a reputation for quality. However, once they have market share and a strong reputation they can start to lead a different life that can breed a different result. How many times have we seen this played out?
Dear OneSTDV !
I like your site; your posts, including this one, are thoughtful.
But why in the world do you ignore the brilliant recent book "Real Education" by brilliant author Charles Murray ?
Murray has discussed almost all these topics and expressed almost exactly these opinions, in the book that was published about one (1) year earlier than your post.
Only being of high esteem of your work, dear OneSTDV, stops me from accusing you of plagiarism.
Your avid reader, Florida resident.
Re: College Admissions
Yes, PC has upended merit. My nephew is in his last year at Colgate University. He was wait listed at Harvard while having PERFECT SATs ( 800s ). He has been followed since he was in 7th grade by the Johns Hopkins University High IQ longitudinal survey. I am aware of similar stories.
My note today applies to the current reality in the post college schooling here in the USA. My own son just received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering this June. He obtained his Doctorate from a University ranked (by a Chinese University study) in the to 20 Universities for Science and Engineering in the world.
At the Departmental Graduation Ceremony a small booklet was given out to attendees. In it a list was shown of the 17 Ph.D. candidates currently in the department. My son was listed and 16 others.
A student once in the Ph.D. program at my son's Mechanical Engineering Department has to do a schedule of courses and find a research project. Also, to be an actual Ph.D. candidate a student has to pass the yearly given Comprehensive Exam in Mechanical Engineering, a three day test. Day one is a morning and an afternoon test of two fields in Mechanical Engineering with the student choosing from the subjects Thermodynamics, Design, Mechanics of Materials, or Controls/Vibrations. The tests are written and three hours are alloted per test. The second day tests are on Math. Two three hour tests are given. The third test day is given the following week after the first two day's exams have been graded. That third day is an oral exam that may last three or more hours and is only given to those who pass both of the two previous day's tests. Less than a third of the students pass the first two day's tests the first time. Rarely does a student pass the oral without a restriction. One can have a pass with as many a three restrictions. Each restriction represents a course that the student must take. Only a rare student gets through the comprehensive examination the first time as most end up taking the exam twice and also find that they have to erase a number of restrictions before reaching the level of Ph.D. candidate. Once a Ph.D. candidate the student has to pass a General Exam on the student's research project and then pass the Dissertation exam before the Ph.D. is rewarded. One has a time limit of 5 years after the Comprehensive exam ( with few exceptions ) to complete the Ph.D. At my son's University the Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. students are there at least 5 to 7 years getting the degree.
Now back to the graduation booklet. There were 17 Ph.D. candidates listed. Four individuals are admitted each year to the program. If on average it takes 6 years to pass through the program there are about 24 students in the pipeline. Given some are failed out the number of 17 Ph.D. candidates is a reasonable number for those who have passed the comprehensive exam.
Now the kicker. Only three of the 17 were WHITES. My son and another student were American whites and the third was a Hungarian aged 37. There were only two Americans out if the 17! The 14 other students were NORTH ASIANS mainly from Red China. There was one from Taiwan and one Korean.
I asked a question at the reception after the Departmental Graduation Ceremonies. A Professor introduced himself to me after he had seen me with my son to congratulate me for having the honor of my son's success. I asked the professor why were most of students in the Ph.D. program Asians from Asia. He said that with few exceptions that the American students just can't compete with the Asians. The Americans come to college deficient in skills, especially Math Skills, and never really catch up to the Asians.
Forget about College admissions. Reform the 12 years of wasted schooling before college. Our 116 and higher IQ STUDENTS are not given a chance for success in science and engineering with the state of primary and secondary schooling now existing in the USA.
Dan Kurt
"Leader of the world" types, even better if you come from a rich family. "Leaders of the world" were president of student government, wrote articles in their local paper, went to Model UN and Boys State, etc. John Roberts epitomized this type.
Roberts came from a working class family in Indiana. He was not rich.
The Chief Justice got to where he is by pure academic brilliance and charisma - no connections.
When Bush announced him as his choice to replace Sandra Day OConnor I actually thought Roberts was so impressive that Roberts should be POTUS, not Chief Justice.
Shocking SAT results!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125121641858657345.html
He said that with few exceptions that the American students just can't compete with the Asians.
Actually I think much of our best talent simply isn't going into engineering because other fields are either better paying (Hedge Funds/Wall Street/Venture Capital) or more prestigious (CEO/CFO/BIGLAW, etc).
Even many young Jews I know whose parents are involved in the hard sciences are going into business or some liberal arts program rather than the hard research sciences, and Ashkenazim have proven to be far and away intellectually superior to NEAsians (27% of all Nobels in the hard sciences going to Jews or half Jews and only 13 Nobels total in the hard sciences to Japan since the end of WWII).
And really, engineering and the hard sciences just don't pay that well compared to business/BIGLAW.
Why should whites and Jews with IQs over 140 go into engineering and learn diehard math to earn $60-100k when you could join BIGLAW and earn much more than that?
re: " The Undiscovered Jew said...
And really, engineering and the hard sciences just don't pay that well compared to business/BIGLAW.
Why should whites and Jews with IQs over 140 go into engineering and learn diehard math to earn $60-100k when you could join BIGLAW and earn much more than that?"
Ask half sigma that? He seems to be a Jew and smart and a lawyer and not in big law or big business. Perhaps being smart, a Jew, and a lawyer is not nearly a sure ticket to big bucks or happiness.
My nephew who is at Colgate now is thinking about medical school just as the country is about to go into socialized medicine. That boy is smart with multiple IQ scores over 160. I have been unable to talk him into taking the LSATs. He told me that he has no interest in becoming a lawyer or a business man. (His father is an administrator of a 30+ million/year research project.) His mother, my sister, was an associate professor of medicine and now is an executive in a mammoth medical insurance company. He wants to make a difference by becoming a practicing physician.
My own son had stellar SATS and got into a quite competitive University as an out of state student. I know as I paid the tuition. He could have picked any field he wanted. He tested out of Freshman English Composition and standard calculus. He took all of his English requirements in the level 200 and 300 level and took his calculus with the math majors. Engineering was his choice since he was under ten years old. As many in our family were engineers, including my father, he knew what an engineering career was like and wanted that type of career. He still is happy with his choice but time will tell if he is happy with the pay.
Dan Kurt
"But why in the world do you ignore the brilliant recent book "Real Education" by brilliant author Charles Murray ?"
Of course I have read that wonderful book. Do we share some of the same ideas? Yes, but so does Steve Sailer, HalfSigma, etc. There's bound to be overlap. Murray brought up subjectivity and encouraged more use of standardized testing. If I put forth the same suggestion, am I plagiarizing?
In writing this series, I was afraid of parroting Murray too much. If you tihnk it's approrpriate, I can put a note saying these posts were inspired by Murray's book?
"Roberts came from a working class family in Indiana. He was not rich."
To be a leader of the world type, you don't have to be from a rich family. Leader of the world types are really smart, but maybe they don't have 1590 SATs and won the state math league. They have 1500 SATs, but have that air of confidence that Roberts exudes and great social skills.
Maybe Roberts wasn't the best example. Got a better one?
Yes, I do think it is appropriate to make explicit reference to "Real Education".
Thank you for your work.
Good night.
Your F.r.
“Organic chemistry was the happiest time of my life,” said Mr. Jack, who tends to gush about Amherst. “Everything started clicking.”
David Hansen, who taught Organic Chemistry II, called Mr. Jack’s improvement remarkable: “He had the motivation and the desire and the discipline to take advantage of the support that was here.”
Yes, but did his test results lower the class grading curve or were his Chemistry classmates simply stoned?
It's rather humorous to watch writer Sara Rimer weave an emperors robe for Amherst's Anthony A. Jack to the boundless credulity of her readers. The anticipated question: Since Fat Tony did so well in organic chemistry will NY Times readers be told his score on the MCAT or Chemistry GRE?
Nope. Rimer replies, "squeamish about blood, Mr. Jack switched his major from pre-med to religion and gender studies." Religion and gender studies? Rats! Inquiring minds wanted to know!
And what is to become of Fat Tony once he leaves school? Will he further his education as Reverend Gender Theorist at a graduate theological union of his choice?
No, Anthony A. Jack knows a good thing when dropped in his ample lap, and will occupy an orbit of eternal grace around Amherst as an “alumni fellow".
"They have 1500 SATs, but have that air of confidence that Roberts exudes and great social skills."
That word you're searching for is "ambition".
A lot of HBD denial in the comments section here.
'SAT Scores Fall as Gap Widens; Asians Gain'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125121641858657345.html#articleTabs_comments%26articleTabs%3Darticle
"Forget about College admissions. Reform the 12 years of wasted schooling before college. Our 116 and higher IQ STUDENTS are not given a chance for success in science and engineering with the state of primary and secondary schooling now existing in the USA.
Dan Kurt"
_____________
Dan is absolutely right here.
I remember getting to college and thinking that in 12 years of school, I was only taught 4 years of math. Then in college, they expected me to learn 12 years worth in just 4 years.
My son and his two best friends are all very bright, 95%tile and above on their Stanford math tests. His two friends are both in public school, in the gifted programs. One is 7th grade, the other 8th. Both taking Algebra 1. My son is 6th grade in Algebra 2. I just gave him the Alg. 1 book in 5th grade and he taught himself about 80% of it by reading the lessons and asking us questions when he didn't understand.
I can't help but think that his two best friends could be where he is if given the opportunity. My son has ability AND the opportunity.
I think Asian nations are more willing to push their kids to work up to their ability more than we do. We enforce the unrealistic ideal of "well rounded" to the point that we don't help kids develop their strengths, rather we focus on areas where they may have somewhat less ability and try to help them improve on those. My son scores a little better than average 60%tile on Language skills. I figure that will be fine. I am not going to drive him nuts trying to turn him into a poet, because he isn't interested, lacks the aptitude, and it isn't marketable.
"Shocking SAT results!"
he, he, =)
The College Board flatly states that rising participation rates depress average scores.
Traditionally smart people take the test. The more people fancy themselves smart and then take the test, the lower the averages will go. We can thank the self esteem movement and the non-stop promotion of college for all.
From the College Board site:
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/sat/cb-seniors-2009
"If ranked, schools and states that encourage students to apply to college may be penalized because scores tend to decline with a rise in percentage of test-takers"
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