The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy

The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy by Nicholas Lemann

Two-third of this book covers the rise of the ETS and the SAT under Henry Chauncey. The final third focuses on the battle over affirmative action in California and Molly Munger. The two are somewhat tied together to show a history of meritocracy, though it was quite jumbled. In the first case, the test seemed like the ideal progressive tool that could provide opportunity for all. Rather than the "old boys network", schools would be able to admit those based on academic ability. Later, affirmative action is a tool used to ensure people that previously were left out had opportunity. Both cases fell victim to unforeseen circumstances. The tests ended up being very coachable. Instead of being a pure test of aptitude, the test was something that was heavily influenced by social class and time spent preparing. Affirmative action in college admissions came out of this. Certain minority groups were admitted with lower SAT scores. Alas, the SAT scores still did a good job of predicting success and these lower-scored admits often took longer to graduate or were more likely to drop out. Others were left out of learning and education opportunities due to affirmative action. 

Can we really have a pure meritocracy? What is the best way to offer opportunities in society? Can the playing field really be leveled in a way that improves situations for all? There are a lot of questions. This book will not answer them. It will provide plenty of insights into the politics behind the changes that have come about.

What Universities Owe Democracy

What Universities Owe Democracy by Ronald J. Daniels, Grant Shreve and Phillip Spector

The title implies a discussion about what universities will give to democracy. However, the book spends more time arguing the opposite side. The authors propose greater extension of grants and student loans to allow more people to attend college, but glosses over the cause of the increased cost. Why do universities charge so much these days? Are the football team and fancy dorms essential for the education experience? It is valuable to have an educated populace, but are universities in their current form the best way to provide that? Do we really need that education?

Reaching Out

Reaching Out (The Circuit book 3) by Francisco Jiménez

The third book in this autobiographical series covers the undergraduate experiences at Santa Clara. The whole family drove up to drop him off at school, though father was feeling reluctant. His younger brother took over his jobs to help support the family. Additional challenges happened back home that would test his resolve. Their father moved back to Mexico. He was suffering and felt bad that he could not support the family. The family house also burned down. His family did not tell him about either of these until he came home. They didn't want to negatively impact his schooling.

At school, he had a football-playing roommate from Woodland, California. They bonded with their hard-working bootstrap background, though they had differences. Francisco was not into school spirit and sports. He preferred to focus on academics. He struggled initially with English and Spanish and needed to work hard at school. He also needed to find a way to support himself and his family. He had a great deal of help from teachers and priests at school. They saw some of his struggles and helped counsel and encourage him. They also found opportunities for him to work and better support himself as well as thrive in service-minded extra-curricular activities. Toward the end of his time, they nominated him for a graduate fellowship and helped him through the process, even getting him a suit to make it through the interview. We may have lost a lot as religious schools are dropping much of their religious character and requirements. There is value in the higher purpose and service. It seems that he may have benefited significantly by ending up at a small Jesuit institution instead of a large public school.

Breaking Through (The Circuit Book 2)

Breaking Through (The Circuit Book 2) by Francisco Jiménez

The second book in Francisco Jiménez's autobiographical series focuses primarily on his high school experience. It begins with his family's deportation. His father did have a green card and his little siblings were born in the USA. However, his mother, his older brother and Francisco were all in the US illegally. Their immigration experience would advocate for a policy that differs from both the Republican and Democrat one today. When three family members were caught, the whole family decided to leave. They willingly deported themselves to Mexico. However, once in Mexico, there was a path for them to apply for legal immigration status. They were able to get it within a short time frame and return to the United States. This seems the ideal balance. Don't give extra rights to those that are here illegally as the Democrats are want to do. And don't permanently banish workers as Republicans prefer. Instead, encourage all to remain as legal contributors to society.

Once back, the family tried to hide their deportation experience. However, this  time away did cause the older brother to lose his job. (Luckily, the replacement didn't work out and he was hired back.) They did eventually recover from the time off from school.

The author had a number of friends and mentors that encouraged him through his high school career. The value of hard work instilled by his family was also important. He and his brother were working hard to support themselves while the rest of the family was away. He had friends that encouraged him to perform in a school variety show and later run for school office. He helped lead a Spanish club and led a Christmas food drive. Teachers and counselors helped him to excel in academic areas and go down a path where he could be a teacher. He also had those that helped support him to find a job. It was not all rosey. There were families that did not want him to be seen with their daughter after they learned he was Mexican. He did need a few special pushes. His loyalty to work and family led him to consider working to support them rather than going to college. School officials helped push him to apply. He missed some scholarship opportunities, but was able to get into Santa Clara and between loans and scholarships afford the initial tuition.

The appropriate support is very important for success. Some people may feel unwilling to receive handouts. Finding a way to help in that way can be beneficial. (As an example, rather than just give him a typewriter, a man charged him $5 for typewriter and ribbon.) There are many people that are hard workers that can achieve more in different fields. They just need support. 

I wonder how things are different today. There is much more of a safety net available for immigrant families. Do they take advantage of it? Or is the loyalty to family and hard work still of prominent importance? Do child labor restrictions hurt? It feels that people would be evicted from some of these habitations today. Cigarette smoking is also not as prominent. How is life different for modern immigrant farmworkers? How is it the same?

Let Colleges Fail: The Power of Creative Destruction in Higher Education

Let Colleges Fail: The Power of Creative Destruction in Higher Education by Richard K. Vedder

Colleges tend to expose liberal ideologies, but institutionally they are extremely conservative. The organizational structure and institutions are very slow to change. Huge amounts of money flow through colleges with little validation of the value returned. Perhaps the only significant crack down has been on for-profit players. These players realized there was money to be made by making some small improvements. However, there is much more that needs to be done. The government provides fast subsidies through various routes. This may be justified for educating the populace and preparing people for careers. However, much of college is an early adulthood social experience. If government subsidizes this, should it also subsidize cruises and other social experiences for different populations? For education, the government has little validation of the value of a degree. The government may spend much more subsidizing a liberal arts degree at a low-tier private college than an engineering degree at a public university, despite the engineering degree enabling much greater career prospects. Schools are incentivized to invest more in "experience" rather than job prospects. College attendance costs have increased at a rate much greater than inflation. Colleges have significant facilities, much of which are highly underutilized. A dose of the free market may be best for colleges. The smaller schools could fail. Loans and other funding can be based on value returned. Innovation can be encouraged rather than letting accreditation bodies focus on sameness. (Why do all degrees take 4 years?) Universities are essentially government entities without regular elections. There are competing goals and missions. Improvements can be made, but will require some gradual approach.

Impro

Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre by Keith Johnstone

This book is about education as much as it is improvisation. In improvising, you must be willing to think on your feet and take risks. Getting somebody in the condition to do that requires work. At times, you need to be able to "roll with it" to keep some situation going, rather then shift elsewhere. It is also valuable to "think different". You may have difficulty coming up with a situation on the fly. However, thinking of it a different way makes it easy to come up with something.

We’re Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education

We’re Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education by Richard P. Keeling and Richard H. Hersh

Colleges should focus on improving learning outcomes, rather than "all that other stuff." To do that, they need institutional change. All faculty should teach, and they should be provided appropriate training to do it well. Assessments should be valuable data that could be acted upon. A standard curriculum should encourage broad-based development of intellectual skills, rather than just be tedious "generals." Advising should be an important part of education. Students also need "immersive" education opportunities.

These plans all seem nice, but the authors seem to be too buried in academia. In numerous occasions, in this short book, they criticise the possibility of three year degrees. What benefit does four years give over three? What are students trying to learn? The plan seems to be great for those going to undergrad on the way to a doctorate. But what about others? College has become a "checkmark" item to get a good job. However, these jobs rarely use the knowledge gained in college. What are the skills and thought patterns that would be useful for future work? What type of intellectual learning would be useful? Do we spend more time teaching people how to learn rather than boring them? The authors identify an important problem, but their solution is off the mark.

Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs

Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs by Lauren A. Rivera

Elite jobs in this book are defined primarily as big law firms and top tier investment banks and consulting firms. These jobs typically pay huge amounts of money and require large amounts of weekly hours. There is a high demand for these jobs, with an acceptance rate lower than that of elite colleges. Most applicants don't even have their resumes reviewed. The firms primarily interview applicants from their preferred elite colleges and via employee referrals. It is all about relationships. They want to hire people that fit well with the current employees. They may consider a valedictorian from a lower rated local college, but in general they view attendance at an elite college as a mark of intelligence. The primary colleges considered may be based on location and connection. A graduate of a lower tier college may encourage their firm to recruit there. A firm may also skip out on an elite school located on the other side of the country.

How does the interview process work? It is surprisingly ill-defined, with little training involved. Interviewing is often seen as something that takes people away from their primary responsibility. The interviewers are looking for somebody that they can get along with and feel comfortable putting in front of a client. They want to see dedication and a desire to devote many hours to the job. They also want to see outside interests. Technical skills seem a minor concern. Recruitment events are also of questionable utility.

The book paints a picture of life in these high paying firms and what it takes to get a job there. There is little mention of what they actually do. It seems the main goal of getting one of these jobs is to get paid a lot and have elite status. Classwork at school is less important. The admission to the elite school is most important. Spending time in Greek organizations or sports teams is more important than actual coursework. These firms are looking for people with the desired social skills and strength to succeed.

What about others? Understanding the process of getting these jobs can help. Being able to share an interesting life story in a captivating way is important. It is also important to find a way to relate to the interviewer. However, to even get to the interview state, you need to have the relationships. If you know somebody at the firm, you have a chance. If not, you probably don't.

In the end, one question not answered is "why should we care?" Elites have a scheme to propagate elite wealth through generations. While it is primarily an elite-only system, others do have the chance to join the elite group. Is this good enough? If we do crack down on elite propagation, will they just use more hidden means to pass down wealth and influence?

Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China

Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China by William C. Kirby

This book explores Universities around the world and how they have adapted and changed. While universities have been around for hundreds of years, ones we would recognize as "modern" are only a fairly recent occurrence. Germany had started schools that resembled the modern research universities. The United States adopted some of the principles. Some of the existing universities tacked on research focus to their liberal education. Some new schools (like Johns Hopkins) started with research first. There was a big boom in land grant schools that adopted the twin missions.

The World Wars significantly curtailed the influence of Germany. The iron curtain further divided the schools in the country. The German schools were almost entirely dependent on state support which differed from state to state. In the USA, the GI bill and the end of World War II led to a huge uptick in universities and attendance. Schools were nearly free for attendees. However, the good times did not last. Government cutbacks and tuition increases greatly increased costs. Schools turned more towards private fundraising. Engineering became a greater focus. They also branched out overseas.

Modern Asian Universities are much newer. Some of the earlier ones were started by foreigners. There were also offshoots of American universities present. They gradually began to grow in importance and add their character.

This book presents general themes of universities, with focus on a few schools, such as Harvard, UC Berkeley, Humboldt University, and Tsinghua University. There is a general theme of "passing the baton" from region and school as the innovators survive.

Trust

Trust by Domenico Starnone

A teacher (Pietro) has a relationship with one of his students (Teresa). They agree to share something together they haven't shared with anyone else. Later they break up. The teacher goes on to get married. They student goes on to an esteemed career abroad.

The bulk of the story focuses on the teacher and his life. He has a good relationship with his wife. They are both academics. They have a kid. They have some struggles. Then an essay that he wrote starts to get some acclaim. He is asked to expand it for a book and later goes on speaking and lecture tours. His career is taking off. Meanwhile, his wife is struggling with her career. She is also spending more time with their kids. There is a struggle as neither seem to be adequately supporting each other. They have different needs. They reach some general truce.

The end of the story moves to the point of view of the teacher's daughter. She sees that he is not nominated for a teacher award. She users her connections to work to rectify this. She mentions all he did, and that he taught Teresa. This lat bit helps sway the committee, and they are willing to have him if she can talk. The daughter contacts her and she agrees immediately. The daughter tells this to her father and she is upset. We then learn of the love that Teresa still has for him and the challenges of the relationship.  

The end of the book has a discussion by the translator of how she translated and some of the challenges in translation. Translators play a key role in how we understand other works, and it is great to hear details from their perspective. The book has a nice, light view glimpse of the struggles that people have in balancing all aspects of their lives. The translation did a great job of keeping the story alive and interesting.

Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why

Educators often copy the next great thing in a quest to help children succeed. However, copycat implementations often fail. We need to understand what truly makes different methods and interventions succeed in order to apply them to the proper situation. 

Discipline approaches often backfire. The assumption is that students do not have the appropriate motivation. Thus crime and punishment are carried out. However, students often do have motivation, but don't have the strength to follow through, especially if they come from troubled backgrounds.

The subtleties of interacting with children at home can do a great deal to help them succeed. 

Education is not a one-size fits all situation, and works best when specific needs are addressed.

I Hate the Ivy League: Riffs and Rants on Elite Education

The United States higher education system is one of the best in the world. Yet, it is also one of the most exclusive. The top schools get a huge amount of the money and the best students. Even attempts to increase access can often backfire. Schools are spending more and more on fancy facilities and amenities. 

Brown v Board of Education is an interesting case. The family didn't want the school district to tell them what school they could go to. However, they liked the school that they were going to and felt they were getting a good education. The Supreme Court instead declared that the black schools were inferior. Instead of integrating teachers, school district tried to integrate students. There was a great loss of black teachers and closure of black school. Black students tend to fare better and more likely to be in high achievement programs if they had a black teacher. Integration ended up hurting black students.

Our systems of school admissions (and even elections in general) has many artificial gatekeepers. The LSAT filters for fast test takers. This may be useful for quick business contracts, not so much for complex Supreme Court cases. Elections filter for charismatic speakers, not good administrators. School admission criteria in general are not very useful. Even in science, there is almost no relationship between the rating of proposed research and the citations of the research. Lotteries after a very basic filter would produce greater success.

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

Totto-Chan is a free-spirited little girl that is a teacher's worst nightmare. She is delighted by the world around her and easily sidetracked. Even when obeying rules, she will do it in a way that drives the teacher crazy (such as repeatedly opening and closing the desk to complete small tasks.) She is kicked out of her her school and required to go to a new school. Luckily, she ends up at Tomoe Gakuen, with headmaster Mr. Kobayashi. He listens to what children have to say. He gives them the freedom to explore their interests. There are various rules and rituals that the students buy into. The school also includes a diverse group of children, including some with various deformities and disabilities. The children all learn to respect each other while learning academically. Alas, world war 2 intervenes and the school is destroyed. The child-focussed instruction by the headmaster remains as something that inspired his students.

From Muddy River to the Ivory Tower: The Journey of George H. Brimhall

From Muddy River to the Ivory Tower: The Journey of George H. Brimhall by Mary Jane Woodger and Joseph Groberg

George H. Brimhall served as president of Brigham Young University as it pivoted from being a general purpose educational institution to being a full-fledged university. This was not without conflict. The school was in danger of being closed numerous times. There were also conflicts with the twin goals of providing secular and religious instruction.

Brimhall attempted to professionalize the school, bringing in professors with advanced degrees (often from the University of Chicago.) Alas, these professors taught concepts like evolution. Brimhall saw a compatibility between the scientific and religious instruction. However, other people did not see it that way. Some students claimed to lose their faith in religion in response to the teachings. The church leadership became involved and requested that they change their teachings or leave the University. Brimhall was devoted to support his religion and relented in dismissing the controversial professors. 

Brimhall's family was directly connected to part of history. His father migrated to Utah, divorcing his first wife who did not want to follow. He remarried in Utah and had a big family. Brimhall's first wife developed mental illness and lived the end of her life in the mental institution. Brimhall then entered into a polygamous marriage with a second wife. This seems to be one of the ideal cases for plural marriage. He fathered a large number of children from his two wives.  He grew up in Utah, though spent time on "mission" trips to explore other parts of the mountain west. He was devoted to creating curriculum for various church organizations and was known for his "short sermons"

Brimhall died in questionable circumstances due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound after suffering from chronic illness. Some tried to explain it as an accidental discharge, though there is no certainty. Was it just the pain of illness that did him in or were there other skeletons in his closet?

The book covers his life, but seems to jump around a bit. Perhaps due to lack of primary sources, there appear to be some gaps in the life history.

Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life

In Excellent Sheep, William Deresiewicz identifies some big problems with the current higher education system. Then he rambles on for a while as he explores possible individual "workarounds" for the problem.

The big issue is our current "elite" higher education system. Currently, the ruling class of the country comes primarily from a few elite universities. The Supreme Court is the domain of graduates of Harvard and Yale law schools. Government and business leaders disproportionately come from elite schools.  Even many of the upstart "tech geeks" often attended these schools. (Microsoft and Facebook were started by Harvard dropouts, Google by Stanford dropouts and Amazon by a Princeton grad.)  Admissions to these schools is based on merit, so anybody can join the elite, right?

Well, not exactly.

A century ago, the Ivies became the finishing school of the aristocracy. However, that did not mesh with the egalitarian nature of our society. So the schools created a seemingly objective admissions scheme that appeared to make things open to everyone, yet still primarily provides spots to the same people. Sure, there are legacy admissions. However, others are more nefarious. The schools look for students with high test scores, advanced classes and extra-circular activities. Parents must prep students from a young age. Expensive test prep courses are mandatory. The student will most likely need to attend an elite school - either by paying for a private school or living in an upscale suburban school district. Then there are the extra-ciriculars. These take time, money and transportation. Parents must spend a lot of money in order to get their children in the desired schools. The schools do admit a token few from less-well-to-do backgrounds, but these are the exception rather than the rule. 

Most of the students at elite colleges have been driven from a young age to follow the rules of the competition to get admitted to their desired school. Many of them continue this through college and end up as consultants because the interview process follows a similar paradigm. They are encouraged to be "sheep", doing what is required of them in the classes rather than taking part in free academic inquiry. 

While there are professors that are dedicated to instruction, many are focused on their individual research. (After all, that is most likely to get them tenure.) Students miss out on this educational opportunity. They also miss out on true connections across society. They end up in school with a diverse group of students that are all alike. They are more likely to meet a classmate from wealthy foreign family than one from a blue collar family in the midwest.

Even lower tier schools are following this pattern. Many programs are focused on getting students ready for careers, rather than finding a field they want. While a career is important, spending time studying for the wrong career may delay the entry into the desired field.

How do we solve this problem? That is the big question. The author proposes attending second tier liberal arts schools that are not so beholden to US News rankings. He also proposes more activism. Though that seems to be narrowly within the realm of "common" activities. There was some criticism of service - people are willing to go help "others" without seeing the problems internally. Religious students do have some positive characteristics. Perhaps because they are willing to be "different". Perhaps we need to really encourage more "different" students in school. Would a pure lottery help? Or perhaps one for part of the spots. And how can we fix universities and their teaching? There are plenty of big problems in need of solutions.

The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions

Despite the title, the Math Myth is actually pro math. However, it enunciates many concerns with the way that math is taught and used as a "weed out". Most students are required to take standard math classes. These classes are often taught by adjunct professors, because the full professor do not want to teach them. This leaves most students exposed to mediocre math instruction and has also led to a decline in those studying math. The courses have also "weeded out" many students who would otherwise be able to complete degrees.

Math is critically import to society today. Calculus underpins much of our advanced technology. Due to complex mathematical calculations, we have airplanes, microchips, cell phones and most things we take for granted today. However, only a very small number of people are actually using the advanced math in their work. Even in the development of advanced technology, there may be only a handful of people that need to know math beyond basic algebra. And even for this math, people are rarely solving them "the way they did in school." Most of the work is done by a computer. 

What can be done? Practical math and arithmetic can be stressed in school. There is a need to understand basic financial transactions as well as other things that are encountered in daily life. Statistics is also highly valuable. Advanced math has its place, but an emphasis should be on understanding rather than solving equations that a computer could solve. The advanced math should also be made more appropriate to the study. Why not have a math course taught by a psychologist? If psychologists need math, a psychologist may be better able to teach the practical math than a mathematician. Courses in math related courses (such as statistics) may be much more valuable for some fields of study. Math should not prevent students from entering their careers.

The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice

The Cult of Smart was written by an avowed Marxist, yet espouses many views that would be more commonly found in Libertarian circles. The author identifies the "blank slate" philosophy as one of the core problems with education. We assume that all students have the same ability and that a good education system can enable anyone to learn. Our fear of segregation and racism has caused us to disregard individual variation. This would be similar to saying that a good basketball coach could turn anyone into an NBA star. There may be cases where pure determination causes somebody to succeed. However, this determination is likely to also be a genetically-connected trait. People differ in their genetic abilities. Some can easily succeed at school. Some cannot. 

The author takes pains to say that he is talking about only "individual variation" rather than group variation. This is probably not enough to escape the calls of racism. However, it probably also is not enough to account for effect of purely genetic population differences. There are likely to be some differences in comparing population groups. However, there will be much greater variation among individual people than in a group as a whole. Education policy will often tend to focus on the differences in the environment of groups and individuals. However, even if we were able to purely equalize the environment, the individual genetics would still remain different.

The education system's treatment of everyone as equal conflicts with the system's desire to sort students out. Grades can be absolute or relative (on the curve). Colleges and selective schools attempt to achieve an ideal mix of students through selective admissions. If a school can mold a student, why not just randomly accept any student and allow them to succeed? We also have common curriculum. Some students will struggle with individual classes that may or may not be relevant to their ultimate education and career goals.

The author proposes a number of solutions. We should allow students to drop out at a younger age. If school is not for them, they should not be required to stay. We should also be flexible in the curriculum. It is better to have a student pass statistics than to fail algebra. We can provide universal free child care and health care to improve the environment for all. Guaranteed jobs or income are also viable solutions to help provide an equal setting. Eliminating the price tag for public colleges will allow them to be more accessible for those that want to study. We should focus college on those that need it. Otherwise, jobs that do not require advanced education should be readily available.

The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills our Children Need - and What We Can Do About it

Tony Wagner became disillusioned with the education system after spending time working as a teacher and administrator. In Global Achievement Gap, he identifies the problem with the education system and proposes solutions. He levels significant criticism at the "testing system." High stakes tests that are required for graduation have encouraged teachers to teach towards the test. Alas, the tests are created in a way that makes them easy to grade. This results in kids spending time learning facts rather than how to think. AP classes are also geared towards the test, with students required to memorize a great breadth of material rather then truly understand it. The importance of SAT and ACT tests also creates significant problems.
Testing is just one of the problems teachers face. There are many attempts at "education reform" that appear. Teachers are often presented with the "improvements of the day." The application of these new ideas takes time, but rarely sticks. Teachers become accustomed to going through the motions, knowing that these ideas will fade in a while. There are also "standardized curriculums" such as those in Now Child Left Behind. Teachers become "drones" instead of educators.
Teachers also receive minimal feedback. Administrators are overworked with responsibilities. Evaluations are perfunctory. Rather than look at learning experience, the evaluation focuses on completing a few "required actions." Even when outcomes are taken into account, the outcomes are based on "testing" rather than on actual learning.
What can be done? The author did have good things about the IB curriculum. This includes more detailed writing experiences and discussions on the theory of knowledge. Teachers also need greater feedback in their work. Instead of being isolated in the classroom, teachers should have more opportunity to work with other teachers and learn how to improve their teaching. Teaching itself should focus on students learning rather than recall. Writing and expressing thoughts should be stressed rather than recalling knowledge. Creativity is also important. Learning should also take into account the real world and students' desires for learning. The changes would make it more difficult to provide "standardized evaluation." However, it would result in students really learning rather than "going through the education system."

Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the New Innovation Era

Our current education is stuck in the past. There is an excessive emphasis on the memorization of facts and the application of formulas. These are things that are easy to test on standardized tests. This may have been useful in past centuries where knowledge was difficult to obtain. However, now most everybody carries a device that allows access to vast stores of knowledge and the easy computation. This leaves much of what is learned in school useless. Most students forget the knowledge learned. (In one example, they tested students at the start of the next school year on a "dumbed-down" version of the final exam. The scores went from Bs to Fs.) Today, the problem is not obtaining knowledge, but being able to properly evaluate and discern the truth. People need to be able to do, not know. (A funny example was given of "bicycle riding" and a Bicycle Aptitude Test. We could easily test that students have esoteric knowledge of bicycles, but that is not useful when it comes to riding.)
I'm reminded of the case where a Chemical Engineering department was concerned about the lack of language proficiency of its (mostly non-native English speaking) students. However, most of the foreign students passed the test, while the native English speakers were stuck in "remedial English" classes. Some people had "test knowledge" of English but couldn't communicate, while others could communicate, but couldn't pass the test.
The argument here is starkly different from many education reformers and education apologists. We can let other countries excel at tests. What we need are more creative thinkers. Teachers are doing a horrible job in part because of the system they are in. Most of the skills learned in school are irrelevant. Lecture courses are largely irrelevant these days. Instead education should be focused on helping students to learn. Multiple choice tests are easy to grade and fit people to a curve, but they just don't help. We should not deny students resources available. Don't teach towards the test. Let people learn what interests them. It is almost an "unschooling" within a school that is advocated. It is time to stop 19th century education in the 21st century.

The Years That Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us

Paul Tough explores the current world of college education and finds flaws all around. The story of the "welder" who gets a high paying job without going to college? Well, there are some high paying jobs around in big cities. But most of welding jobs are not in the "Super high paying" realm. The jobs also require going to school to become a welder. What about the worry that under-qualified low-income minorities are taking all the good college seats away? Colleges would love to have more low-income minorities. However, the primary "under-qualified" admits are of the "rich and white" variety. While admissions scandals brought attention to people paying thousands to get their kids into college via phony sports resumes, hey were just people trying to do it on the cheap. Many colleges have spots waiting for anybody waiting to donate a few million dollars.
He also debunks plenty of College Board propaganda. Standardized tests tend to benefit the wealthy that are willing to pay for expensive test preparation. Even the free SAT-prep offered by the college board is primarily used by those who need it the least.
Is college worth it? That also depends. The most prestigious colleges tend to lead to the best paying jobs. Even among the ivy league schools, there is a hierarchy of "the best" with the likes of Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and Yale up top. Employers use the caliber of school as a proxy of the best students. (Thus school admissions officers end up making decisions.) Extra circulars are also analyzed, though this often favors the wealthy. Lacrosse is preferable to football.
Even the minority students at elite schools are a mirage. Many of the ethnic minorities are the children of wealthy executives and immigrants. Poor students are likely to be those that attended elite prep schools on scholarship. Schools also work to manipulate the numbers. Students that just qualify for Pell grants are much more likely to be admitted than students that just miss the cut off.
The anecdotes are also enlightening. A student wanted to go to Penn or maybe Princeton as a backup. She got rejected by both. However, she ended up getting into Stanford - a school with a much lower acceptance rate. A master test prep consultant charges $400 per hour, and spends most of the time chatting with the students. He helps them to de-stress and minimize the importance of the test. He also teaches a few tips and tricks - and produces great results. The super-elite colleges spend a lot more per student on education, however, most of this comes from the endowment. The mid-tier schools need tuition money to survive. They play a complicated quantitative game of admissions. They must get the right mix of students that will generate income, while also having enough high-quality students. They dangle enough scholarship money to entice acceptance (and the tuition money that comes with it.) There was also the study that showed that letting poor students know about colleges led to more attending elite colleges that matched their scores. However, when the college board tried to repeat it, nothing much happened. There are other factors (such as family) that prevent poor students from attending the most elite colleges. However, the poor would benefit the most. The quality of college is strongly correlated with lifetime income. Across all incoming income levels, those that attend more elite schools will earn more. Those that come in wealthy will have some advantage, but those that come in poor will see the biggest increase in income. The logical path is to attend to best school you can get in to. However, high-performing poor are more likely to go to a nearby community college or state school (even if they could get a free ride to an ivy)
The college system could be a great equalizer. Instead, it just helps out the haves. What can we do about it?