151–160 of 184 posts
It's not already criminalised? I would expect fraud to be illegal.
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The US has evolved a similar rigging for our privileged. We supply various obscure sports accolades that can be purchased for the children of wealthy families to obtain admission to our leading universities. Unfortunately our schemes have also been exposed and a number of people are being prosecuted. So for the moment one must resort to investing in rather costly facility construction or similar expansion projects wh…
"We supply various obscure sports accolades that can be purchased for the children of wealthy families to obtain admission to our leading universities." ? I don't really think this is the mechanism. When major donors, who are alumni and part of the institution, ask for a favour to have a slot for their kid ... to me that may seem 'unfair' but it's also above bar if the school wants to do that and I have no problem wi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_college_admissions_briber...
Polo, sailing, rowing, football, basketball, baseball... You name it; for a few hundred thousand you can have fake sports credentials fabricated -- complete with photoshopped team memberships -- and get yourself pencil-whipped into UoT, Yale, UCLA, USD, Georgetown, etc.
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I don't think it's really flamebait to make that observation. There genuinely are significant cultural differences regarding what's regarded as fair play between various regions in the world. That needs to be understood, particularly among readers of HN who, as a demographic, work with co-workers, contractors, or businesses across borders more often than the average population.
If you don't think it's flamebait, you haven't seen the flamewars that such comments lead to. It's our job to be the fire department here. If someone tosses off a lit match at a gas station, that's either arson or criminal negligence, and the fires burn the same either way. There are good reasons why the site guidelines say " Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive…
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These exams differ from SAT in three major ways. First, they are offered once a year. Didn't do as well as you hope? Try again next year. Second, the material is significantly harder. Take math as an example. The exam questions are a lot closer to AMC/AIME than to SAT. In fact, suppose language is not a problem, many Chinese middle schooler would do pretty well on SAT's math section. Also you are not allowed any calc…
India has similar systems as well. One 'neat' tweak that the Indians take is the publication of the scores. You find out how you did because your name and score are printed in the newspaper, along with everyone else's. So all the gossipy aunties and your folk's friends know your score and you know the scores of everyone else in school. The social pressure to do well is insane . Your score reflects on your family, not…
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China is not a democracy. However the notion that Chinese culture is okay with despotism and tyranny is again a limited one. The Mandate of Heaven is what gives a ruler in China the right to rule. This is not an inherent and automatic right like the divine right of kings. If a ruler is unable to deliver prosperity and justice it’s completely justified for the ruler to be overthrown. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mand…
"Western democracy is really being torn at the seams with Trump and Brexit" Really, torn at the seams? Brexit is going fine and now with covid it might work out better in the longrun. America likes strong leaders. Trump isn't creating a new divide he is navigating the existing fault lines. More importantly: China forcing birth control on Uighurs to suppress population: (source AP) Are you aware of this? What is your,…
> China forcing birth control on Uighurs to suppress population: (source AP)
> Are you aware of this? What is your,opinion on those events?
It's the same thing they do to the Chinese, which frankly seems worse to me.
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Just as many Chinese citizens are proud of their country and culture, there are lots of people in the US who are proud of their country and culture. Are there lots of hypocrites in the United States? Yes. Are there lots of naive people? I mean people still love Trump now while the rest of the world laughs at us. The people in both societies are flawed so let's put that aside. If we look at both systems (and not as in…
Dictatorships can work great, but all it takes is one bad dictator and you are hosed. E.g. the complete ceasation of progress in China once emporers decided to cut off access to the outside world and outlaw logic.
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The US has evolved a similar rigging for our privileged. We supply various obscure sports accolades that can be purchased for the children of wealthy families to obtain admission to our leading universities. Unfortunately our schemes have also been exposed and a number of people are being prosecuted. So for the moment one must resort to investing in rather costly facility construction or similar expansion projects wh…
IMHO the situation of the USA is worlds apart from what I experienced as a kid in South America. The systemic corruption is normalized in Latin America. I remember when my dad bought a car that looked nice and we considered trading it because transit cops would stop us every now and then to get a tip from us. If we didn't agree to tip, we could potentially be arrested and paying your way out of the commissary was mor…
This is enraging. Identity theft in the United States can be a headache, sure, but in most cases the financial institutions are the ones taking the brunt of the damage, and even that is probably covered by some sort of insurance scheme. This woman had her entire life stripped away from her, not to mention making her doubt her own abilities by implying she “failed” the exam. How do these people live with themselves, e…
The western sense of morality didn’t stop the admissions scandals to all top western universities like Harvard Stanford and so on. Chinese universities as far as I know don’t have things like institutionalized legacy admissions. I’d like people to reconsider the view that western societies are somehow inherently purer or less corrupt. Often it takes different forms. This can be seen in the way sanctions are imposed f…
This is enraging. Identity theft in the United States can be a headache, sure, but in most cases the financial institutions are the ones taking the brunt of the damage, and even that is probably covered by some sort of insurance scheme. This woman had her entire life stripped away from her, not to mention making her doubt her own abilities by implying she “failed” the exam. How do these people live with themselves, e…
Also what a lot of people don't seem to think about is that said insurance scheme premiums aren't generally paid for from the company's profits, but rather from increasing customer fees enough to cover it.
Fraudsters aren't actually taking money from the pockets of the company, but rather from the company's other customers.
The unstated assumption in this article is that only college graduates deserve to have a decent life.
Something I've heard from Chinese people online about the difference between the US and China is that in America, you could be a plumber/auto mechanic/skilled trades and still have a middle-income lifestyle and a decent amount of societal respect. In China, working with your hands puts you on the lower rungs in society, hence everyone wants to get into college.