SAT score distributions in Michigan • Hacker News Board

Re: SAT score distributions in Michigan

#51

Post by arolihas » Thu, Oct 06, 2022, 2:23 PM UTC

adamsmith143 wrote: post #33

arolihas wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that abhorrent to you?

The real world is not a monoculture so why would you want your child to socialize in one?

A lot of the real world is a "monoculture". Just because a majority of people look similar doesn't mean they all share similar ideologies, experiences, and values necessarily. Race is merely a social construct, and the Asian category covers several unique nationalities and cultures. Black and white are similarly ludicrously diverse. And these are young adults who should be bright enough to seek out diverse experiences and places if it suits them. If Harvard really cared about not being a monoculture they would look at their legacy admissions.

Re: SAT score distributions in Michigan

#52

Post by mberning » Thu, Oct 06, 2022, 2:23 PM UTC

fny wrote: post #19

mberning wrote: post #8

It has a lot to do with culture and expectations. And what you are willing to put your children through. One of my good friends is from Korea and told me about how awful it was to go to school all day, then be off for an hour or two, then go back to a private tutor until 9 or 10pm at night. Rinse and repeat. This is inhumane by American standards but apparently normal in Korea. That type of culture and mentality does…

Sure... but I went to a public high school, got a 1590, and did not spend day and night studying nor did my parents have any expectation of me to perform well in school. I was just really lucky to go public schools with teachers who cared and peers that cared. It makes a huge difference.

You’re an outlier. That’s great. Most people are not scoring that high without a lot of effort, and a basic public school education, regardless of the quality, is not going to get them there. They will need additional resources within the home and outside of normal schooling.

Re: SAT score distributions in Michigan

#53

Post by afterwalk » Thu, Oct 06, 2022, 2:23 PM UTC

I wonder how much of this is a self fulfilling prophecy due to racially weighted admission. i.e Many Asian parents are painfully aware of how much the deck is stacked against their kid, and therefore allocates extra time and resources accordingly to overcome the difficulties.

Re: SAT score distributions in Michigan

#54

Post by lambdaphagy » Thu, Oct 06, 2022, 2:23 PM UTC

zwkrt wrote: post #25

socialismisok wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that, where one lives can impact the funding available to even provide basic education. We are too comfortable letting poor areas have underfunded schools.

Funding schools based on local property tax was institutionalized as a way to ensure rich people don’t have to pay for poor people’s education.

1. School funding is actually somewhat progressive: https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/2017/06/22/no-us-school-f...

2. People who are concerned about the allegedly regressive character of public school funding would do well to spell out their model of how spending affects basic math and writing performance. For almost all of history, every educated person studied under conditions that made the most impoverished reservation school in North Dakota look like Andover.

Re: SAT score distributions in Michigan

#55

Post by commandlinefan » Thu, Oct 06, 2022, 2:24 PM UTC

davidn20 wrote: post #29

I think as a society we need to admit different race, in general, have different culture, values, and strengths. I don't even think that's a radical idea, but somehow it is. I have been watching this football competition youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrbljwLslYI The fun and athleticism you see is awe-inspiring, but I haven't seen a single Asian person competing or even at the event. My guess is a m…

> different race, in general, have different culture, values, and strengths

The coarse divisions that we call "race" don't help much here, either - there's a lot of variance between different groups of asians as well as different groups of whites (think of how different italians are from irish). The way we're lumped together is actually very arbitrary (and changes depending on how the lumpers are trying to score political points).

Re: SAT score distributions in Michigan

#56

Post by fleetwoodsnack » Thu, Oct 06, 2022, 2:25 PM UTC

treis wrote: post #45

fullshark wrote: post #2

This anecdote is really something https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2022/10/sat-score-distribution...

I'm having trouble coming up with the right words to make my point. But, to me, this application says "my parents made me do a lot of shit" more than it says that this person is exceptional. What's this kid's resume if he's born in the hood to a single mom instead of a Boston suburb to an associate partner at IBM? IMHO it's sour grapes from someone that tried to game the system but didn't get the prize they wanted.

>I'm having trouble coming up with the right words to make my point. But, to me, this application says "my parents made me do a lot of shit" more than it says that this person is exceptional. What's this kid's resume if he's born in the hood to a single mom instead of a Boston suburb to an associate partner at IBM?

Try: speculative, imaginary, and unsubstantiated by evidence. Stereotypical, if you’re feeling adventurous.

Re: SAT score distributions in Michigan

#57

Post by hotpotamus » Thu, Oct 06, 2022, 2:25 PM UTC

hker999 wrote: post #3

fullshark wrote: post #2

This anecdote is really something https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2022/10/sat-score-distribution...

The Harvard university president has stated many times that admissions are weighted and if you are Asian, will have a much harder time getting accepted. It seems racism is accepted in academia, when it affects a demographic you deem 'problematic'

I see this brought up a lot and it always makes me wonder - what is the "correct" number of black people who should be admitted to Harvard? Like if you removed any racial consideration, what would be the results?

Re: SAT score distributions in Michigan

#58

Post by dahfizz » Thu, Oct 06, 2022, 2:25 PM UTC

adamsmith143 wrote: post #33

arolihas wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that abhorrent to you?

The real world is not a monoculture so why would you want your child to socialize in one?

"abhorrent" is much much stronger than "suboptimal for socialization skills".

Besides, every other country in the world gets to have its own cultural identity. The "real world" is very much a collection of monocultures. Only in America is it considered bad to have a cultural identity.

Re: SAT score distributions in Michigan

#59

Post by billsmithaustin » Thu, Oct 06, 2022, 2:25 PM UTC

aabajian wrote: post #11

The SATs, particularly the mathematics score, is very much a reflection of your parents' willingness to push you academically. The stratification is more granular than Asian versus Black or White versus Native America. For example, Jewish students excel beyond the Caucasian average while Cambodian and other Southeast Asian Immigrants perform significantly below the national average for Asian Americans. The challenge…

My daughter credits the test-taking techniques they taught in her SAT prep course for a big boost in her SAT score. She says the test-taking techniques were orthogonal to how well she knew the material. I'm happy for her but at the same time it seems unfair that my ability to afford the SAT prep course gave her an advantage not available to families with lower incomes.

Re: SAT score distributions in Michigan

#60

Post by treis » Thu, Oct 06, 2022, 2:25 PM UTC

socialismisok wrote: post #17

aabajian wrote: post #11

The SATs, particularly the mathematics score, is very much a reflection of your parents' willingness to push you academically. The stratification is more granular than Asian versus Black or White versus Native America. For example, Jewish students excel beyond the Caucasian average while Cambodian and other Southeast Asian Immigrants perform significantly below the national average for Asian Americans. The challenge…

Not only that, where one lives can impact the funding available to even provide basic education. We are too comfortable letting poor areas have underfunded schools.

This is a commonly held myth but the numbers don't bear it out. Poor areas tend to be in cities and cities tend to have lots of commercial buildings that pay tax but do not send kids to school. Atlanta, where I live, spends 30%* more per pupil in APS than the surrounding suburban counties do. That's typical for American cities.

*Or so. I'm going off memory.