Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#491

Post by meindnoch » Thu, Dec 04, 2025, 9:41 PM UTC

drivebyhooting wrote: post #300

BeetleB wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've made it a principle to live my life according to certain ideals - one of which is not to play these games/tricks. I'm doing better than fine. Have others who cheated done better than me? Sure - some have. Why should I care? I'm a high income earner and I don't need an even wealthier life. I am not at all an outlier. If you're amongst a crowd that won't value you for not cheating, it's on you to change the crowd…

Do you have children? I do. I still subscribe to your ideals or at least mostly follow them. But for lack of playing such games, I saw my children’s opportunities slip away.

"A married man with a family will do anything for money." - Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#492

Post by rayiner » Thu, Dec 04, 2025, 9:41 PM UTC

shetaye wrote: post #81

Regarding Stanford specifically, I did not see the number broken down by academic or residential disability (in the underlying Atlantic article). This is relevant, because > Some students get approved for housing accommodations, including single rooms and emotional-support animals. buries the lede, at least for Stanford. It is incredibly commonplace for students to "get an OAE" (Office of Accessible Education) exclus…

Seems like evidence of profound moral decline that students would do that.

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#493

Post by cindyllm » Thu, Dec 04, 2025, 9:42 PM UTC

meindnoch wrote: post #491

drivebyhooting wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have children? I do. I still subscribe to your ideals or at least mostly follow them. But for lack of playing such games, I saw my children’s opportunities slip away.

"A married man with a family will do anything for money." - Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

[dead]

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#494

Post by next_xibalba » Thu, Dec 04, 2025, 9:43 PM UTC

Sparkle-san wrote: post #427

dctoedt wrote: post #100

I'm mostly a law professor these days. When final-exam time rolls around (as in, this week), I raise my eyebrows when I'm sent the list of students who get 50% extra time. I wouldn't presume to judge the propriety of any given student's accommodation. But many of the accommodated students seem to have done just fine in class discussions during the semester. FTA: "Unnecessary accommodations are a two-front form of che…

I don't see how getting 50% extra time on exams is anything remotely close to cheating. Almost nothing I do in my day to day job comes close to being as time-boxed or arbitrarily restrictive as exams were in college.

Class rank is a primary factor for top law jobs open to new law school graduates. MCAT scores play a huge role in med school admissions. Etc.

Like it or not, there are life changing impacts to others by cheating at this stuff. This is unambiguously cheating.

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#495

Post by carabiner » Thu, Dec 04, 2025, 9:43 PM UTC

I had a college roommate who got hit by a car and was in a coma with lasting mental deficits. He was a mechanical engineering major, and because of his "disability" he got 2x time allowed on exams. It did not seem right to me, but oh well.

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#496

Post by tomalbrc » Thu, Dec 04, 2025, 9:43 PM UTC

spencer-p wrote: post #431

Scubabear68 wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you are a long way from Kindergarten to an elite university. I mention this because it is odd to me that you picked your 4 to 5 year old self to validate why you are getting accommodations in your teens/twenties at a self-described elite university. My own kids have some issues and varying levels of accommodations, but those have evolved and lessened over time. As you would hope they would! You seem to imply your…

I think they mean to refute the article's suggestion that tiktok and misinformation are the cause by highlighting that they received accommodations at a young age. >You seem to imply your conditions have not really improved and you need same/similar accommodations They didn't share the nature of their current accommodations.

What does receiving accommodations at a young age have to do with this

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#497

Post by adolph » Thu, Dec 04, 2025, 9:43 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #425

vasilipupkin wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the original article is factually incorrect. Accommodations at Stanford are only 25% of students, according to their website, and that includes every possible kind of accommodation, not just time and half on tests. If you had carpet replaced in your dorm because it gave you an allergy, it would be included. So, this is just an article that is just flat out bullshit.

> the original article is factually incorrect. Accommodations at Stanford are only 25% of students, according to their website, and that includes every possible kind of accommodation, The original article said 38% students are registered with the disability office, not that 38% of students have accommodations. Not all students registered with the disability office receive accommodations all of the time. 25% is still…

> The number of public universities is in the 3-4% range.

The National Center for Education Statistics disagrees with 3-4%.

  In 2019–20, some 21 percent of undergraduates and 11 percent of 
  postbaccalaureate students reported having a disability. . .

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=60

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#498

Post by fwip » Thu, Dec 04, 2025, 9:45 PM UTC

lisbbb wrote: post #448

My wife has a cousin who basically gamed the system for undergraduate and law school. She grew up white, middle class, but her dad, being of Mexican descent (US born) allowed her to play up the Hispanic angle on college applications, landing her scholarships and better admissions. Then, for law school, she claimed she had ADHD so that she could get extra time on tests. It was all a scam.

Does she not have ADHD?

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#499

Post by next_xibalba » Thu, Dec 04, 2025, 9:45 PM UTC

This is what trending towards zero sum looks like. The cracks in society are growing ever wider. Failure to get into the top schools and obtain top grades is perceived as potentially life ruining. Hence all this cheating, and, also, grade inflation.

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#500

Post by jameshart » Thu, Dec 04, 2025, 9:45 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #424

jaredklewis wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone explain to me why the accommodations make sense in the first place? Like what's the point of having the test be time constrained? If there is no point, then just let everyone have more time. If there is a point to having the test be time constrained, then aren't we just holding one group to a lower standard than another group? Why is that good? Same question about lectures. Is there a reason everyone can'…

Eliminating time limits on standardized tests is infeasible; it would require changes to processes on a state or national levels, and mindsets in education as a whole. It's also a complex enough issue that you'd have factions arguing for and against it six ways to Sunday. It's not going to happen. In contrast, special-casing few disadvantaged students is a local decisions every school or university could make indepen…

Eliminating time constraints is entirely reasonable. Leaving exams early is generally an option in most standardized testing systems - though usually with some minimum time you must remain present before leaving.

Taking what is currently scheduled as a three hour exam which many students already leave after 2, and for which some have accommodations allowing them 4 hours, and just setting aside up to five hours for it for everyone, likely makes the exam a fairer test of knowledge (as opposed to a test of exam skills and pressured time management) for everyone.

Once you’ve answered all the problems, or completed an essay, additional time isn’t going to make your answers any better. So you can just get up and leave when you’re done.