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What an apt comparison! It appears that you have completely failed to realize that your example from British private schools regarding memorization is used to

What an apt comparison! It appears that you have completely failed to realize that your example from British private schools regarding memorization is used to weed out the "riff raff" as it were. Don't want to hire "brown people", women, or other non-white privately-educated individuals? Institute a British-styled rote memorization test and make claims that it is fair because, "anyone can learn the requisite knowledge." Whiteboard interviews are actually quite similar in both their implementation and impact!

pavlov 10y ago
I assure you, I realize the intent of mock-meritocratic memorization tests that happen to ensure a "cultural fit".
- riskable 10y ago
  Your use of that phrase is chilling. I will never be able to view it the same way again. It sounds so innocuous... "Cultural fit." But wow does its meaning become sinister when used in the context of (illegal) discrimination.
memracom 10y ago
actually, I think the Greek and Latin text memorization WAS there to weed out the riff raff. If you are going to hire someone young and energetic to do a job that is not exactly taught in school, would you rather have someone who can work hard, even struggle to learn, but ultimately succeed? Or someone whose character is unknown even if they can say all the right things in an interview? And since this is about historical reality, we know that the British public school system of rote memorization of Greek and Latin texts, along with translation into and out of Greek, did produce capable people who built up an empire and maintained it for many generations.
- riskable 10y ago
  You're making a pretty silly claim. We could just as easily claim that the British empire grew to what it was because British schools had uniforms or it happened because the British eat more biscuits or Marmite. Rote memorization of Greek and Latin texts probably had very little to do with the expansion and maintenance of the British empire. TL;DR: Seriously?
  - dagw 10y ago
    Rote memorization of Greek and Latin texts probably had very little to do with the expansion and maintenance of the British empire. No, but the sorts of schools that required rote memorization of Greek and Latin texts tended to be 'good' schools that also taught other things that where considered useful (including things like how to behave in a 'proper' British manner) . Testing for Latin knowledge was a proxy for testing for a good general education from a good school.

pavlov 10y ago

I assure you, I realize the intent of mock-meritocratic memorization tests that happen to ensure a "cultural fit".

riskable 10y ago
Your use of that phrase is chilling. I will never be able to view it the same way again. It sounds so innocuous... "Cultural fit." But wow does its meaning become sinister when used in the context of (illegal) discrimination.

memracom 10y ago

actually, I think the Greek and Latin text memorization WAS there to weed out the riff raff. If you are going to hire someone young and energetic to do a job that is not exactly taught in school, would you rather have someone who can work hard, even struggle to learn, but ultimately succeed? Or someone whose character is unknown even if they can say all the right things in an interview? And since this is about historical reality, we know that the British public school system of rote memorization of Greek and Latin texts, along with translation into and out of Greek, did produce capable people who built up an empire and maintained it for many generations.

riskable 10y ago
You're making a pretty silly claim. We could just as easily claim that the British empire grew to what it was because British schools had uniforms or it happened because the British eat more biscuits or Marmite. Rote memorization of Greek and Latin texts probably had very little to do with the expansion and maintenance of the British empire. TL;DR: Seriously?
- dagw 10y ago
  Rote memorization of Greek and Latin texts probably had very little to do with the expansion and maintenance of the British empire. No, but the sorts of schools that required rote memorization of Greek and Latin texts tended to be 'good' schools that also taught other things that where considered useful (including things like how to behave in a 'proper' British manner) . Testing for Latin knowledge was a proxy for testing for a good general education from a good school.