So, in summary, these organizations are struggling with two related factors: 1) How do you predict the future? 2) How do you do that at scale? In regards to 2)

So, in summary, these organizations are struggling with two related factors: 1) How do you predict the future? 2) How do you do that at scale? In regards to 2) many of these educational places have decided for the past few decades that test criteria makes some sense. However, they have recently discovered that the testing metrics have been gamed. Therefore, as the metrics have become the goals unto themselves, their ability to accomplish 1) has been diminished to the point of uselessness. They are back at square one (or at least they were in 2014 when the article was written). We all know that you really can't predict the future, that black swan events override all the metrics you could ever come up with. So, the article is talking about 'grit' as a metric that they could use instead, as it seems to predict the future a bit better than the SAT. Of course, we all know that the 'grit' metric will be gamed as well. There's a neuron firing somewhere in my head that is saying: Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, but I think it's a bit more base than that. The issue is that these higher ed places would LOVE to really dig deep into a person, but they've not the time or money to do that at scale. I think, that like in many militaries and corporations, the issue is not the selection process, but the construction process. Given the right resources and support, you can actually turn lead into gold. It's that these institutions need to support, mentor, and trust their students. However, that is very expensive and takes a long timeline to measure if it works at all. Let alone what to fix or improve upon. Inherently, it does not scale either. It's messy, personal, and complex. It's real and not well reflected in charts and tables, hence the bureaucrats dislike it as it has a null/negative effect on their careers. Some good examples of such a process that actually does produce results are the Free Democratic Schools [0] though they tend to be very liberal arts focused. Specifically, I'd love to call out Deep Springs College [1] as a prime example. St. John's College [2] is also structured well in the 'nurture' aspect. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_democratic_schools#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_democratic_schools#Uni... [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Springs_College https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Springs_College [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_College_(Annapolis/Santa_Fe) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_College_(Annapoli...