3 ms·
Fundamentally I think pretty much everyone agrees on the concept of equal opportunity. But what people don't seem to agree on is the definition of equal opportu
by yibg 7y ago
Fundamentally I think pretty much everyone agrees on the concept of equal opportunity. But what people don't seem to agree on is the definition of equal opportunity. Or even I guess what is opportunity?
If we have 2 people, A and B. A belongs to a wealthy family and lives in a nice neighborhood and goes to a nice high school. B has a poorer family, lives in a worse neighborhood and goes to a worse high school. What would providing equal opportunity look like? It seems like it should be something along the lines of B should also be able to attend the nice school, have access to tutors if desired etc. Not adjust B's scores up by some arbitrary amount because of circumstance.
- rexpop 7y agoI was with you until the very last sentence. Look, it's a question of implementation. There's a quantitative threshold at which students qualify for admission. Either we change that threshold, or we fudge the score.
- yibg 7y agoNot sure I agree with that. The two choices are not just change the threshold or fudge the score. Ideally it would be to provide the right conditions so that neither is needed. Of course real world is more complex than that, and that condition is not easy to provide. I'm just not sure having an subjective, arbitrary and opaque fudge factor is the right answer.
- rexpop 7y agoSure, there are many other solutions. A world of solutions. My point was only that it's an understandable implemention.
- djtriptych 7y agoOk but why not include achievement in the face of adversity. Why not consider this a perseverance/tenacity score? Since when does GPA/SAT completely describe fitness for the future?
- yibg 7y agoThe question then becomes do we go for an objective scoring system or are we ok with it being subjective? How do you quantify perseverance and tenacity? Is it higher perseverance to grow up in a poor neighborhood or with some chronic disease? Is overcoming ESL or abusive parents more tenacious? Even looking at my own situation I'm not sure which way things should go. I grew up poor to immigrant parents that didn't speak English (neither did I). However both parents are educated and valued education. Do I get + or - marks?
- djtriptych 7y agoThere had always been a subjective element in the form of essays and recommendations. Seems like this adversity score is a way to quantify some of the factors that might have previously been found by other, more subjective means.
- learc83 7y agoIf you look at the metrics, you'd receive + marks for ESL and income, and negative marks for educated parents. Overall you'd probably receive a + adversity score.