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Correlation is not causation. Testing objective ability (as opposed to essays and extracurricular engagement and volunteering) is the best thing for talented bu

Correlation is not causation. Testing objective ability (as opposed to essays and extracurricular engagement and volunteering) is the best thing for talented but poor kids. The alternative is cultural class markers that Anglo-style "holistic" testing selects for. That's much harder for a working class kid to acquire, compared to learning math and physics well. Saying this as someone with peasant and working class ancestors who could never set me (or my parents) up with all the fancy credentials and cultural experiences that my richer classmates had (foreign vacations, sailing, skiing, horse riding competitions, networking in high society etc). But I could study in school and could pass the objective tests.

jollybean 5y ago
The causation between wealth/status etc. and test scores is fairly well established. I also provided you with scientific evidence that the 'scoring' German approach systematically underrepresented those otherwise equally capable, which is further evidence of that. Finally, the fact that migrant children perform so much more poorly in Germany compared to US/UK, while indirect, does provide more evidence for the pile. 'Test Scores' are not 'the best thing' for poor kids by a mile - they are merely an 'outlet valve' for some special kids from special families. I remember being at the home with a woman who married a Latino migrant in California. She was a cleaner. I asked the teenage children 'what university they were going to' and they balked, they literally had not given it a thought. In their 'family / lifestyle / education / community' - University was for 'rich people'. The daughter was helping out part time with the mom at the cleaning company, I'm pretty certain she will grow up to be a cleaner and that's that. What's 'best' for kids are good schools, good teachers, good mentorship, quality peers, and some semblance stability at home i.e. parents with stable jobs, not in jail, not evicted or homeless, not caught up in the drug world. Only with those things do 'tests' start to have some kind of meaning.
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jollybean 5y ago

The causation between wealth/status etc. and test scores is fairly well established. I also provided you with scientific evidence that the 'scoring' German approach systematically underrepresented those otherwise equally capable, which is further evidence of that. Finally, the fact that migrant children perform so much more poorly in Germany compared to US/UK, while indirect, does provide more evidence for the pile. 'Test Scores' are not 'the best thing' for poor kids by a mile - they are merely an 'outlet valve' for some special kids from special families. I remember being at the home with a woman who married a Latino migrant in California. She was a cleaner. I asked the teenage children 'what university they were going to' and they balked, they literally had not given it a thought. In their 'family / lifestyle / education / community' - University was for 'rich people'. The daughter was helping out part time with the mom at the cleaning company, I'm pretty certain she will grow up to be a cleaner and that's that. What's 'best' for kids are good schools, good teachers, good mentorship, quality peers, and some semblance stability at home i.e. parents with stable jobs, not in jail, not evicted or homeless, not caught up in the drug world. Only with those things do 'tests' start to have some kind of meaning.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]