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Well if the scholarship is being given out based on ability like you say, you have no choice but to give it to the students who perform the best. If there is a

by tsally 18y ago

Well if the scholarship is being given out based on ability like you say, you have no choice but to give it to the students who perform the best. If there is a need based component, it would be different. But you do not seem to indicate that there is. I'm all for leveling the playing field, but if the person who created the scholarship wanted it to be talent based, that's what you have to go on. EDIT: We also have a relationship between income and test scores in the US. It's a fact of life.

markessien 18y ago
Well, the point of the scholarship is to give academic scholarships, but to those students who need it. I.e, encourage a culture of learning, but avoid giving to those who already have. It's not to be based solely on ability, but also on need.
- tsally 18y ago
  Don't all students who want to study technology in Africa need it? I would imagine there are not too many opportunities. If that isn't the case, you could give the scholarship to the middle of the pack. This would maximize the need and intelligence of the people that the scholarship would help.
cabalamat 18y ago
We also have a relationship between income and test scores in the US. It's a fact of life. The original poster said test scores were 100% correlated with family income ("the scores of all the students is exactly the same as their family income"). I suspect this is an exaggeration; however if it's true then the correlation between income and test scores is vastly greater than in the US. If the correlation isn't 100%, the OP could for each age group, rank-correlate all the children by family income and by test score and award the scholarships to the ones with the biggest difference.
- markessien 18y ago
  Yes, the correlation is not 100%, but it's very close. Another issue is that the family income is not exactly known either, it's just estimated from the appearance. Also, the system has to be obviously fair - if you have someone estimating family income and grouping people in particular groups, the system is too easy to game.
  - cabalamat 18y ago
    If income isn't known exactly, then yes it is too easy to game. I suspect that what you are trying to do may well be impossible. Since it is a tech scholarship, maytbe you could give it to those kids who have an interest in tech subjects over other subjects? Or maybe, as another poster has suggested, you could award some of the prizes to those who make the biggest improvement on test scores. Of course, some kids may respond by deliberately doing badly in one year then doing well the next year.

by tsally 18y ago

markessien 18y ago

Well, the point of the scholarship is to give academic scholarships, but to those students who need it. I.e, encourage a culture of learning, but avoid giving to those who already have. It's not to be based solely on ability, but also on need.

tsally 18y ago
Don't all students who want to study technology in Africa need it? I would imagine there are not too many opportunities. If that isn't the case, you could give the scholarship to the middle of the pack. This would maximize the need and intelligence of the people that the scholarship would help.

cabalamat 18y ago

We also have a relationship between income and test scores in the US. It's a fact of life. The original poster said test scores were 100% correlated with family income ("the scores of all the students is exactly the same as their family income"). I suspect this is an exaggeration; however if it's true then the correlation between income and test scores is vastly greater than in the US. If the correlation isn't 100%, the OP could for each age group, rank-correlate all the children by family income and by test score and award the scholarships to the ones with the biggest difference.

markessien 18y ago
Yes, the correlation is not 100%, but it's very close. Another issue is that the family income is not exactly known either, it's just estimated from the appearance. Also, the system has to be obviously fair - if you have someone estimating family income and grouping people in particular groups, the system is too easy to game.
- cabalamat 18y ago
  If income isn't known exactly, then yes it is too easy to game. I suspect that what you are trying to do may well be impossible. Since it is a tech scholarship, maytbe you could give it to those kids who have an interest in tech subjects over other subjects? Or maybe, as another poster has suggested, you could award some of the prizes to those who make the biggest improvement on test scores. Of course, some kids may respond by deliberately doing badly in one year then doing well the next year.