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> What would have been an impressive final-year project when I was in university is something high schoolers are churning out as a bare minimum. How do we ready
by DoingIsLearning 2y ago
> What would have been an impressive final-year project when I was in university is something high schoolers are churning out as a bare minimum. How do we ready our kids (who are competitive) for this if not by ensuring that they don't miss out any opprtunities?
This sounds US-centric, looking from the outside it appears that you tried so hard to not use tests and marks to rate students that you made it all about projects/volunteering which mostly benefit kids with a lot money and time support from parents. It very much looks like performative kabuki for admissions officers where teenagers have lost interest in building something for the sake of it.
Anywhere else in the world, bar the US and the rest of the Commonwealth, it is all about grades and having exams with normal distributions as the great equalizer. For all the pros and cons at least anything else you do in your spare time as a teen you do it without any external agenda. A 16 year old shouldn't be worried about how something will look like on their CV.
- elevatedastalt 2y agoYeah, while things are much worse in India or South Korea due to the sheer number of students, the one benefit of entrance examinations is that they are meritocratic and allow everyone to focus on one common goal instead of this whackamole nonsense of activities where no matter how many you do there could be more.
- silverquiet 2y agoAmerica is a big place and the Ivies are relatively few and very selective. There absolutely are tests and all serious applicants will have high 90th percentile scores as table stakes. That's why there are other, elaborate requirements.
- DoingIsLearning 2y agoThere are big places in a lot of places :) My point is if your tests were harder the distribution bell would not be as 'inflated' and you would not have as many people in the high 90th percentile. Allowing you to still use those scores alone without all the performative arms race. See for example the International Baccalaureate programme and their point system normal distribution with thousands of kids from around the globe.
- silverquiet 2y agoI can’t say that I was all that great at statistics, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how percentiles work.