3 ms·

> preparation for the imperial exams began at the age of 3-4, the practical effect being that the well off were already advantaged. This reminds me of the rece

> preparation for the imperial exams began at the age of 3-4, the practical effect being that the well off were already advantaged. This reminds me of the recent experiments with dropping standardized tests (or making them optional) for college admissions. The critics bemoaned the advantage that rich kids had when studying for the exams... but when colleges temporarily switched to essay writing, grades and extracurriculars as the bar for admission, the incoming class was even more heavily skewed to rich kids. It turns out that rich kids have much less of an advantage on standardized exams than any other form of evaluation. The standardized test, scored by an anonymous grader, still requires you to know some things and to engage your brain. Being born to rich parents (or members of the imperial court) doesn't automatically give you passing scores... You still have to work for them.

lupusreal 2y ago
Most of the people who wanted standardized testing done away with knew exactly what was going to happen. They knew that asian immigrant families in particular did well on standardized testing and hoped to keep them down by shifting the focus of admissions to BS like sports and after school club participation. It wasn't an accident, it was the intent from the start.
Terr_ 2y ago
> The critics bemoaned the advantage that rich kids had when studying for the exams... but when colleges temporarily switched to essay writing, grades and extracurriculars as the bar for admission, the incoming class was even more heavily skewed to rich kids. Was there some mechanism to ensure/confirm that the scoring for those remaining factors didn't get changed during the process? I imagine someone judging an essay or extracurricular activities would behave differently if they thought it mattered a lot versus whether they thought it was just a tiebreaker to apply after a standardized test.

lupusreal 2y ago

Most of the people who wanted standardized testing done away with knew exactly what was going to happen. They knew that asian immigrant families in particular did well on standardized testing and hoped to keep them down by shifting the focus of admissions to BS like sports and after school club participation. It wasn't an accident, it was the intent from the start.

Terr_ 2y ago

> The critics bemoaned the advantage that rich kids had when studying for the exams... but when colleges temporarily switched to essay writing, grades and extracurriculars as the bar for admission, the incoming class was even more heavily skewed to rich kids. Was there some mechanism to ensure/confirm that the scoring for those remaining factors didn't get changed during the process? I imagine someone judging an essay or extracurricular activities would behave differently if they thought it mattered a lot versus whether they thought it was just a tiebreaker to apply after a standardized test.