Here's what I don't understand

[Anonymous]

Are kids these days way smarter than kids of our generation? (80s-90s)
Every kid seems to have top scores and all As. Whereas, at my rigorous public high school in the mid-90s, regular bright well-rounded kids with As/Bs but not Einstein-level grades, were going to Northwestern, Dartmouth, UPenn, Wellesley, etc. I had strong but not exceptional grades and got into Vassar. Now it seems in order to get into a T30, you need all As and all APs. Am I missing something here? How is this happening? Did this generation produce geniuses?

[Anonymous]

Not even close. It’s grade inflation. Kids are going to college completely unprepared for the rigor.

[Anonymous]

Wake up from your college coma grandma. It’s a whole new world!

[Anonymous]

Kids with As and Bs are still getting into the schools you listed above.

[Anonymous]

There are also more kids especially more global competition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are kids these days way smarter than kids of our generation? (80s-90s)
Every kid seems to have top scores and all As. Whereas, at my rigorous public high school in the mid-90s, regular bright well-rounded kids with As/Bs but not Einstein-level grades, were going to Northwestern, Dartmouth, UPenn, Wellesley, etc. I had strong but not exceptional grades and got into Vassar. Now it seems in order to get into a T30, you need all As and all APs. Am I missing something here? How is this happening? Did this generation produce geniuses?

The SAT is able to be studied for now, and there is grade inflation.

The SAT that you took is very different than the SAT that your kids take. Previously, you could get a small edge by doing SAT prep and memorizing vocab. But the logic sections, i.r. kitten:cat::puppy:dog are gone.

[Anonymous]

Far fewer applications were sent to colleges. Students had to write out each application and sometimes call up the school to even get one (if none was kept in the guidance counselor's office). There was no common application. For point of reference, Penn's acceptance rate was more than 40% in the early 1980's. A school like Boston College had a greater than 50% acceptance rate.

Demographics at the high end have changed (more high achieving Asians to compete with high achieving white students). The advent of the internet made colleges much more visible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are also more kids especially more global competition

+1 More Asian kids (I'm Asian btw).

Still, my kids were challenged a lot more than I was (even with grade inflation). Their school had tons of AP/IB classes. My HS had four.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake up from your college coma grandma. It’s a whole new world!

I'm 46, not 96.

[Anonymous]

Yes and no.
There has been grade inflation and watering down of the objective measures in order to hold off certain high achieving demographics.
In the other hand, the influx of high achieving 2nd generations also raised the bar although they’ve been thwarted.

[Anonymous]

Back in the olden days, something like only 20% of HS grads went to college, whereas now its 50%. So more kids are going to college overall, plus there is more international competition. There are basically the same # of spots at Harvard, T20's, etc. So kids are needing to attend a wider variety of schools.

[Anonymous]

I’m more concerned about reading levels and critical thinking ability. Younger kids spend too much time on screens, and I’m not convinced that taking more classes, engaging w more activities, automatically makes them “smarter.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are kids these days way smarter than kids of our generation? (80s-90s)
Every kid seems to have top scores and all As. Whereas, at my rigorous public high school in the mid-90s, regular bright well-rounded kids with As/Bs but not Einstein-level grades, were going to Northwestern, Dartmouth, UPenn, Wellesley, etc. I had strong but not exceptional grades and got into Vassar. Now it seems in order to get into a T30, you need all As and all APs. Am I missing something here? How is this happening? Did this generation produce geniuses?

The SAT is able to be studied for now, and there is grade inflation.

The SAT that you took is very different than the SAT that your kids take. Previously, you could get a small edge by doing SAT prep and memorizing vocab. But the logic sections, i.r. kitten:cat::puppy:dog are gone.

There’s grade inflation for sure but the SAT is easier now, and it’s been re-normed so that kids’ scores are higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are kids these days way smarter than kids of our generation? (80s-90s)
Every kid seems to have top scores and all As. Whereas, at my rigorous public high school in the mid-90s, regular bright well-rounded kids with As/Bs but not Einstein-level grades, were going to Northwestern, Dartmouth, UPenn, Wellesley, etc. I had strong but not exceptional grades and got into Vassar. Now it seems in order to get into a T30, you need all As and all APs. Am I missing something here? How is this happening? Did this generation produce geniuses?

When you went to college, there were a few dozen or so 1600 SAT scores. Now there are between 800-1400 perfect scores every year.

Grade inflation is pretty significant too.
A school in Long Island recently had 21 valedictorians who had straight A+ GPAs. The graduating class is about 300. More than 5% of the class is a valedictorian. Multiple valedictorians are pretty common these days.
There are a lot of trash AP classes now.
AP Calc BC is still rigorous as is AP Physics C-EM, AP US History but there are a lot of trash APs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are kids these days way smarter than kids of our generation? (80s-90s)
Every kid seems to have top scores and all As. Whereas, at my rigorous public high school in the mid-90s, regular bright well-rounded kids with As/Bs but not Einstein-level grades, were going to Northwestern, Dartmouth, UPenn, Wellesley, etc. I had strong but not exceptional grades and got into Vassar. Now it seems in order to get into a T30, you need all As and all APs. Am I missing something here? How is this happening? Did this generation produce geniuses?

No, kids are less resilient, less capable of critical thinking, but good at taking multiple choice tests with obvious answers. Professors want good rate my professor scores. College is just like high school. Set a low bar everyone gets As, let the employers and professional schools sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Sad really.