WashPost story on the aftermath of the college admissions scandal...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those people getting accomodations for testing aren't scoring in the 99%ile, they're just doing a little better. chill out. it's not moving the needle in the big picture.

And that is how ignorant you are. We are talking about the wealthy kids who managed to get extended time accommodations - do you know how much that helps in the ACT, the math portion of the SAT, SAT subject tests in math and science? There is also a calculator accomodation. You have really no idea how abused the system is in the private schools among the rich.

Don't worry, even if you take away accommodations for the learning disabled, your rich kid can still join the crew team and get in over a kid who has never been on a boat in his life.

Not sure what your point is. PP was just pointing out about abuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This story makes me want to opt out of this college rat race scheme even more. College should only be for the doctors and engineers. Anything else can be learned with the modern technology.

That's exactly where I am now.

Is there nothing but STEM for you???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just canceled my Wash Post subscription. Stay away.

+1. Every single article is now political. And I'm not even a Trumper! We call it WaPravda.

So a hundred page thread of anonymous posts on the scandal, and salivating over the possibility of a Washington angle is fine, but you wouldn't read an article with actual reporting and people willing to use their names raising similar points in print? Why shouldn't there be room for stories like that? I have nothing to contribute, but I'd read it, certainly seems like there's enough interest to justify coverage.

Actually, NO, I won't read it because WaPravda no longer is an independent paper. It is a paper controlled by the left. Pick up any issue. Every single article is leftist. I kept receiving only the Sunday edition because I liked the Magazine and DateLab and TV Guide but not the entire paper irritates me because every single piece starts out anti-trump and runs P.C. It is no longer the newspaper it once was. Now it is just a mouthpiece of the extreme left. There are many other places I can go for intelligent (!) reporting on the issues having to do with college scandals in America - signed a person with significant clout in higher education in America

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so tired of this fake LD to get accomodations thread. A professional has to document the diagnosis. If some of them can be bought, that is a different problem.

Just because peer do not SEE a disability, does not mean it does not exist. Learning disabilities by definition go with hi IQ often. The child is not performing up to their IQ OR has to work an inexplicable amount of time to get mediocre grades. Those are red flags. THEN someone educated on diagnosing LD gives a battery of tests. Yes, these diagnoses are more common in certain areas, because the tests are expensive and not everyone has access. You don't just get extra time because you ask for it.

I am not unsympathetic - but here is the issue. Either speed in test taking for things like math matter or they don’t. If speed doesn’t matter and it is not a good evaluator of college readiness and intelligence, then get rid of timed tests for everyone. You should not have to have the right kind of parent to get an “accommodation”. My kid has (mild) time management anxiety on tests. She can actually complete the test in the expected time with no issues if you remove the externally imposed time constraints. She may never thrive in a deadline based career field. But I do think it’s import for her to learn to deal with this (v mild) anxiety without asking for accommodations. Now, this is not to say a different kid could muddle through like she can. However, she is at a slight disadvantage compared to kids who thrive on pressure situations. So imo, either we should consider time management on tests to be an important trait for everyone or no-one. Shouldn’t be this in between state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the rich are willing to pay hundreds of thousands to get into middling universities, imagine what they would pay for embryos that actually have the genetics to handle the Ivy League. We are are about 5-10 years away from the ability to predict +/- 20% using GWAS the most “desirable” traits, including grit, IQ, fast twitch muscle, BMI, and facial attractiveness based on a DNA sample. The rich will be able to either pay for elite donors, or just select “the best” from the 20-30 embryos they produce on their own. And crispr might be able to provide even more precise refinement within 30 years.

The Chinese are probably doing it already. I wouldn’t be surprised if the wealthy are traveling to clinics in Czech or China within the next decade or so to select for “super embryos”. Steve Hsu’s company is always selecting against “intellectual disability”. Well, perhaps his customers will argue any IQ below 140, or BMI above 22, is a disability.

As I’ve followed the explosive growth in the science of GWAS over the last decade, I have wondered whether the above scenario was possible, but this scandal (i.e. what the wealthy are willing to pay for mere bragging rights) has made me convinced it’s the future.

Got any sources for any of this, lady? People have been saying the same thing for a decade. So far, all we’ve got is a few new hereditary conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just canceled my Wash Post subscription. Stay away.

+1. Every single article is now political. And I'm not even a Trumper! We call it WaPravda.

So a hundred page thread of anonymous posts on the scandal, and salivating over the possibility of a Washington angle is fine, but you wouldn't read an article with actual reporting and people willing to use their names raising similar points in print? Why shouldn't there be room for stories like that? I have nothing to contribute, but I'd read it, certainly seems like there's enough interest to justify coverage.

Actually, NO, I won't read it because WaPravda no longer is an independent paper. It is a paper controlled by the left. Pick up any issue. Every single article is leftist. I kept receiving only the Sunday edition because I liked the Magazine and DateLab and TV Guide but not the entire paper irritates me because every single piece starts out anti-trump and runs P.C. It is no longer the newspaper it once was. Now it is just a mouthpiece of the extreme left. There are many other places I can go for intelligent (!) reporting on the issues having to do with college scandals in America - signed a person with significant clout in higher education in America

You might like Breitbart or the Washington Times, Betsy.

[Anonymous]

OP the College Board already goes through a fairly rigorous screening process for accommodations (i.e. not all kids who get accommodations in school are granted them by the College Board for SAT and AP exams).

What Singer pulled off would be pretty difficult to pull off and therefore probably pretty rare. What isn't rare, OP, is the use of legal ways to advantage people of means such as Early Decision, which usually gives applicants a higher acceptance rate. Families have to be wealthy enough to accept whatever financial aid package, if any, the university offers in a binding contract with an Early Decision acceptance (which can amount to paying tens of thousands or more over the course of 4 years than they might otherwise pay if they have the opportunity to compare costs across colleges accepting their kid). This is effective affirmative action for the rich. This amounts to a huge percentage of applicants across the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This story makes me want to opt out of this college rat race scheme even more. College should only be for the doctors and engineers. Anything else can be learned with the modern technology.

Why not opt out of the rat race, skip the madness, and just have your kid go to one of the thousands of colleges that are not “elite” or very selective? If your kid has a high school degree and the desire to go learn in college, there is a place for them. They can become doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists, nurses, etc from any one of those hundreds of schools. No rat race or bribery necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This story makes me want to opt out of this college rat race scheme even more. College should only be for the doctors and engineers. Anything else can be learned with the modern technology.

Why not opt out of the rat race, skip the madness, and just have your kid go to one of the thousands of colleges that are not “elite” or very selective? If your kid has a high school degree and the desire to go learn in college, there is a place for them. They can become doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists, nurses, etc from any one of those hundreds of schools. No rat race or bribery necessary.

NP. Because those schools also cost a fortune, that’s why.
I believe in college myself, but just sayin’....
The disgusting and immoral cost of college is scaring people away.

[Anonymous]

As the parent of a child with ADHD and very low processing speed, who has 100% extra time on tests, what I can tell you is that special needs communities in the DC area are scheduling talks with experts to discuss the extra scrutiny and additional hurdles we will likely face in the coming years because of this scandal.

Our already difficult job as parents of children with challenges is NOT helped by people who claim to know “many” families gaming the system on accommodations. I am a research scientist, know what being a PhD-holding psychologist entails, and none of the psychologists I know would even entertain the notion of tweaking clients’ assessments! It’s grossly offensive that some people would smear an entire profession in this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
As the parent of a child with ADHD and very low processing speed, who has 100% extra time on tests, what I can tell you is that special needs communities in the DC area are scheduling talks with experts to discuss the extra scrutiny and additional hurdles we will likely face in the coming years because of this scandal.

Our already difficult job as parents of children with challenges is NOT helped by people who claim to know “many” families gaming the system on accommodations. I am a research scientist, know what being a PhD-holding psychologist entails, and none of the psychologists I know would even entertain the notion of tweaking clients’ assessments! It’s grossly offensive that some people would smear an entire profession in this way.

+ 1

Not to mention these assessments have a scientific instrument and methodological basis. They are not just impressions that a psychologist gets.

I'm not convinced there will be a lot of extra hurdles for SN kids. The College Board is already fairly strict about granting accommodations. There will remain the advantage that families who can afford private testing get. If you can't afford testing you might not get a diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

For those who want out of the rate race, check out uncollege.org.

[Anonymous]

Ms. McCarthy: You may want to consider writing about some of the crazy parents who post to this board (especially the InfoWars/CPAC parents)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there is definitely an issue with kids who have had no ld suddenly needing more test time. This is the kind of cheating that I hear about. Also teachers who want to help FA students by changing answers on standardized tests. This happens all the time as well.

Uh, what?

+1 What a cuckoo post. Legitimate accommodations for kids with learning needs are required by law. And if you had evidence of teachers changing answers on standardized tests, you would have reported it. But you don't.

Truth hurts. Many schools direct kids to a certain Dr and suddenly they an ld. I had no idea about extra time until my kid brought it up. DC noticed that suddenly a quarter of the class was getting extra time. Some kids would go into separate rooms as well. Happened on an outplacement year. Also found out that kids were getting extra tutoring that had FA for free. There is a lot of murky stuff going on at these schools. I think in the last few years some schools and parents have gotten bolder. Before you say things like someone is crazy bringing this up why din’t You ask your kid if they have noticed more kids getting time when for years they did not or other accommodations happening on an outplacement year.

What is FA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The athletic route w $$ is a well know route in my kids private school - they have since graduated. This is the formula :
1. Get accommodations for kids
2. Kid play a sport - not football, basketball, cross country, track or crew but more sports they can play at their country club or private clubs - tennis/squash/lacrosse/sailing/ski
3. Donate $$$ to HS in junior year
4. Private HS college counselor calls college on behalf of family and also indicate family willing to donate $$$ to college development officer
5. Kid gets in - usually HYP/Stanford/Duke/top 10 privae[/quote


How the heck does #3 help?