Reply to New York Top Schools - Top marks largely go to Asians. Bill de Blasio wants to change the exams

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Reply to "New York Top Schools - Top marks largely go to Asians. Bill de Blasio wants to change the exams"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think it's a mistake for these schools to take kids who need to spend all their time studying to get high enough scores on the test.  These schools should be filled with kids who can do well without spending all their out of school time studying, so they can be participating in and learning from non-academic activities such as arts, music, and sports. High school is a time to explore; kids are narrowing their opportunities if they only have time for schoolwork.
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I disagree.  Well-rounded individuals who get secondarily high academic scores deserve to go to college, but do not deserve to displace the highest achievers.  Those who have the drive and will to succeed at any cost, including spending all of their time studying are the types that make scientific breakthroughs, create inventions, and drive intellectual progress forward.  I work in a science and engineering based industry and it's the hard workers that are the most needed, not the bright kids who want to do a lot of everything, do everything well, but not truly excel at anything.  Great support staff, but not the true bright stars.  The best institutions need to have both the brightest and the hardest working.

It's this attitude that well-rounded individual should take the places of the truly academically gifted and diligent that has deteriorated the American dominance in science, engineering and technology.  Once we were the unchallenged leader in those areas and now we are just one of the top-10 nations in those areas.  We have diluted our intellectual dominance with jacks/jills-of-all-trades.
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I am talking about kids who can achieve at the highest level and also have the ability to achieve highly in one or two non-academic pursuits at the same time. They are incredibly hard workers who can learn in two hours what takes another kid four and so have the time to also be a highly skilled athlete or musician. These are the ones to grow up to be the "...types that make scientific breakthroughs, create inventions, and drive intellectual progress forward." Kids who go to school and then need to study and only study after school to be a high achiever miss out on much that is needed to be a leader in science.

Some kids just learn quickly and can be high achievers both in and out of school and more than one area. They will have the variety of experiences that are necessary for the creative thinking that is needed to advance science. 
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