Reply to Harvard is not alone. UC students Without 8th Grade Math Skills Skyrockets

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am California native and I support the UC's approach.  Citizen/taxpayers of CA pay for the UCs and its mission is to educate the best and brightest Californians.  They use "local context" to identify the top 9% from every Ca high school, including private schools,  and guarantee admission to all of them, though don't guarantee which campus (Merced is the auto admit default).   Yes that means that the top 9% from under resourced public schools too, so some of those kids have learning gaps and the UC's have support to help them.
Testing would not change this as they would still admit the top 9% by school including from those high schools that most on this board don't care about  . . . .[/quote]

Unfortunately, the best and the brightest can not be assumed to be evenly distributed throughout the state. It makes sense that kids in affluent and well educated communities end up better prepared by the end of K-12. Due to some
combination of heritable characteristics  from educated/affluent parents (IQ is approx 50% heritable) and greater access over many years to better resources to develop that academic potential. Trying to make up for it at the college level is too late. This remediation work needs to be carried out starting from early elementary. At a certain age, the students’ absolute preparation level is more important than one’s undeveloped “potential” from a college success/job readiness standpoint. [/quote]

Graduating in the top 9 percent of an awful, crime-ridden public school gets you serious grit and character points. [b]And in life, grit and character matters a lot.[/b] I think California has it right. Sure, some of these kids from low performing schools with all the problems never got a chance to take Multivariable Calculus. But they would be absolute academic rock stars if only they grew up in a different neighborhood with better options. I think the UCs are fulfilling their mission just fine taking the best students from all the public schools, even the bad ones. [/quote]

Honestly, you sound like a person who is so privileged that you have no idea what you are talking about. Grit and character? Sure. People who live in serious danger and traumatic situations develop grit and character, but those aren't always in positive ways. Many learn awful coping mechanisms, terrible perspectives on life, etc., because they did what they had to. [/quote]

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